Mahou Sensei Negima! is the creation and intellectual property of Akamatsu Ken and Kodansha.


But your Princess is in Another Castle.


"Aaaaaaand that's the whole story!" Jack Rakan grinned as his movie presentation ended, amidst the glorious fanfares of illegally appropriated John Williams music. "Nagi became a hero and a household name in the Magical World, and peace was restored! And we all lived happily ever after!"

"Bravooo! Bravoooo!" Aisaka Sayo clapped her tiny hands happily. "I'm so moved...! You, you people truly were the greatest...!"

"Gotta hand it to you, old kook, that was some really cool shit!" Natsu Dragneel said. "I've gained some mad respect for you today!"

Wendy Marvell sniffed, wiping the tears off her eyes with a fist. "I'm so glad Princess Arika was saved! I was very worried about her!"

Happy stopped snoring at a corner and blinked sleepily, sitting up. "Ah? Is it over already? Sorry, I always fall asleep through long movies...!"

But Negi himself, Chisame, Louise, Collet, Erza, Juvia, Yue, Nodoka, Kotaro, Rito, Skuld, 'Asuna', Tsukuyomi, Lucy, Carla, Haruka, Yukino, Gray, Juvia, and even Jean-Luc were only staring icily at the tall, tanned mercenary.

Rakan's ever present smile faltered. "... what? Not enough fanservice and explosions for your liking?"

"And what happened then?" Negi asked.

"Whaddya mean 'What happened then?'" Rakan asked. "Wasn't that enough?"

"No, of course not!" Chisame said. "It's obvious that that isn't the end of the story!"

"But it is!" Natsu argued. "It had the words 'The End' and everything!"

Erza planted her fist on his face, and then barked at Rakan. "You know perfectly well what we're talking about! Currently, Princess Arika is officially treated as a war criminal and public enemy! Why, this movie would be treated as glorification of a terrorist leader and would have you jailed!"

Rakan rolled his eyes back, starting to pick his nose. "Ah, the lil' girl aiding wanted terrorists is now lecturing me on not painting terrorists as heroes! Makes perfect sense..."

"That's not the point and you know it!" Lucy said. "That only starts explaining how we collectively got here!"

"There's still the matter of how Negi's father disappeared," Chisame began counting with her fingers, "and why Cosmo Entelecheia's still around if you allegedly wiped them out, and why that woman looks so much like Kagurazaka, and-!"

Rakan blinked innocently, putting his hands together. "They look alike? Seriously? I don't see any resemblance, past the colored eyes, and that's such a common trait...!"

"That's bull!" Asuna shouted. "Even here, I haven't ever ran into anyone who has heterno- heterio- this mismatched eye thing I've always had!"

Yukino blinked at her. "You've lived with that condition for fifteen years and you still can't pronounce it?"

"I can't stand people who can't even talk correctly and keep messing words up," Haruka said with a completely straight face.

"TSK! TSK!" Rakan wagged a mighty finger. "I'm not Zack Snyder, I wasn't going to make a bloated four hours long mess that couldn't even cover the whole epic anyway! This is just the first part! Watching the other two installments will cost you extra!"

"Put them on Makarov's tab!" Erza demanded.

Rakan laughed, with a hand behind his head. "I'd love to, but I haven't filmed them yet anyway! I was thinking of a Kickstarter...!"

"How about this for a Kickstarter!?" Chisame said, kicking him in the stomach while Louise kicked him in a leg. "Screw your home movies, just tell us what happened later, this is important!"

"I can't, even if you paid me," Rakan said very seriously.

"Why not?" Negi asked.

"I promised your old man and your mom," Rakan said. "You aren't ready yet. Still too young!"

"Oh, but he isn't too young to be put through life threatening training and constant abuse just so he can fight your battles for you, right?!" Chisame roared. "You almost got him turned into an inhuman beast!"

"To be fair, I did that to myself," Negi pointed out.

"Is that Arika woman Sensei's mother, then?" Yue asked.

"I'm not talkin'!" Rakan said, zipping his mouth up. Literally. Don't ask.

Nodoka frowned and pulled Diarium Ejus out.

Rakan unzipped his mouth. Again, don't ask, please. "Just try it, Cutie! I can't be forced to think into anything you want me to! Jack Rakan's willpower is unbreakable! I'll just think of the most unpleasant thing for you, instead!"

"We will see," Nodoka said, lowering her gaze to the open pages. "Rakan-san, is Arika-hime-sama Negi-sensei's- WHAT, WHAT IN THE WORLD?!" she shrieked, blushing. "Why would y-you have these kinds of thoughts?!"

Kotaro blinked, then hurried over to look at the pages as well. He blushed too, and then jumped ahead, punching Rakan in the midsection and sending him crashing against a wall. "ARE YOU NUTS?! HOW CAN YOU SHOW THAT TO A LADY?!"

Haruka leaned closer to Nodoka, blinking in curiosity. "What have you-"

"I, I, I won't let any of you see!" Nodoka said, slamming the book closed and shuddering. "I almost feel tempted to burn it now! My precious book will never be clean again!"

"Oh, for the love of- It's your world!" Tsukuyomi told Erza. "You still should know the basics of what came later, it should be public knowledge! Why do you need to ask this oaf?"

