Negima Remix!

Chapter 36: Return of the Vampire; a Miracle Moment
Altar

Setsuna flew towards the giant demon, while the Homunculi walked towards the four remaining teens and their furry companions. The two boys were near exhaustion, and not only was Negi slowly being petrified, but Seiji was bleeding rather badly at this point in time. The girls stood by their respective partner; either one able to help out in anyway. However, seeing that their best chance at help was gone, it was all up to them. Just then, something else turned everyone's attention as it crashed on the bridge.

It was then that the four got a good look at him and saw that he looked a mess. His jacket had been torn up and barely looked recognizable, his shirt had cuts and burn marks on them, his pants had a few cuts on them as well. His Automail body wasn't looking rather good either; mostly his arms seeing that the armor was coming a little loose in some areas.

Just then, a huge roar was heard as they saw a monstrous beast head towards Laz. The group saw it as some sort of humanoid monster that went for Laz, but he jumped quickly enough as the beast jumped on the area he was in. it completely obliterated by the beast as it attempted to go after him, in order to eat him.

It was then that Vicious took a step towards the four as he gave them a genuine evil smile, "I must admit though…that summons was quite the edge in the battle…", he then pointed to Negi, "But I think that wasted whatever you had."

Then Envy walked up and decided to gloat over the whole thing, "Well, let's see now; where are we: we have Konoka Konoe…we now have the ultimate Demon King…we're gonna waste both Western Wizards and Alchemists…possible those of the Eastern who've disgraced themselves by helping the West…", he then said in a blunt tone, almost like he wasn't intimidated by the enemy as he pointed to Negi and the others, "…and the only ones who stand in our way to unimaginable glory over the humans…are you nitwits."

Asuna growled as she got up, finally overcoming the pain of the cuts on her body, "Oh yeah? Well we still have enough strength to kick your butts!" The two Homunculi just looked at each other in confusion by this, but then began laughing up a storm. Asuna was getting pretty ticked off as she shouted, "And what's so funny?"

Envy pointed to the boys, "Just look at them: they're either exhausted or hurt beyond reason. Not to mention that the Automail Golem is about to be snack to our comrade, Gluttony. In other words….defeated."

Seiji just groaned as he strained to move forward due to his injury, "We're…we're not done yet…!" he then doubled over in pain as Nodoka ran to his side, worried, "Seiji! Don't move around so much!"

Vicious just groaned as he pulled out his other sword, whetting his blades together. This caused them to spark around a bit as the sparks caused little explosions around him as he walked towards them, very slowly. He was like a wild animal, sizing up its prey; waiting for the kill. He then devilishly smirked at them as he asked, "Oh, please Full-Metal. You humans are old technology; obsolete. What can you all possibly do now?"

The kids were looking at this pretty badly; there were not doing so good, reinforcements were still fighting the Demons, and Setsuna was trying to rescue Konoka, and Laz was playing a deadly game of Cat and Mouse. Everything seemed hopeless…

Hello, boys! Can you hear me?

Nice job with that containment spell, Negi…Seiji, I didn't know you had such a threshold for pain? I find that quite attractive in a male. However, you two still have a lot to learn, and a long way to go on this. Both of you. Let's see what you can do. In fact…

…if you all hang on in another 90 seconds, me and another somebody will come and help put this little mess to bed!

The four teens were a little surprised by that voice. Asuna as well as she sweatdropped and asked, "Th-That voice, can it be…?"

Negi half-grinned at this, "Can be and is…!", but then they were a little startled as they heard a new voice. One that none of them, knew…except for the boys as they heard it:

I have to admit Seiji…you always put others first instead of yourself. I'm always going to be worried if that'll be the death of you one day. You really have to help Negi out a little more; he's too much of a perfectionist. You boys should really be a little more 'Act fast, Think First'. Boys should act like teenage boys…leave the cleanup to the adults. I love you, Sweetie.

Seiji paled at that voice, even more so than from the bleeding. Nodoka looked to him and asked, "Seiji…? What's wrong?"

Seiji just gulped as he thought, 'Oh man…has she been watching the whole fight? If she sees my left arm like this…?'

Asuna looked to the boys as she asked, "Negi? Seiji?"

The two boys smirked as they got into battle position and stance as they both shouted, "You girls ready?"

