To my readers: I apologize for the lack of chapters as of late. It was not my intention of slowing down the pace of my story like this, but unfortunately a number of real life events have been coming up recently that have prevented me from writing as much as I have been in the past. I will get them done and published as soon as I can regardless. Additionally, since the coming chapters in this arc are going to be really packed ones, unless otherwise announced by myself in my forum here, expect them to come out only every other week. I am between college semesters right now, but I am also trying to land a good job since my writing career here cannot really pay any bills. Thank you all for your understanding.

I would greatly appreciate it if everyone that still gives anonymous reviews would remember to limit themselves to one per chapter at a time and not to submit multiple consecutive reviews at a single time. I would rather deal with one big review than two or three small ones.

It's finally happened. After everything Kokoa had gone through, Tsukune and the others literally dropped onto the scene in an effort to rescue her. At which point, the battle to save her begins. Hearing the report and sounds of battle, Fiammetta angrily walked towards where the sounds were coming from outside in the courtyard behind the castle, and was soon followed by her nephew, Jerk. Carl meanwhile was left to lock up Kokoa and Kahlua by himself but got a lot more than he bargained for when he unsuccessfully tried to rape Kokoa and flew into a rage. So he locked a Devil's Bracelet onto her wrist and told her all about the assassin that he had hired to kill her baby boy, sending her into a complete meltdown of fear which activated the bracelet, forcing her helplessly watch her fear come true over and over again. After he left, Carl was given orders from his mother to wait at the pier for his father who was due to arrive soon. Outside in the courtyard, Mizore, Yukari, and Ruby find themselves being attacked by a number of brown uniformed men including at least two Vampires. At the castle's rear entrance, Tsukune, Moka, and Omote are confronted by Fiammetta herself. Knowing that they didn't have the time to waste on fighting her, Moka tells the other two to go while she kept her occupied, facing the extremely powerful Fiammetta Reinfeldt all by herself.

Chapter 38: The Goddess of Hell

March 2, 2008

Takât Castle, the Courtyard

"I've got you two covered!" Ruby yells out. "Just concentrate on the enemies in front of you!"

Mizore and Yukari continue to battle both of the Vampires while Ruby is busy fighting against all of the enemy reinforcements so that the other two could focus on their own battles, without having to worry about being blindsided by somebody else.

"Come on you worthless commoner!" an angry Ufuk shouts to the other Vampire. "You are a trained warrior of our clan and yet you cannot best that woman?"

"I am no commoner and talk to me after you beat the little girl in front of you!"

Just then, Ufuk notices the tarot cards gathering around him and feels an intense shocking throughout his entire body.

AHHH!

"Take this!" Yukari shouts as she takes advantage of her opponent's distraction to cast a Monster Sealing Barrier on him.

…That… …bitch…! He thinks.

"How'd you like that, huh?" Yukari confidently asks.

As good as victory is, the other side of it is that it's also very easy to get drunk on it. After thinking that she, a Witch, a despised boundary being, had beaten a Vampire all by herself; it was no wonder that she let her guard down.

SLASH!

SHATTER!

GYAAAH!

Yukari screams in pain after Ufuk had thrown his sword at her, destroying her wand (that she had always used since her days at Youkai Academy) and cutting up her right arm. She falls onto her side, clutching her arm in agony. The sound of battle from the clinking of Mizore parries and attacks to Ruby's explosions fill the air all around them.

BOOM!

CLINK! CLINK!

"You rotten little witch!" he yells at her as he gets back up and starts walking towards her. "You actually thought that you could defeat me with that spell? Hah! It was too weak. Even if it could take out a normal Vampire, those of us of the mighty Saltik Clan stand above all other Vampires as far as our bodies are concerned."

BOOM! BOOM!

Yukari had weakened him, but not enough to beat him. He knew that very well since he could feel it throughout his entire body. Thanks to that hit, he was only as strong as a normal Vampire now, but he was not about to tell her that. Nor was he going to tell her that the reason why he was just walking was because his body still greatly pained him, especially with his now unsteady knees. Time was on his side though. He was steadily feeling a little better and more powerful as time went on. So the longer this battle went, the more of his power he would regain.

CLINK! CLINK! SCRAPE!

BOOM!

For her to hurt me this much… he thinks. I know that I am still far from being the strongest in my clan, but even so, I am still a Saltik, meaning that she would have to be strong to do that much damage to me. I better kill her fast before she or her friends pull out some more tricks.