"Well," Lucy hummed, rubbing her chin, "the official story is that shortly after those events Princess Arika seized the throne of her country, disposed of the rest of the royal family including her father and her sister Vesperina, and then dragged it into a war that razed half of Ostia and its neighboring countries. There are several versions about her death, but most have her torn apart by demons. It's very clear that she is dead by this point, however."

Negi blanched in horror. "That, that is just plain awful!"

"It's in all school textbooks," Collet shrugged. "But I suppose that it's entirely possible that she was indeed a good person and she was framed for all those things."

"That, that only makes her fate more horrible and tragic!" Negi despaired.

Rakan nodded somberly, casually punching Kotaro aside when the dog boy tried to hit him again. "Yeah, that much I can tell. The Princess was one of the good guys. There wasn't a single evil bone in her body. She was framed."

"And where were you while that happened?" Chisame accused him coldly.

Rakan hewed and rasped loudly. "It's a complicated story! It's not a clean cut, black and white thing...!"

Everyone, now including Sayo, Natsu, Happy and Wendy, glared at him suspiciously.

Rakan sighed heavily. "What's wrong with today's youth? You're all so cynical! You shoulda been all happy and cheering after that finely filmed finale, like you were in Negima canon!"

"It's Chisame's influence rubbing off on all of us," Asuna said, "but fine, if you won't tell us, we'll find about it some other way!"

"Such as?" Gray asked. "We could try calling Makarov, but odds are he'll be just as unhelpful."

Asuna made a very serious face. "The Joker's been snooping around this world, after arriving at roughly the same time as us, and he knew enough about what's going on to know where he could find us and Sextum. So we're going to find him, beat the crap outta him, and then make him tell us what he has learned."

Everyone now stared at her in shock.

"Oh. ... oh!" Nodoka began laughing very shakily after a moment. "P-Please, Asuna-san! This isn't the time for jok-"

But Negi shook his initial shock off and nodded grimly. "Yes," he said, interrupting Nodoka without really meaning to. "His methods are merciless and cruel, but also faster than ours, I'm afraid. Already, he must have extracted a lot of key info from God knows how many victims, and he must intend it for use in nefarious purposes..."

"Oh, come on!" Chisame said. "You too?!"

There was a long, pointed silence then.

"Is it too late by now for me to leave this party and go back home?" Collet asked weakly.

Louise half-heartedly bopped her riding crop on the dog girl's head. "Yes. Yes, it is," she said blandly.

"Ah. I just wanted to make sure..."


"Well, that was a huge waste of our time," 'Kojiro' said as he and 'Nagi' left the Komedy Klub in the East District. "That was the worst comedy act I've ever seen!"

"I think it gains a lot when one has a solid knowledge of ancient Latin," Negi shrugged. "But yes, I didn't get all those jokes about cuckoos and buck breaking. Were those related to monetary units or deer?"

"Beats me," Kotaro said. "Do you really think we'll find any clues about the Joker this way?" he lowered his voice as they walked down the street.

"His obsession with comedy and humor is too great, we're bound to find him if we keep visiting these places," his partner reasoned. "With your sense of smell, it won't be easy for him to disguise himself."

Then he stopped around a corner, pulling a Pactio card out of his robes and pressing it against his forehead. Kotaro came to a halt as well, looking back at him.

"Hello, Lena? It's been a while," Negi said. "Mmm! Mm-hmm! Well, yes, that's great!" He smiled, and then told Kotaro. "Lena, Webby, Twilight and Spike have found Chachamaru!"

"Seriously? That's great!" Inugami smirked, following Negi as he gestured for him to follow him into an alley, away from any listening passerbys. Kotaro waited until Negi was done with his telepathic conversation and pocketed his card back, and then urged him, "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, the search party says she landed in Twilight's own homeland of Equestria, and she's on her way here," Negi said. "What a relief! I was starting to think Sextum or Quartum had captured her, and used her sensors to find us..."

"Well, this plan of yours is finally starting to pay off," Kotaro said, hands in his pockets as they left the dark alley. "I won't complain about the fights, but after Nodoka-neechan and Chisame found us, I was starting to think that nobody else would answer your clues on TV!"

"You're forgetting Sayo," Negi chided him lightly. "But yes, I was starting to get worried about its effectiveness myself. I'm afraid the rest of the team might be jailed or worse, in the hands of our enemies. I can't be at ease until they are here with us... safe..." he finished blandly as he found himself face to face with a long magical spear aimed at him.

Kotaro just sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head, as another armored Ariadne Knight also leveled another massive spear against him. "You can't even keep your own boxers safe! Look at this, all that snooping across town called attention to us!"

"Shouldn't you have smelled them before this?" Negi asked calmly.

"They must have magical defenses against that in these armors," Kotaro shrugged, "because I can't smell anything from them even now. It makes sense since they are supposed to hunt magical beasts regularly."

"You are under arrest in the name of the Coalition of Nations!" said a feminine voice from within the armor of the figure holding Negi hostage. Negi thought he recognized the voice, but the highly concealing helmet made it impossible to see the person's face, and also deformed the tone of her delivery. "They have called for Ariadne's womanpower to search for and apprehend you!"