The two girls were a little startled by this, but gathered their resolve. Asuna held her Harisan at the ready as she smirked and got into her stance, "Ready!" Nodoka, feeling a little wary, resolved herself as she summoned the Diarium, "Me too!"

The two Homunculi looked at the teens, a little surprised. But it was quickly wavered off as Vicious looked to them with a 'We Are Not Amused' look on his face. He then grunted, "So you wish to face us? Very well, we'll take you down." Envy cracked his knuckles as he smirked, "Sounds like fun. I'd love to bust some skulls."

Chamo then shouted, "GOOOO!"

Negi and Seiji were preparing for a Magic and Alchemic attack with Nodoka getting her book at the ready. However, Asuna charged head first straight towards the White Haired jerk. She was still sore about the whole Tickle Torture Perverted attack he gave her, and now she was gonna give him a beating that he would never forget. However, that beating disappeared as Vicious disappeared from sight so suddenly. Asuna looked around, trying to figure where he went. However, her warrior instincts kicked in as she looked above her and saw Vicious…right above her.

She was about to retaliate, but couldn't do it as he quickly gave her a spinning back kick. Such an immense power shot at her like one of Negi's Wind Blasts as she was slammed into the bridge, causing it to crack with the impact. Negi saw this in worry and distress as he shouted, "Asuna!" But before he or Seiji could do anything, the white haired fellow appeared suddenly in front of Negi as he smirked, "All too easy…", and gave him a magic punch; much more powerful than Negi ever could do. And had him sent flying towards Asuna, and that caused them to both fly back.

Seiji grunted his teeth as he ran towards Vicious. Vicious saw this and whistled, causing Seiji to stop for a moment. He then heard someone shouting out some kind of battle cry and turned to see Envy pounce right at him. But just before he was about to hit him, Nodoka came out and smacked the book right between Envy's eyes, knocking him out. Both Seiji, and even Vicious, were surprised by this as they saw him go down from that one whack.

Seiji was a little startled by that as he asked, in a nervous tone, "Nodoka? Are you…?"

Nodoka turned towards Seiji, shaking a little, and had a nervous smile on her face, "I…I was pretty scared about this…b-but I'm gonna…b-b-be alright now."

Vicious looked to Envy, who was still on the ground, on the verge of passing out. Vicious, whose face had not changed at all, asked the unconscious Homunculus, "Envy. Are you still alive?"

Envy's eyes were swirling as he dizzily responded, "She…she's got a mean hitting arm…"

Vicious then shrugged as then in a blink of the eye, Vicious was right in front of Seiji. Before Seiji could do anything, Vicious got him and Nodoka, which Seiji protected at the last second by shielding her, with a powerful elbow strike that sent them all flying towards Negi and Asuna. As soon as the four were together, they saw Vicious jump into the air again, and saw him chanting the same Petrification Spell as he did before. The four looked at this in sheer shock and horror as Vicious had finished the rest of the spell, and shot it straight at them.

BAMF!

As soon as the dust had cleared, Negi saw that Seiji and Nodoka had been completely missed by the spell. However, Seiji had pulled Nodoka close to him, and shielded her with his own body, not that it was necessary. But now however, Negi felt someone pull him close to them, especially since he was face first in whatever. He blushed as he realized what it was and pulled away for a moment. He then saw that Asuna had shielded him with herself; this was proven with the fact that the armor on her chest and the shirt underneath was cracking.

He stuttered in worry for her, "Asuna!"

She just smirked as she winked at him, "Don't worry, Negi. It seems I've got some kind of immunity to his spell."

Negi then thought about it before anything else. What Seiji had talked to him about a few months ago had been true. Before the contract, Asuna was able to nullify or cancel out Negi's spells and potions that came into contact with her. Her ability to nullify magic was completely all hers and nothing of the Pactio. This was just too strange to figure out right now.

Vicious devilishly smirked at this as he landed on his feet, "Aha, so the little tomboy can nullify magic." Then much to Asuna's sudden fright, he ran at her with incredible speed. He then gave her a devilish grin that seem to expose his teeth as they became as sharp and jagged as those that belonged to a Mako Shark. He smiled as he got closer to her, "I think I'll take care of you first, my dear!"

KRAAASH!