CLINK!

He stands over Yukari, ready to finish her off, when…

CHICK! CHICK! CHICK!

…He is forced to dodge and jump back to avoid Ruby's Steel Feathers again.

"Yukari!" screams Ruby. "Are you alright?"

Yukari sits up while clutching her arm and Ruby lands next to her.

"…My arm… and my wand… I'm sorry, Ruby... I… I let my guard down… This shouldn't have happened."

Ruby glances at Yukari's wound and curses herself for not being able to perform healing magic to help her.

"Can you still use your arm?"

"…It hurts, it really hurts… but… I can still use-"

GAHAH!

She tries to move her arm, but a sharp pain shoots through it and she yells in anguish.

"Get back and get out of this fight, Yukari! You can't perform magic anymore like that!"

"…I know, I know that," she replies. "But… thankfully I only need one good arm to do this, so there shouldn't be any problems. Just keep these guys off of me until I'm done, Ruby, Mizore!"

"What are you doing, Yukari?" Ruby asks her.

She then sees Yukari pull something out of her pocket and recognizes it. Realizing what she is planning to do, Ruby shouts to her.

"Gotcha, Yukari! Mizore, don't let your guy get past you! We need to cover Yukari!"

"I'll do what I can, Ruby."

This still sucks though, Mizore thinks. The sun is almost completely gone, but I'm still feeling the heat, even with this suit on. I need to take this guy out as quickly as I can before I get too hot. The longer this fight drags on, the worse it'll get for me.

The vampire lunges at her and swings his sword at her again.

CLINK!

That she again parries and again tries slashing at him, but misses.

This is so damn annoying! Since it's still so hot here, I have to be very careful about how much youki I use. Otherwise I won't be able to even do this and that'll be it for me and the others!

The Vampire Mizore's facing then starts channeling his aura into his sword.

What the hell is he doing?

"For the honor of my Nejem Clan, you die today!"

He charges and swings his sword at her again and…

SHATTER!

SHATTER!

…He destroys both of her Ice Claws and…

SLASH!

…Cuts her suit open and…

GWUAH!

…Mizore's blood goes flying around her as she falls back.

2

The Pier

Carl stands at the pier, waiting for his father to show up and bored out of his mind. He then starts talking to himself just so that he can keep his mind occupied.

"At this rate I won't get to have any fun. Jerk is certainly no pushover being well versed in our clan's summoning technique and my mother was among the strongest of the Acerbi Clan with their elemental techniques."

He thinks back to his own sparring sessions with his mother and shudders.

"She is absolutely hell to fight against in more ways than one. That's why she was known as the Goddess of Hell."

3

The Rear Entrance

At her urging, Tsukune and Omote had left Moka behind to find another way into the castle. So Moka has to face the very powerful and now very angry Fiammetta Reinfeldt, looking at Moka with murder in her eyes, all by herself.

"I am going to enjoy slaughtering you," she angrily growls at Moka as she glares at her.

"Anytime you're ready, old crone," Moka mockingly replies, already in her fighting pose. "Come and get me."

"You will not live enough to regret your words!"

Enraged, Fiammetta raises her right hand up and points her palm towards Moka. Then, without warning, flames shoot out of her palms and right at Moka! Even thought she's taken by complete surprise, she dodges it, but just barely. On the ground, she frantically pats out the flames burning away on her shorts and short-sleeved shirt that she and everyone except for Mizore was wearing to help keep cool. Looking up, she sees Fiammetta's left palm pointing at her and she rolls to the side just in time to avoid getting roasted alive. Moka gets on her feet again and looks at her, confused as to where those flames were coming from and wondering why Fiammetta was just smiling at her.

"Why the hell are you smiling and where in the world did those flames come from?"

Fiammetta laughs joyfully at her questions.

"You mean to tell me that you came here not knowing who you were dealing with? What fools you are! Before I married my husband, I was one of the strongest among my original Acerbi Clan whose ability is Elemental Mastery! And as you can see, my element is fire!"

She holds both of her hands out and shoots fire from both of them at her and Moka leaps up and out of the way as the two flames cross each other where she had just been not even a second a before. As she falls down right at her, Moka brings her foot down towards Fiammetta's head to kick her. She then sees a rope-like flame seemingly wrap around her chest and the next thing that she knew she is being flung into the air and then slammed into the ground, face first, and then is flung away. Now free but with her shirt on fire, Moka quickly takes it off and gets back on her feet with several burn holes in her shorts and bra. Fiammetta is smiling at her.