"What are the charges against us?" Kotaro asked. "We're just honest gladiators fighting in legal colosseum battles! True, we had a street brawl last week, but we were attacked and defended ourselves, and the City Council found us-"

"You are under suspicion of being wanted criminals Negi Springfield and Inugami Kotaro," the other Valkyrie holding Kotaro at spearpoint said. "Please come with us peacefully."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard!" Kotaro laughed. "If we were those people, surely we'd be in hiding!"

"Yes! We couldn't possibly be that dumb!" Negi said, smiling. "This is only a misunderstanding!"

There were three other Valkyries standing behind the two leading ones, one as short as Yue, the other of mid-height and thin, and a tall, full bodied one, with large expanded breast plates. "If you're not Negi and Kotaro, then you'll be let go quickly after a questioning session," this tallest of the trio said, with a husky voice Negi thought to recognize, as well. "Come on, boys. What is so scary about coming downtown with us, hmmmm?"

Negi and Kotaro sighed and shared a jaded look. "Women, amirite?" Kotaro said.

"If they were men, odds are they'd have hit first instead of trying a rational approach," Negi said. "Why must you be like this?"

"Don't think less of us just because we are women!" the one pointing the weapon at Negi barked angrily. "Globus Captans!" she chanted, and a large bubble of glowing energy sprang from her spear, enveloping the boys and locking them inside of it.

"Well!" the lean and middle-height Valkyrie said. "That was easy!"

"You just jinxed it..." her shortest comrade monotoned.

"How can I jinx it?!" the other one argued, ponting at the trapped duo. "If that's indeed Negi, he can't escape something like that! He isn't that strong!"

"You know each other?" Kotaro hummed. "Of course you do, you know all girls everywhere."

"Maybe I do," Negi said, placing his hand on the bright inside surface of the bottle. "Let's see, I think I can pinpoint the weak spot here..."

"You can't, and you shouldn't touch that, you'll burn your hand!" the apparent leader of the outfit said before simulating a phone with a hand and talking through it. "Hello? Unit Leader Sevensheep here! We have just found two suspects of- GAHHHH!" she screamed, her blue eyes bugging out through the helmet's visor.

For Negi had just tightened his hand around a section of the bubble shaped energy net and crushed it into so many small shreds of energy fluttering down to the pavement.

"Magic cancel?!" the second Knight at the lead gasped.

"Hardly, just an application of reversing the magic's applied polarity so it would collapse on itself," Negi said, dusting his hands off. "Now, if you would please just listen-"

"Kirche, Tabitha!" the thinner of the bunch growled, rushing with her own, smaller spear and racing past the two at the lead to charge the young men directly. "Give them no quarter!"

"Oh, this isn't how I like to jump on men's bones!" the busty and tall one groaned, nonetheless joining the charge and trying to stab at a side of Kotaro- only to be flung back into the air, along her four companions, at a spin of Negi's arms, since Kotaro only stood back watching. "What the Haaaaaades?!"

"Rude!" Kotaro disapproved as the girls in armor hit the ground. "We should just split instead of hitting them!"

"They found us, so they can learn our location from just asking in the stadium," Negi said, assuming a martial arts position while the girls got back up very quickly. "Running only stalls an inevitable confrontation, but if we still can reason with them..."

"That does sound like something Negi would say," the tallest of the bunch told the others. "You sure you still want to hit him?"

"If it's Negi, then that's all the more reason to do it!" the squad leader insisted. "We can't let our feelings betray us! He betrayed Ariadne by kidnapping Collet!"

"And Master Louise?" Negi asked, frowning.

"Who cares about Louise the- Ahhh, it's you!" the squad leader gasped. She gave several small jumps back. "What have you done with Collet, you evil gateport blowing freak?! Answer before I call for reinforcements!"

"What a pain," Kotaro said, shaking his head. "Just do it already!"

"Should I?" Negi doubted. "That'll only make them madder at me!"

"We know it's how this will end up anyway!" the wolf boy rolled his eyes up. "We aren't going to pummel the crap outta them and like you said, running is pointless, so just do it and save us some headache!"

Negi sighed and aimed ahead, at the girls who were falling in line with each other, tentatively training their spears on him. "Flans Exarmatio!" he shouted as his whole right arm glowed a burning crimson...

And then Emily Sevensheep, Beatrix Monroe, Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst, Montmorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency and Tabitha all flew across the narrow lonely street, slamming against a wall and slumping down to the ground, stunned, spiral eyed, and completely naked.

"Just like I thought, I do know them after all," Negi sighed, taking his long coat off, walking over to Emily, and putting it on her first as a deference to her rank. "I spent around two weeks with them in Ariadne, they are classmates of Master Louise, Twilight and Collet."

"Color me surprised," Kotaro said blandly, taking his shirt off and putting it on a dazed Tabitha, since she looked the most vulnerable and in need of protection. "But in that case, you can convince them to listen to us, right? Since you were friends?"

"Friends is perhaps too strong a word," Negi said as Emily finally reacted; the first thing she did after regaining some awareness was stretching an arm upwards to squeeze her hand around his neck, as strongly as she could.

Much to her annoyance, she only hurt her fingers.