Vicious' face grew with surprise as he saw that his arm had been caught. It had been caught and held in place by both boys: Negi Springfield and Seiji Crevantes Elric. Negi's face was contorted into a silent rage, almost angry at the very monster that was about to take all his rage out on Asuna for no apparent reason. Seiji's face, however, was in a devilish smirk, as a vein popped on his head. He was the one to finally break the silence as he stated, "Got you."

Asuna was a little startled by it as she looked to see Negi. She had never seen him this angry…heck, she never saw him angry at all. She then shakily asked him, "N-Negi? A-Are you all right..?"

He gritted his teeth as he stated, "Yeah. What about you?"

She smiled at him, knowing that he was fine, but then noticed his right hand becoming petrified at the wrist. She wasted no time in what she had to do. She took her Harisan, and knowing what would happen if she moved, held it like a bat as she charged at Vicious. However, this caused her blouse and top armor to shatter, due to the effects of the Petrification Spell, and thus she ran at the Homunculus, topless. She charged at Vicious as she shouted, "Boys who misuse their toys…", and then thwacked him with her Harisan, "…DESERVE A GOOD THWAPPING!"

This caused a shatter sound around Vicious, as Negi had deduced something about this Homunculus. He had on him a magical barrier, protecting him from even the slightest of Magical or Alchemic attacks. But now that was as Vicious, for the first time in his artificial life, realized a terrifying fact, 'My barrier…it's broken…'

Negi took this opportunity to clench his stone hand into a fist, and Seiji's nearly broken Automail hand to do the same.

Meanwhile

Setsuna had reached her destination, the shoulder of the great Demon King. Chigusa saw this and had no idea of any of this information that the Homunculus, Envy, had reported. He had failed to inform her that this Shinmei school girl was some sort of Hanyou. She paled, but then turned downward as she saw the Homunculus, Malice, was still at his post. She shouted, "Malice! Help me!"

He did nothing as he just stood there. She was on the verge of getting fed with these creatures' calm demeanor and defiant attitude towards her. She shouted with much anger and frustration in her voice, but with a touch of fear, "YOU STUPID PUPPET! I'M YOUR PUPPETEER, SO START LISTENING TO THE STRINGS I'M PULLING HERE! HELP ME!" But still he stood there, completely unfazed by her outbursts. She didn't understand why this was happening now. But all her thoughts were interrupted as Setsuna had reached her.

Setsuna shouted towards Chigusa, as she saw Konoka floating in front of the Monkey Girl. "Chigusa Amagasaki!", Setsuna shouted as she readied her sword, in case the woman would not comply, "I'm here to take back Ojou-sama!"

Chigusa gritted her teeth as a woman like her could only comply, "NEVER, YOU FREAK!"

That was the only response that Setsuna needed as she charged head first at blinding speed. Chigusa paled as she commenced a few summoning with her two Demon Protectors.

Also happening at the same time, Laz was tossed right into a nearby Altar Lantern. He was looking even worse as his upper torso was starting to crack, and the armor covering his biceps had been destroyed, exposing the mechanical muscles under the metal. He slunked into the water and almost completely unconscious, just as Gluttony was charging at him. Laz cracked his eye open as he thought of trying to find a way to beat this thing, 'I've tried all my attacks and Alchemic attempts on it, but this thing's still coming.'

It was then that he thought about it, 'Maybe I can increase my heart pump's rate. That'll speed up my Alchemic power in my circulatory system, causing a somewhat Adrenaline rush.' That would work in his favor; it would be like a car's engine going around 160 MPH in Horsepower. However, there was a drawback: if he did do this, his system would slow down, forcing it to cool down and cause Laz to become sluggish.

However, his decision was resolved as he heard the inhuman roar of the creature, Gluttony, from above the water. The creature's three snake tails broke the surface of the water as they thrusted at him. They bit at him as they forcibly pulled him to the surface again, and when they broke to the surface, Laz was thrown high in the air. Then Gluttony charged right at him, jumping high in the air, and on the verge to snatch him in his mouth. Like a fish jumping out of the water to eat some airborne bait, Gluttony lashed its tails at him, ready to tear him apart.