"Hmmm… Maybe I should burn your clothes off one-by-one and force you to strip all the way down before I finally finish you off."

"What… just what kind of techniques were those?" she yells at her.

"You want to know the names of my techniques, huh? Alright, I'll tell you. Firstly…"

More flames shoot out of her palms at Moka and she dodges to the side and out of the way.

"…That was my Fiume di Fiamma, and now…" [*1]

A line of fire seems to pour out of her right hand and she starts to swing it around her.

"…Taste my Frusta Fiamma!" [*2]

She swings her flame whip at her and Moka ducks and dodges her, swing after swing.

What the hell? Moka thinks. I've heard of certain species that can use elemental abilities before, but being able to produce, maintain, and control fire to this degree? I've never even heard of anyone being able to do that in my entire life! Just how incredibly powerful is she?

"I was using less intense flames before since I wanted to play with you for as long as I can, but now I think that I'll turn up the heat!"

With a big smile on her face, she swings her flame whip at her again and Moka quickly slips her shorts off and catches the whip with it. Moka had figured out that Fiammetta's flame whip functioned just like an ordinary whip and counting on the flames not being intense enough to burn right through it so she decided to catch it with the biggest piece of clothing that she had left to break its momentum. Her plan worked. With her whip now lying on the ground, Moka dashes straight at her before she could get her whip back up and swinging around her again. Moka jumps up and towards her, ready to give her a flying kick, knock her back, and then follow up with a series of brutal kicks to break her in half. As she is coming down at her though, flames suddenly appear between them. They would at best, just burn her and at worst, incinerate her, and Moka couldn't stop herself from falling towards them.

BUAH!

Moka has the wind knocked out of her as she is hit from the side by something. The next thing she knows, she's tumbling along the ground with somebody tightly holding onto her. As soon as they stop, Moka gets up on her feet and sees that it was Kurumu that had just saved her.

"Kurumu!" she yells, surprised, with her eyes darting between her and her opponent. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be covering everyone with Ruby from the air!"

Kurumu stands up next to her, ready for anything as they both face their enemy, and smiles at Moka's question.

"As important as that is, keeping everybody alive is more important. That's why Ruby is helping out Yukari and Mizore. So whether or not you and your pride like it, I'm fighting with you!"

Moka's face brightens with a faint blush as she glared towards Kurumu before scoffing and looking away. Feeling her pride being damaged, she yells at her.

"I don't need your help! I can handle her by myself!"

"Shut up and just accept the fact that I'm helping you. You should know by now that arguing with me is pointless."

Moka has had conflicting emotions getting used to the sisterly bonds they've all formed with each other over the past few years. She had always been the proud and powerful Vampire that would defeat almost any opponent with a single blow during her first year at Youkai Academy. During her second year, her heart started softening towards Tsukune and everyone else, but even so, she still carried herself with pride and the aristocratic air that she had been raised with. Even now, accepting help of any kind is difficult for her. Despite that, she knows full well that once Kurumu is determined to do something, she follows through with it no matter what. So, knowing that Kurumu was right about arguing with her being useless and that she really needed some help with this opponent, Moka grudgingly gives in.

"Idiot… Fine, suit yourself but you had better keep up. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kurumu laughingly nods with a smile before continuing. "Whatever you say, Tsundere princess."

WHACK!

"Ouch!"

Moka gave her a half-hearted whack on her head.

"You are such a stubborn woman."

"When it comes to my family, you better believe it. By the way, Moka… are you trying to start a new fashion trend?"

Remembering that she was now wearing only her bra and panties that have several burn holes all over them, Moka feels both anger and embarrassment at Kurumu's smartass question.

"W-w-we'll talk about that later!" Moka momentarily looses her composure before regaining it and clears her throat. "For now, let's take this old crone down!"

Moka runs at Fiammetta while Kurumu spreads her wings, takes off, and flies at her ahead of Moka with the intent of softening her up for Moka to finish off. As Kurumu is about to cut her up though, flames appear in front of her and Kurumu is forced to fly to the side instead to dodge it and Moka stops in her tracks.

That's the same technique that she just used against me! Moka thinks.