Someone knocked at the door.

Chisame closed the book she'd been reading. She had been forced to take book reading of late. Much to her surprise, it actually was somewhat like being reading in the Internet, but without the interactivity. She thought it kind of sucked, but it still was the closest thing to the Internet in this crappy world, so she was stuck with it for the time being.

"Who is it?" she asked Nodoka.

Miyazaki sighed, put her own book down, and summoned Diarium Ejus, pointing it at the closed door. "It's just Sensei and Kotaro-kun," she said. "But they brought guests."

"Then it's not 'just' them," Chisame said.

"There is no need to nitpick, Chisame-san. You know what I'm saying," the librarian said in a calm voice.

"Are those guests-" Chisame began.

"Kotaro-kun is grumbling inwardly about them and Negi-sensei is very nervous. So girls. They definitely have to be girls," Nodoka said.

Louise came out of the next room and stomped all the way to the door, whip well in hand. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! This bloody Don Juan can't rest idle for long!" She threw the door open. "Okay, let's see what kind of two-bit harlot you have-!"

Kirche threw herself on Louise, laughing loudly and hugging her tightly. "Bwa ha ha ha!" she said. "Zero, it's actually great to see you again! I won that bet against Petunia, who insisted you were dead...!"

"AAAHHHHHH!" Louise kicked and waved her arms wildly, her head trapped between Kirche's melons. "It's the mother of all two-bit harlots...! Chisame, help meeeeee!"

Collet peeked out of another room, her nose twitching. "Girls? GIRLS!" she yelled, throwing herself with open arms towards the door, and then crouching down to wag her tail and ears before the group of newcomers Negi and Kotaro were ushering in, then to close the front door after them. "Girls, you found us! You finally found us!"

Beatrix smiled faintly, then pulled a bone shaped biscuit out of her breast pocket and threw it at her. Collet caught it with her mouth and swallowed it happily while Beatrix scratched her head.

Emily sighed. "You are all under arrest in the name of the Coalition of Nations," she said in a very weary tone. "Any of you willing to plead for mercy as a hostage should file a proper request to the effect..."

"Where do I sign?" Chisame deadpanned.

"Oh, dear, it seems that I forgot the forms back at our hotel," Emily deadpanned back. "You will have to wait for them in prison..."

"Chisame, please, I'm suffocating...!" Louise wailed.

Tsukuyomi walked in, adjusting her glasses. "Oh, but if it's the bunch of girls from Ariadne! What a pleasant surprise, said absolutely no one ever!"

"GAH!" Montmorency backed away, pointing a wand at her, her example being quickly followed by Emily and Tabitha. "It's you! The psycho attacker from that night!"

"It's okay, I have hired her as my bodyguard, so there's no reason to be wary of her as long as you keep your eyes on her and there's someone else in the room with you and her," Negi explained.

"That's not a reassuring sentence at all! Not in the slightest!" Montmorency said vehemently.

"Oh, girls, it's you. Well, I suppose it was just a matter of time," Yue said, blinking slowly while also walking into the room. "I trust that you'll be willing to listen to us, after all-" She paused, seeing Emily and Collet walking in circles and sniffing at each other's tail. "Good evening, Class Rep."

"Ah!" Emily said, straightening up, clicking her heels together, and sporting a remarkable blush. "Good evening, Ayase Yue! Just to remind you, you weren't in the actual Wanted List, so you're free to just denounce your kidnappers and then return with us to-"

"I'm sorry, but I'm as guilty as they are," Yue said evenly, walking to Negi's side and wrapping her arm around his. Louise made several muffled angry noises from between Kirche's breasts. "Thanks for your generosity, all the same."

"... you're welcome," Emily said, scowling in disappointment. She looked around. "Where are the Fairy Tail guild members? Negi said that you are cohabitating with several of them!"

"They don't spend their whole time here, they have their own living quarters in the city that they must keep to hold appearances," Chisame said. "How do you do, I'm Hasegawa Chisame..."

"And thanks for all the help, too!" Louise puffed bitterly, swallowing for air after finally wrenching herself free from the giggling Kirche's hug.

"Ah, the second in command of the conspiracy," Emily said, looking at Chisame. "The so-called Evil Queen of Scheming..."

"You must be mistaking me with Haruna to some degree," Chisame said. "Look, I'll admit that most of us aren't saints, but we were framed and, if you really have known Negi for any long, you'll have realized that he doesn't have the guts for any-"

There was a sharp loud scream from another room, in Skuld's unmistakable voice, of "AGAIN, YOU FILTHY FREAK?!" and then a naked Rito, fresh off the shower, flew into the living room through a closed door, and slammed facefirst into Montmorency's crotch.


"NO WAY!" Kirche said. "You have met THE Jack Rakan?!"

Yue nodded, noticing all too well how suddenly stiff and strangely fully-open-eyed Beatrix had become in her sitting place. "Yes," Ayase said. "He is quite a... colorful personality."

"Are you sure he is the real Rakan?" Tabitha asked blandly. "Not an impostor?"

"Oh, trust me, he performed feats that would be impossible to duplicate for anyone," Negi said. "He's also identical to the pictures my father had of him."

"Is it true that he has a schlong three feet long?" Kirche said.