And all at once, each of the three battling good guys each injured their opponents at the same time. Setsuna had slashed through the two Bear and Monkey demons, and while Chigusa was taken in by the confusion, Setsuna had snatched Konoka and flew some distance from the evil Monkey Woman. And while that was done, Negi and Seiji, putt all their strength into it, and smashed Vicious' face in with the most destructive double punch, that sent him skidding across the floor, next to the now awakening Envy. And for Gluttony's fate, his tails had all been severed as they headless serpent's were spewing out pink liquid like they were sprinklers, as Laz landed back on the Altar Bridge, and Gluttony landed in the water. Laz then charged right back at the beast, running at the water with immense speed, as a purple aura glowed around him.

Back with Setsuna

Setsuna held Konoka in her arms, but with a pleading look on her face as she whisked the Silent seal off her mouth. She looked at her with much worry, as it was proven with her voice, "Ojou-sama! Ojou-sama! Are you alright?"

Konoka started to stir in Setsuna's arms, as she finally regained consciousness. She looked up as her vision began to clear up to see who it was that was holding her. She smiled as she saw that it was none other than Setsuna, "Se-chan…it's you…", she smiled warmly as she continued, "I knew it…I knew you'd come to rescue me."

Setsuna couldn't help but blush at that, but then shook it off as she asked, "Ojou-sama, you're not hurt, are you?"

Konoka was silent as she tried to remember, but then her eyes went blank. She remembered the ritual that the woman Chigusa, and that guy, Malice, had performed. She was told that it would be kind of enjoyable in some way, and it was somewhat. She then blushed as she squealed and tried to cover her face, in fear that Setsuna would see her like this, "Actually, just like they said, I…I kind of enjoyed it! Is that naughty of me?"

Setsuna was kind of blushing out of embarrassment of that, even while Konoka pleaded for her not to look at her. Setsuna just smiled at her friend as she giggled, "Hmhmhmhm. Oh, Ojou-sama…"

It was then that Konoka uncovered her eyes and saw something behind Setsuna. It was a pair of white wings, glimmering in the night sky, and lightly flapping to keep them airborne. She looked at amazement as she asked, "Se-chan…your back…?"

Setsuna paled at this realization: Konoka had now seen her wings, and that made her scared. Sure the others accepted her for them, but now…now this moment in her life terrified her. She gulped as she smiled, trying to hide her fear as she asked, "Huh? Oh, uh…you mean these?" She then innerly cried in fear, 'Please, don't let her hate me.'

But in surprise, Konoka smiled as she said, "They're beautiful…", this caught Setsuna by surprise as Konoka continued, "You look like an angel."

Back with the Others

Negi and Seiji both stood there, nearly about to collapse as they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Vicious and Envy were getting back up, almost completely unfazed from the attacks that were brought on. However, Envy was spotting a few cracks on his face; it was almost as if the attack that Nodoka had landed on him had some effect. However, they saw that Vicious was mighty pissed off, as he was glaring daggers at Negi. His frightening and inhuman features never wavering off of him. Even Asuna and Nodoka looked freaked out by this, as neither one of them seem to be able to move.

It was then that Vicious growled, his voice almost losing its cool and calm demeanor. He pointed at Negi, glaring at him, "Did you do it?" Negi wasn't really sure how to respond to this. Seiji didn't know whether to use Alchemy or even call up an Exorcist on this guy, as Vicious' voice changed, and his eyes glowing red with red snake-eye slits, "For the first time ever, in over eight years of my created existence…someone, other than my comrades or my mistress, laid their hands on me…NEGI SPRINGFIELD!"

But just before he could even get close to Negi, a shadow appeared between the two. And then suddenly, out of the shadow, a ten year old female hand and arm shot out, grabbing Vicious' fist before it could connect to Negi. Vicious and Negi both looked, as well as the others who had joined up with Negi, look to see something…or someone, come out of the shadows slowly.

It was then that Negi and Seiji realized that the shadow wasn't a shadow. It was a magical portal gateway created from various shadows. The figure, which sported a vicious grin that Vicious' paled in comparison, smiled at the Homunculus. It then spoke in a familiar voice, "It seems you've been mistreating the boys…Homunculus."

Just then, from behind Envy as he grumbled, a shadow gate also opened behind him. Envy was about to charge right at the kids, but then felt an inhuman chill run down his spine. He turned around to see what it was, only to see a very scary sight. Some woman was right behind him, glaring at him with a toothy smile which probably belonged to that of a wild fighting demon. It then spoke in a voice that registered as extremely pissed off, "You hurt my babies…your artificial ass is mine!"