"Good luck getting past my Fuoco Muro!" Fiammetta laughed to them. "It can burn up anything that tries to get close to me!" [*3]

Kurumu lands next to Moka again.

"Did you see what I saw?" Kurumu asks her.

"What did you see?"

"Her wall was just that one facing us, like a shield."

Moka realizes what she is saying.

"Meaning that all of her other sides were open and unprotected?" Moka asks, thinking up a good plan.

"Oh yeah," she replies. "Think you can distract her for me?"

"With pleasure," Moka answers, knowing that both she and Kurumu were thinking of the same plan.

Kurumu takes off again and flies up while Moka walks towards Fiammetta.

"Hey, old crone, are you tired yet? Is that all you've got? Do you need a walker yet?" she teased to get her full attention directed at her and her alone.

"Trying to play on my anger now, are we? We'll that's not going to work I'm afraid." she confidently and calmly states. "I decided to watch your face as I slowly kill your little friend right in front of you. Just the thought of watching the anguish on your face is making me feel good and calm. On that note…"

She thrusts her left hand behind her and creates another fire wall behind her, forcing Kurumu who was diving on her according to their plan to dodge it again. Moka then helplessly watches while Fiammetta quickly grows out her fire whip, wraps it around Kurumu's legs…

GYAAAAAHHH!

THUMP!

…Burning them and slamming her into the ground.

Knowing that she had no time to waste, Moka runs as fast as she can to save Kurumu.

It's now or never!

She unleashes her shinso power that she had been saving until the right time to strike and quickly finish Fiammetta off in one stroke. Now however, she is being forced to use it to save one of her best friends before she's burned to death!

"Get away from her you old crone!"

"You fell for it!"

Fiammetta points her left palm at Moka and creates another wall right in front of Moka who is swallowed by the intense flames.

"Mokaaaaa!" screams Kurumu.

4

The Castle Interior

A single guard wearing a white uniform walks down a long hallway as part of his patrol route through the castle interior. He has a sheathed dress sword at his side that he had been issued as part of the Reinfeldt Clan's honor guard for the scheduled wedding. As he walks down the hallway that he had walked down hundreds of times already, he feels frustrated that there is fighting going on outside while he's stuck inside, just walking in circles. He knew that as a Vampire commoner that his only chance at a better life for himself was to move up in the ranks within the Reinfeldt Clan's army and that could only be accomplished on the battlefield, not walking in circles in this an ungodly hot castle that was a far cry from his native Sweden.

Then, he feels a tapping on his shoulder, stops, and only half-interestingly looks behind him to see a fist right in front of his face before…

BASH!

…It hits his face and…

DUNK!

…Sends him flying into the wall head first, knocking him out, and falls down to the floor in a heap.

"Good job, Tsukune," Omote compliments him. "That's one more guard out of our way."

Tsukune and Omote eventually found a small servant's entrance on the side of the castle and went inside with no trouble. Tsukune had neutralized a few guards that they found inside by concealing their youki and then blindsiding them before they even knew what was going on.

"Yeah, it really looks like they weren't expecting us at all," he replies to her as they both cautiously walk past the now unconscious guard, looking out for more. "Hopefully it'll stay like this all the way to the tower that Kokoa's in."

Both of them carefully make their way towards the tower that they think Kokoa is being held in.

"I just hope that she's up there," Omote quietly says.

"She has to be up there," Tsukune quietly answers her. "That's where we sensed that wildly chaotic youki coming from. I can't imagine why anyone else would be doing that right now so that's where we're going to look first."

Despite his confident words, there was one thing at the back of his mind that he did not tell Omote; one other possibility to explain the chaotic youki coming from that tower that worried him. It could be a trap!

Omote meanwhile, even though she didn't show it, was extremely worried. If that really is Kokoa that they are sensing, then why is her youki so wildly chaotic? What was happening to her? Was she okay? Was she suffering? Granted they were not very close to each other as far as Kokoa was concerned ever since Omote was separated from her beloved onee-sama, but despite that, Omote still loved and thought of her as her precious little sister. Until the moment that she knew for sure, she would be plagued by her many fears and worries.

A short time later, they reach the base of the spiral tower stairway. By now they are also sensing a second youki coming from the tower as well. It's not as strong or as chaotic as the other one, but it's still there and near the first one. Being that close to it, they sense that the first youki is a lot stronger and chaotic than they had originally thought.