Tsukuyomi giggled. "You'll have to ask Asuna-han! She saw him bathing!"

"It was an accident! AN ACCIDENT!" Asuna growled, red faced.

Beatrix looked at Collet in an imploring way. "Collet. Please tell me that you got it for me..."

Collet smiled and nodded. "Of course I did!" She then handed her a signed picture of Jack, who was grinning and giving a thumbs up. For a second, Emily thought she actually saw the picture winking too, and it creeped her out. "I couldn't let you down, Bea!"

Beatrix shivered ever so slightly, her normal Tabitha-level cool detachment sorely shaken. "Thank you... How can I ever repay you...?"

"How much did that perv charge you for that?" Chisame asked Collet. "You didn't have to do anything dirty, did you?"

"Oh, no, no!" Collet laughed that off. "Please don't worry about me...!"

Collet slammed her hands together. "Please, Mr. Rakan! Even if I don't have money, I'll pay you some other way! You can see my panties! No, you can even have them if you want!"

Rakan's eyes popped up. "Can I...?!" Then he blinked, looking at Collet's begging, nearly tearful expression, and he made a face. "Hyeh! Don't do that, you clever little sneak, you'll make me feel bad! Keep your panties on, I can get myself into ladies' panties anytime I want to!"

He began stroking his strong jaw while frowning. "Let's see... What if you cook dinner for me for a whole week while wearing undies and an apron...?"

"That's not really much better!" Rito said, bandaged like a mummy while Kotaro held him in place. "For a second, I thought he wasn't going to act like a scumbag for once!"

"Oh, so that's why he had diarrhea all through that night, right?" Chisame asked.

Collet blushed and nodded. "Yes..."

"Now you see why we never let her cook," Emily said.

"Ah, you got off the hook easy, then!" Montmorency smiled. "That's good!"

"Actually, I still had to cook for him wearing underwear and the apron for a week afterwards, it's just that he would throw the meals down the toilet right after," Collet said.

"Oh, so that's why rats came out the sewers dying all over the streets for a week, then," Chisame realized.

"After we save my sister we're going to have her teach you cooking, Collet," Skuld decided. "I doubt even Satsuki is up for that task."

"Thank you, Lady Skuld," Collet said, not offended in the slightest.

"His story is still highly dubious!" Emily said. "Do you mean that he's implying that Mr. Nagi and the Queen of Calamity were actually involved romantically!?"

"Well, Negi had to come from somewhere, right?" Chisame asked. "It's not like Nagi could give birth to him himself!"

"Are, are you saying that you really believe he's the Prince of Ostia?!" the bewildered Sevensheep demanded, jabbing a pointer several times towards the uneasy Negi. "What kind of bid for political power is this?!"

"You just don't want to accept that Nagi married another woman," Kirche said, grinning. Nodoka was actually starting to like her, despite everything. She was much like Paru in a way, although she still liked Lucy-san better.

"Mr. Nagi is for everyone!" Emily said, throwing her hands up.

"You're sounding just like the Superman fangirls on Earth who cannot accept he is with Wonder Woman," Yue smiled faintly.

"Lois Lane," Rito said.

Yue stared at him. "Lois Lane? Senpai, please! That's Clark Kent's wife!"

Tabitha looked at Skuld. "If you truly are a goddess, you can confirm whether he is Princess Arika's son or not, plus the truth of what happened to her, cannot you?"

"We are well used to Sku-chan being a tightly locked box of extremely useful info that she just won't share with us," Asuna said, sighing.

"Over half of the time you aren't ready to learn things, and the other half you wouldn't believe me if I told you! If I'd told you, back when we first met, that Negi was a Martian Prince, you would have booed me away, wouldn't you?!" the irritated Norn said.

"Sorry, you're right! Sorry, even after all we've been through together, I still doubt you, my friends, so often!" Ai pleaded, falling to her hands and knees before the Norn. "Even now, I'm not sure you can help me find Itoshiki-sensei, and I'm still so embarrassed about that!"

"Ah!" Montmorency gasped. "Who are you?! You were here?!"

Ai nodded and sobbed. "Yes, always! Sorry, but in the absence of Matoi-chan I have to keep at least one of her shticks warm!"

"As long as you don't start falling in love with me..." Chisame said and shuddered.

"Regardless, I'm not omniscient, so I have no idea about the exact circumstances of Princess Arika's death, or even whether she's truly dead or not..."

Negi's eyes snapped unnaturally open, and he turned towards her. "Do you mean... There's an actual chance she's still alive?!"

"Oh, now that you learn she's a Queen you actually start caring about her!" Skuld said. "Why weren't you asking me that all these past months?"

"I hate to admit it, but that's actually a damn good question," Chisame said, and Kotaro and Tsukuyomi nodded.

"Nobody ever gave me any reasons to believe she might be actually alive!" Negi told Skuld. "But if there's no grave anywhere, then...!"

"No grave that we know of. For all we know she's buried in a nameless plot anywhere in this world," Skuld said bluntly. "But across the alternate timelines, there are a few where Arika lives on at this point of time, indeed. Universes 6904877 and 1300818. Although-"

"Although...?" Negi repeated eagerly.