And then with tremendous power focused in each of them, the two Homunculi were shot to the other side of the lake. The two figures had unleashed a vicious display of power: both Magical and Alchemic. The two Homunculi left a plowed trail to where they were flung at and created a huge explosion each as they hit land.

The two figures turned and walked towards everyone, and to Negi and everyone else's surprise, they all shouted, "Hey, it's…EVANGELINE!" Indeed it was the vampire, Evangeline A.K. McDowell, out of the school and looking her best. But for Seiji, he began to pale as he saw who it was that accompanied her. it was the woman who was with her at the Head Master's office, but Seiji paled and nervously smiled at her as he waved, "Oh, eh…hehehehehe….Hi, Mom."

Both Asuna and Nodoka looked at Seiji in confusion, and then at the woman. And then to each other as they asked out loud, "WHAAAA? DID HE JUST SAY MOM?" They both turned to the woman, who now just smiled at them politely with a calm demeanor as she responded, "Pretty much, ladies. I'm Izumi 'Crevantes' Curtis. I'm basically Seiji and Laz's stepmother, if you will."

Asuna looked at her as she raised an eyebrow as she thought, 'Man, I figured Seiji might have gotten a temper from someone. I didn't think it was somewhat hereditary or something he picked up. But now, watching her get angry at Envy…I'm starting to wonder if he picked it up from her.'

Nodoka, was kind of blushing at her as she thought, 'Wow, she's really beautiful…I didn't know Seiji's mom was this young, or even that amazing.'

It was then that Izumi noticed her son sporting a bleeding side. She had on her face a look of concern as she walked over to him. She then looked at him, a little worried as she asked, "Seiji…are you okay?"

Seiji, a little startled by his mom, simply replied as he grunted a little, "It's…it's not all bad, Mom. Really…", he stated with a weak smile, "…I'm gonna be fine…", but his sentence was cut short as he was walloped on the head pretty hard by his own mother. This caused everyone, except for Negi and Evangeline who apparently knew this was gonna happen, to go into surprised shock by this turn of events.

Izumi looked pretty ticked off as Seiji was getting up from his little head bump. Seiji pretty much knew his step mom would do something like this. This was proven when Izumi shouted to Seiji, like she was some sort of grouch, "What the hell were you thinking? You should have been more careful, instead of being such a careless idiot!"

Asuna was getting fed up; she didn't care about whether or not this woman was Seiji's mother right now. She had the nerve to insult him when he was seriously injured and even during a battle. She was flipping angry as she shouted, "Hey, look, Lady! I could care less about what mistakes he made. He's your son, adopted or not; you shouldn't…!" But she stopped as she and Nodoka were flabbergasted at what they saw next.

As soon as Seiji was back on his feet, Izumi walked up to him and gave him a deep motherly hug. She then genuinely smiled as a stray tear came down her eye, "You really are an idiot sometimes, Seiji…."

Seiji returned her hug as he smiled, "Sorry…Mom."

However, Chigusa was shouting her head off as she declared to the small gnats on the bridge. She was fed up with things not going according to her plan, but she was about to make it clear to them. She shouted triumphantly to the so-called heroes, "Big deal! I may not have Konoka Konoe, but I still possess the power of Sukuna! I can still win…!" However, that feeling of confidence left her as soon as she saw some flying object nearby.

It was none other than Chachamaru, dressed in her maid outfit and flying in the sky by her rocket boosters. She had arrived with Izumi and her Mistress, along with three others who had gone missing from the battlefield. However, her presence was much need now as she had to do what her master ordered. She had with her a huge looking laser-rifle cannon of some sorts. She then aimed it at the creature as she contacted Evangeline, "Mistress, the barrier shot is ready."

Do it then.

"Roger.", Chachamaru responded as she lined up in aim, and then fired. And then in less than a minute, the giant Demon King was encased in a huge electrical force field, keeping it trapped.

Chigusa saw this as her face showed disbelief of this whole thing. She was just on the verge of winning, but then these three women show up out of nowhere and save the day. On top of all that, the Demon King that she had summoned was being contained by a puny force field, and those stupid Homunculi weren't doing anything to help her. Everything was coming apart at the seams.

The four teens were looking at this with much amazement, as Asuna stated, "Wow! Even Chachamaru came…!"