Just what is going on up there? Omote thinks. Can that really be Kokoa?

Just then, Tsukune senses something else nearby and yells out.

"Get down!"

He shields Omote's body with his own as he jumps on top of her and they both go down.

GAHAAAH!

Tsukune feels something strike his right shoulder and an intense pain shoots through it.

"Tsukune!" shouts a shocked Moka.

On the ground with Tsukune still on top of her, Omote reaches around and feels his back until she finds something there that shouldn't be. With Tsukune obviously in great pain and it showing in his face just inches in front of her own, she looks over his shoulder and sees an arrow sticking out of his back. Horrified at what she is seeing, she almost doesn't see the figure beyond him down the hallway with a fully drawn bow pointing right at him.

"TSUKUNE NO!" she screams.

Just as the figure fires the arrow, Omote quickly threw Tsukune off of her and onto the stairway, out of sight from the shooter. Omote successfully gets the man that she loves out of harms way, but that now leaves her vulnerable with nothing to protect her and nothing she could do to save herself from getting hit and possibly killed.

WISH! DINK!

The arrow flies just above Omote's face, so close that she could feel the brief breeze as flies past her and hits a wall behind her, ricocheting down the other corridor. It was obvious that he had been aiming for Tsukune alone and so had just missed hitting Omote.

"Good reflexes, I'm impressed."

The mystery figure steps out of the room he had been hiding in and starts walking towards the two of them.

"I thought that if I waited here that somebody would eventually show up in a futile effort to save my little cousin's bride," Jerk proudly gloated. "I was surprised that he was able to sense me at all with me concealing my youki and everything going on upstairs. Now though, it doesn't make any difference since-"

DAM!

CRASH!

From where Moka had thrown him and in the span of less than a second, Tsukune released the first seal of his Holy Lock, appeared next to Jerk, and hit him so hard that he sent him through the stone wall.

"Tsukune!" calls Omote as she gets up and rushes to him as he reseals his first seal and stagers. "Hold still, I'll try to pull it out."

The board chairman of their old school, Mikogami, who had given Tsukune his Holy Lock to control the Vampire blood coursing through his veins, warned him to be careful about using it in battle since it was really easy to forget about the very serious drawbacks to the lock's three seals in the heat of battle. So Tsukune made it a point to not leave the seals undone whenever he was not using them.

Tsukune grits his teeth as she tries to wiggle the arrow out of his shoulder blade that it had imbedded itself in…

GYACK!

…Until it finally came out.

"…Did… the arrowhead… come out too?" he painstakingly asks her.

"Y-yeah… Luckily it looks like it was really well made so it stayed in one piece when I pulled it out."

Tsukune catches his breath and steels himself.

"Then we need to get up there fast! Kokoa has to be up there and she needs us!"

They then both sense an intense youki very near to them and watch as a hurt and now pissed Jerk climbs through the big hole in the wall that Tsukune had made with Jerk's own body. Omote then steps forward.

"Tsukune, I'll stay here. You go save Kokoa."

"Are you crazy? I can't leave you here by yourself!"

"Tsukune, please go save Kokoa. I'm sure that she's in pain right now and needs our help. Besides, you're still injured. So get going already! I'll be alright!"

"I can't-"

Omote whips her head back and looks Tsukune in his eyes with tears welling up in her own eyes.

"Tsukune, please, go save my little sister!"

Despite every fiber of his body wanting to stay with and protect her, Tsukune knows that she's absolutely right and can't refuse the desperation in her voice. So without another word being said, he turns and runs up the staircase.

Don't worry, Tsukune, Omote thinks. I'm not going to die here. I can't die. We're still haven't even started our own family yet.

Omote readied herself to fight her new opponent who was no longer in a talkative mode and now only wanted blood.

To be continued…

Note #1: Fiume di Fiamma or River of Flame – It is a stream of fire that she generates from the palms of her hands and shoots at her enemies with. If she puts both of her hands together first, then it doubles the technique's power.

Note #2: Frusta Fiamma or Flame Whip – It is a whip of pure flame that Fiammetta wields like an actual whip thanks to her exceptionally acute control over her elemental abilities. It can not only burn whatever it touches depending on the flame's intensity as she wills it, but it also has no limit as to how long she can make it.

Note #3: Fuoco Muro or Fire Wall – It is a wall of flame that she uses for defense to burn up anything trying to hit her.

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