"Nothing," Skuld sighed. "But you should be warned that, if your mother turned out alive, and I'm not saying that your mother and Arika are the same person nudge nudge wink wink, she'd really want for you to secure the continuity of your bloodline as thoroughly as possible, nudge nudge wink wink."

Negi blinked. "Nudge nudge wink wink? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Yeah, Neechan, stop talking in riddles!" Kotaro said. "What are you getting to here?"

Rito, Louise, Yue, Nodoka, Asuna, Emily, Collet, Beatrix, Sayo, Ai, Tsukuyomi, Kirche and Montmorency facepalmed. Chisame was too used to Negi already and Tabitha had too much restrain, though.

"See, that's what I mean with you not being ready yet!" Skuld said. "Rakan may be an asshole but he's got a point of sorts on not telling you everything about her yet!"

"Why, was she indeed a bad person?" Negi asked.

"It's not that..." Skuld said uncomfortably. "But... you know! Royalty can't help but look at the world in their own ways! Just think of Lala!"

"Or you, for that matter," Tsukuyomi said.

"True, technically I'm divine royalty," Skuld admitted matter of factly. "Which makes that woman extra dangerous to me, she'd probably want me to marry- Gahhhh...!"

"I still don't get it," Negi hummed, "but I think you're trying to point me in the direction of her being my mother without breaking your vows of confidentiality, aren't you? She still overthrew her father, so either she or him were in the wrong. No matter what, I still have tainted blood in my family..." He began brooding.

"Hey, everyone's got black sheep in their family! That's a really ridiculous thing to get angsty about!" Chisame said.

"Not me," Louise said. "Everyone in my family is perfect!"

"You are their black sheep, haven't you realized that yet?" Kirche told her.

Louise slumped down, the same black aura of gloom that had just appeared on Negi now flowing around her as well. "I... I guess you're right, in a way... I'm the only useless person in my family... They must be glad I'm gone...!"

Somewhere, while desperately scouting the city with Keiichi, Eleonore sneezed.


"I know this sounds hypocritical coming from me, but are you sure you can trust them?" Tsukuyomi asked after the Cadets left.

Negi breathed out. "Every step taken in this enterprise is a gamble," he told the young woman. "They weren't even here to look for us, they were just sent as a standard goodwill delegation for the festivities."

"Or so they say," she argued. "That headmistress knows that they know you well, from the time you spent together. Who better than them to set a trap for you?"

"Ariadne has sworn neutrality on these matters, and they are loyal to Collet," Negi said firmly, looking out the window. "They won't deliver us."

"You are overstimating both friendship and political principles," the swordswoman warned him. "The pressure from every world leader will make anyone crack, and academic pressure means everything to that haughty dog girl."

"If anything," Negi observed, "it's more of a liability to send young ladies who are emotionally compromised with the target."

Tsukuyomi blinked in mild surprise, and then smiled. "Why you, Negi-han…! You're starting to believe yourself the Casanova you are! It was about time, I would say…!"

"I was thinking more about their ties to Collet…" Negi rasped. "Anyway, IF they truly wanted to turn us, we'd already be assaulted by guards from every nation."

"Point!" Tsukuyomi conceded graciously.

He turned to look back at her. "Tsukuyomi-san. I wanted to tell you when we were alone, but so far, the chance had never arisen."

She giggled coquettishly. "Oh, Negi-han, and now you'll move on to actual seduction! At least wait until we find Oneesama first…"

"I think I have figured it out by now, after my memories returned," Negi told her in an even tone. "Last time we saw you, you'd thrown your lot in with the Joker, following him out of Kyoto. The next time we saw you, you were back with Sextum at the gateport, instead."

"What are you trying to get to, here?" she asked, still smiling.

"You were the Joker's mole within Cosmo Entelecheia, weren't you?" Negi prodded her gently. "It's because of you that Joker and Quartum were in the gateport. Sextum realized it shortly after, and you fought. You didn't provoke a brawl for the sake of it. That's why you were so eager to join us, because you had nowhere else to go."

"Very perceptive!" she said giddily. "Joker-han wouldn't have me back, after failing in my task, and he'd have Quartum-han tear me apart! He'd look for me anywhere, so I was in the run almost as much as you…"

Negi sighed. "Posing as Miss Erza's comrade was part of your ruse too, so you wouldn't have to use your real name in public, despite having no bounty on you in this world. But you didn't count on actual Fairy Tail members being here."

"To be fair, this is far from their country!" she said.

Negi stared at her. "Chisame and Yue would no doubt believe that you're going to turn us to Joker, but I've keeping my eye on you ever since that stunt. You haven't contacted anyone, and obviously, you can't have a Pactio with Joker…"

"I might have one with Quartum-han," she reminded him.

"He'd just use it to summon you to him and destroy you," he said. "Besides, I've looked through your things while you slept."

"All of them?" she asked seductively.

Negi blushed and forced himself to nod.

Tsukuyomi cooed, caressing his chin with a pointer finger. "So you trust me now…?"

"To a point, and only because you can't go back to them," Negi said in a strained tone. "Even if you tried to redeem yourself by delivering us, a psychopath with no loyalties like Joker would just have you killed anyway, and you know it. But, like I said, I have to operate on gambles."