Evangeline snickered, as a bunch of black bats swarmed in around her. This kind of freaked out Nodoka, seeing as how Evangeline was the vampire that attempted to bite her. However, Evangeline didn't seem to want to bite anyone for the moment, so that would mean she was on their side. The swarm of bats had formed around Evangeline, creating a vampiric cape, suiting that for a master vampire of sorts. Evangeline then commented the group before she and Izumi got to work, "As I say, you've all done well…but you're all not there yet."

The teens were a little confused by that, until Izumi popped up as she looked at them all. Then she stated like a mother figure would, "Look, kids: in a big battle, like this one…The Magi or Alchemists are here as artillery backup." She then stated, "As a wise prophet once said, 'they who have the most guns, Kick butt'."

Evangeline huffed, "Right, now that that's said and done…", with one wisp of wind, Evangeline took to the sky on her bat-winged cloak, "…sit back and watch a true Magi and Alchemist duo at the top of their form! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Izumi shook her head as she lightly kissed her son on the forehead, "I'll be back dear…I'm just gonna finish the job you kids were doing."

Seiji asked with a bit of concern in his voice, "Mom, are you sure you're okay to do this? I mean…well, you know…"

Izumi just smirked as she followed Evangeline, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm not gonna overdo anything."

However, Evangeline stopped in mid air as she turned around to Negi. She looked pretty frustrated as she shouted to him, "You all are still watching, right?"

Negi innocently answered, "Uh…yes?"

However, Nodoka looked to Seiji and Asuna and asked them both, "Um, do you both know what that was about?"

Asuna just sweatdropped as she replied while covering herself, "I think she so-o-o has not gotten over losing to Negi…"

Chigusa was all flabbergasted by all of this as her eyebrow twitched. She then saw the lady with the micro-braided hair, and saw her clap her hands together. She remembered the Full-Metal boy did the same thing, and scoffed at her, "So you're going to try and stop me? Go ahead and try, but you'll fail like that miserable blonde haired runt!"

It was then that Seiji heard that and shouted, flailing his arms and legs around, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MOUSY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK?"

Izumi ignored that and placed her hands on the pier, creating her Alchemic Transmutation. The electrical energy danced all around her and then into the water and circled the great Demon King. Chigusa wondered what was going on, but then her thoughts were answered when a bunch of huge construction spikes shot out of the water. They then shot at the Demon King, impaling him all over his body, holding it in place as it roared in pain and anger from the actions.

Chigusa paled at this as she saw the incredible Alchemic augmentation. She didn't even see any Transmutation Circles or some kind of Philosopher Stone on her. She paled as she thought, 'I don't get it. No Alchemist should be this powerful! How the hell is she doing this?'

Just then, Evangeline held her right hand high in the air, as it began to glow Ice Blue. Then she devilishly smirked as she chanted, "LIC LAC LA LAC LILAC!...", and the rest she spoke in a language that couldn't be identified, but what it was causing was pretty impressive. A huge glacier formed all around the Demon King, holding him in place and unable to do anything about it.

Chigusa looked at all of this dumbstruck; she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Two people out of nowhere, and took down the mighty Ryōmen Sukuna no Kami in two entrapment moves. She paled at this whole thing, "Wh-What's going on around here? Who are you two?"

Evangeline chuckled as she smirked at the Monkey Woman's plight, "KEHEHEH! You chose your opponents poorly, Mortal! What you just saw was an Alchemic attack that was said to wipe out nearly three hundred opponents each that would blot out the sun, as well as show no chance of survival. And a spell that creates near-absolute-zero temps in a 150-square-foot area! Even your big nasty there won't be able to avoid it!"

She then chuckled evilly as she bellowed, "FOR LO! I AM THE VAMPIRE EVANGELINE A.K. MCDOWELL…THE 'DARK ANGEL'! AND MY COLLEAGUE, IZUMI CREVANTES, THE FORMER DEMON ALCHEMIST! LOOK UPON OUR POWERS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR…! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….!"

The teens and the two furry sidekicks just looked at Evangeline. Everyone was probably thinking the same thing and that Evangeline had lost her mind. That was made accurate as Seiji, still holding his bleeding side, paled, "Crazy much, Evangeline…?"

Suddenly, as the creature was near to being frozen, a loud crash was heard at the side of the beast. Everyone, including Evangeline and Chachamaru looked to see what had caused such a blast. They saw that it was the huge monstrous Homunculus, Gluttony. He was crouched at to where he crashed into and appeared to have something in its mouth. Everyone, except Chigusa and Evangeline, to have a look of shock and fear as they saw what it was…

…it was Laz. He had rushed over as soon as he saw the Ice Spell. He knew that he couldn't win against the monster as he was; the only thing he did was damage it momentarily. But if he could lure it to the Demon King as the Spell was still growing around it, then maybe there would be a chance to freeze the monster and then shatter it. the problem was on how to lure it there, but using himself as the bait had worked. Now he had slammed his fist into the ice, as the spell creeped up his arm, and slowly started to freeze him. But what was worse, was when Gluttony took a bite out of him.

He opened his mouth, exposing his clenched teeth, with oil bleeding out. Gluttony tugged at him, causing his arm to nearly break. He grunted from pain towards Evangeline, "…do it…finish the spell…that way Gluttony can be…", he gagged and grunted as Gluttony tugged at him again.

Evangeline paled at this, holding back the spell until she could think of something. Chachamaru, however, hunched over as she placed a hand over her chestplate. She didn't know why, but the gears in her chest were turning incredibly fast; it was almost as if her chestplate was shrinking, making it tighter and tighter. Just seeing Laz like this caused her to get upset for some reason, and she didn't even know why.

Evangeline, however, noticed the Demon King starting to stir free. She gritted her teeth, knowing full well that she had to complete the spell or they would go over with this again. She began to chant once more, despite the teens and Izumi's shouts to stop her, saying that Laz was still there. However, their concern for Laz quickly disappeared as a blur past Evangeline, causing her to flinch. She saw what it was that passed her at blinding speed and saw it go straight for Laz…and got him out of there as it took a U-turn back to the Altar.

Evangeline smirked as she finished the spell, "LILAC SPIRITUS!" And with a huge flash, both the Demon King and the monster, Gluttony, were flash frozen with huge spikes of ice on them. Chigusa fell towards the water, screaming out loud, "NOOOOOOO! CURSE YOU, YOU MEDDLING KIDS!", and splashed into it. Then Evangeline smirked as she floated around to face her comrades, and then snapped her fingers. Then suddenly, the two beasts started to shatter and crack in the ice. And then, by everyone's surprise, minus Izumi's, the two beasts exploded in a big eruption that caused their bodies to shatter and scatter in the water like a snowfall of ice.

Evangeline merely smirked at her handiwork as she looked down at the two boys that beat her a few months ago. She winked at them both seductively, "Now you owe me one, boys."

Meanwhile

Near the spot to where the object that had saved Laz's life, it was revealed to who it was. It was none other than Chachamaru who had flown in and rescued the Soul-Attached Metal Golem. However, she feared that she might have not been fast enough as she saw the condition Laz was in. His legs had both been bitten off and showed a pair of oil-leaking stumps that stained her outfit, his right arm was completely broken off, showing a bit of the endoskeleton that was under his armored body, his left arm was still a mess and covered in ice, and half of his face was slightly covered in ice.

She looked at him and analyzed him carefully in order to see if he was still functional. However, what she detected was a slow heart beat emanating from his chestplate. The vitals showed her that it had slowed down immensely and could stop at any given time. In the first time of her programmed existence, which had to be two or three years, she began to feel an emotion that was never programmed by her creator, Hakase, nor was it ever taught to her by Evangeline: Fear. Fear for the person that was in her arms right now as she had knelt down and rested him on her lap.

Then surprising her, he coughed a little as he groaned, "Argh! I'm…gonna be sore…in the morning…"

Chachamaru looked at him, very surprised at this, as her eyes quivered a little. Then, without her realizing any bit about it, her eyes let out a few tears made from reticular cleansing fluid as she closed them. And then, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned her forehead on his, which was plastered with his hair. She then realized that the fear for him was long gone, and a new feeling was present. This feeling carried with it a sense of warmth and light to it; it was almost as if seeing Laz alive gave birth to it.

Then she silently whispered to him, as he was unconscious again, "Thank you, Lazarus. Thank you for staying alive."

Next Chapter: A Healing Miracle; Konoka's Pactio