"Too true," she said huskily, leaning onto him. "You've grown far less naive, far more pragmatic. I like that, and I want to think I've played a part in that. You're shaping into the kind of man I like."

He shuddered, feeling her warm breath on his face. "Thank you… From your perspective, that is praise, I'm certain…"

"It is," she said, pressing her small chest against his. "I still expect to collect my payment from you, you know, and every day I serve you, my fee becomes higher. Learning that I'm serving royalty has raised it further."

She reached over, stroking the scar on his cheek and licking her lips. "So many things have happened. You have had your first hard-on, and now you are aware about everything we saw in that other world, right? So you know how you'll have to repay me eventually."

Negi gulped. "Tsukuyomi, I-"

She kissed him. It was a kiss much like Evangeline's, deep and long and wet as her hands caressed his strong back. They closed their eyes and lost themselves in the first shared kiss, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. She smelled so good. She was so warm. Held like this, she was just another girl, much like Chisame, or Master Louise, or Haruna, or—

Eventually, she pulled back, with a bridge of saliva linking their mouths. She gulped it down avidly. "Let us run together, after we've slain Sextum-han," she invited him. "Let's be free, you've got the makings of a great mercenary! Nobody will tell us what to do with our lives in the big scheme of things. You'll be the owner of your own life, as it befits a prince."

Without knowing why, he kissed her again, a shorter and faster kiss, but a violent one regardless. She cooed in pleasure. "I choose being with my students. I already am the owner of my own life."

"You still live in your father's shadow, but once you slay your dragon and find your reward, you will learn that it wasn't worth it. I'll be waiting for you when that happens," she promised. She turned around and began leaving the room, waving mischievously over her shoulder. "Until then, Negi-han! Remember, you are mine now! Mine, mine, mine…"

As the door of the room closed after her, Negi mused to himself aloud. "That doesn't sound like I'm the master of my own life, does it?"


A couple of days later, this happened:

"Chachamaru," Negi smiled, struggling not to weep as the green haired girl's rocket feet slowed down, softly bringing her down to ground level. "Chachamaru! I have been so-"

And then Karakuri Chachamaru grabbed him, tightly holding him against herself, and pressing his body between her slender but powerful arms.

"Chachamaru," Negi gasped, "I've grown more powerful, but this still is... is...!"

"My... My apologies, Sensei," the gynoid said, pulling back from him, but still holding him by the arms. "It's just that I... I have just been overwhelmed by the sensorial impressions..."

"Yes, this is Chachamaru, alright," Chisame sighed, still in her loli form with the cat ears and tail. "Glad to see you again. Where had you been all of this time?"

Behind Chisame, Twilight Sparkle gasped, recognizing the figures coming down from the hot air balloon that had just landed behind Karakuri. "You... I have heard of you!" she said, addressing the six other ponies walking out of the vehicle. "The Elements of Harmony! The saviors of Equestria!"

The blue (?) unicorn at the lead smiled. "Oh, so our reputation preceeds us even here! Then again, I suppose we shouldn't have expected any less from the Princess' own disciple. Yes, indeed, greetings from Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle! The Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon, Element of Magic, is pleased to please you with her acquaintance!"

"Ah," Chisame told Chachamaru, who had crouched before Negi and was petting his hair almost obsessively. "So you fell into a land of cute cartoon animals. No wonder you took so long to find us..."

"I apologize once again. I must admit I had a pleasurable time upon my arrival," Chachamaru said, still caressing Negi's scalp. "But I went looking for you once I learned you hadn't been so fortunate..."

"I apologize once again. I must admit I had a pleasurable time upon my arrival," Chachamaru said, still caressing Negi's scalp. "But I went looking for you once I learned you hadn't been so fortunate..."

A gray pegasus with light blonde mane and tail sat on the ground, raising a fore hoof. Her golden eyes were visibly lopsided from each other, each pupil pointing in a different direction. "How do you do," she greeted in a strangely stilted but visibly happy tone, every word with an odd cadence and short pause to it. "I'm Derpy. But you can call me Ditzy. But I've been told that I should be called Muffins, so you can do that if you want..."

"..." Chisame, Rito, Asuna, Yue, Tsukuyomi, Skuld, Nodoka, Kotaro, Collet, Louise and Sayo said.

"Ah. I'm the Element of Loyalty. I've been told that I should introduce myself saying that, too," she added then.

"Like, forgive Muffins here and her manners, please?" asked an Earth pony sitting next to her, sporting her reddish mane and tail in thick, messy dreadlocks, a flower-stamped cloth tied around her head. "She marches to the groove of her own drum, y'know, like a free spirit and all. I'm Tree Hugger, like the Element of Honesty and stuff. Blessings."

Then her head cocked aside, distracted by the erratic flight of a passing butterfly, and she nodded to it as it went, completely detached from the group now.

"... okay..." Rito said.

A white unicorn sighed, running a hoof in circles on her own forehead, right under the sharp horn. "Please don't get the wrong impression, dears, we actually are a fairly focused team that has saved Equestria several times already, and we will also aid you in your- Ohhhh, what a fabulous dress!" she gushed, looking at Tsukuyomi's stylish white number. "It is just plain a-do-ra-ble on you, darling! I see we are going to be in tune with each other! Who is the designer, may I ask?!"

"I have no idea!" Tsukuyomi smiled brightly. "I just ran into a debutante, beat her up, and took this for myself!"

The white unicorn grimaced. "Ah... Ah, I see! W-Well, my name is Rarity, and I am the Element of Generosity, and-"

"And I'm Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter!" a bright pink (?) Earth pony literally bounced from behind her, then hopping to jump in ever closing circles around Ala Alba. "Nice to meetcha! Oboy oboy! My SECOND time befriending wanted criminals spreading terror everywhere! This is so, so, so incredibly cool and thrilling in a dangerous way! Which reminds me, Fluttershy, how is Discord doing?"

Rarity blushed, then grabbed her and pinned her down, although Pinkie kept on bopping in place under her pressing hooves, with a wide and deranged grin. "Would you terribly mind?! I wasn't finished with my introduction yet! You could have waited until I was done!"

"But we don't have all day long...!" Pinkie said. "And generally OM likes his segments around 1,000 words long, not too long nor too short...!"

Asuna looked back and forth between them, then told Chisame, "Iinchou and Maki-chan."

Chisame nodded. "Pretty much, it seems..."

Chachamaru, who had finally let go of Negi, walked back to the balloon, grabbed the last pony of the herd, and gently lifted her, placing her before her teacher and friends. "And this is Fluttershy-sama, Element of Kindness, who protected me when I arrive, disoriented and lost, and has given me shelter for weeks. I owe my very survival to her."

"Ah, ah, it was nothing, really," said the small, frail looking pegasus, creamy furred cheeks growing red, and avoiding to make eye contact with the others. "You are very strong, Chachamaru, you would have been fine all the same..."

This person reminds me of someone I met a long time ago, but I cannot remember who it was, Nodoka thought, intrigued. How curious.

"Rest assured, friends of Chachamaru, we WILL clear your collective name!" Trixie said grandiosely, slamming a hoof on her chest. The pointy hat perched on her head tilted aside slightly as the butterfly stopped on it. Tree Hugger's gaze followed it there, fascinated. "When the Elements of Harmony get in a case, nopony can stop us until the goal is achieved! You have the honorable word of the Great and Wise Trixie on this! We have defeated Nightmare Moon! Discord! Tirek! The Lich! Sylvia the Chimera!"

"What in the world, The Lich?!" Louise gasped. "You mean you defeated the dread Lich of all things, commanding a fashionista, a social inept, and three autists?! Seriously, they are even more autistic than OverMaster!"

"Louise, that wasn't politically correct at all. What the heck," Asuna said.

"Remember that this world is like two centuries behind ours in social progress," Chisame told her. "They can be excused on having backwater mindsets."

"You... You're doing it too..." Nodoka said.

Impulsing himself up from Twilight's back to look over her head, Spike stared on, with his eyes replaced by large crimson hearts, at Rarity. "What... How can this be..." he mouthed off, breathless. "How can any single creature concentrate so much beauty...?!"

Rarity noticed and smiled, coquettishly swatting her mane aside. "It's a combination of relentless long term effort and being born gifted, naturally!"

Somewhere in Mahora Academy, Utsukushisugi Mimimi sneezed rather splendidly, of course.


Now they all sat around a large campfire, talking and getting to know each other better, with Chachamaru being a frequent topic of discussion, much to the silent discomfort of the gynoid.

Only Skuld stood aside, looking at the sky. Eventually, Negi noticed, and excused himself to go see what was bothering her.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, stopping shortly behind the young goddess.

"According to the established timeline," Skuld took him without looking back, "Makie and Yuuna should have shown up today, instead of Chachamaru. A small delegation of Mundus Magicus nobles should have appeared shortly after them, instead of these... Elements of Harmony."

Negi blinked. "Oh! Um, I know you're very worried about Makie-san and Yuuna-san, but they are resourceful, and their cards are still functional, so I'm certain that they're fine..."

Skuld sighed. "One of those nobles who was supposed to meet you would have been the other Princess in Rakan's movie, Theodora. She would have given you a boon that would have allowed you win the match. But, if she isn't coming along..."

Negi took those news with a short, surprised silence, and then tried to soldier on as usual. "Skuld-san. There's always a way. When Fate closes a door, it opens a window..."

"I suppose," she said, briskly turning around and walking past him, back towards the campfire. She clapped loudly, several times. "Listen, everyone!" she announced. "I have an important announcement to make!"

Muffins or whatever her name was blinked a few times, very slowly. "Everyone?"

"That's the way they say 'everypony', darling," Rarity said, while Spike rested by her side, elbows on the dirt and cheeks on his face, watching up at her lovingly.

"Ah," said Muffins. "But why the 'one'? Isn't she addressing several of us at once?"

"It's because they aren't ponies," Trixie replied.

"But I thought we were all ponies at heart?"

Skuld rasped very loudly to impose silence. "I didn't want to resort to these desperate measures, but it seems it's going to be necessary! The timeline has been altered from how it should have gone originally, and so certain persons of interest who should have been here tonight won't be gracing us with their presence, apparently!"

"What in the world is she saying?" Pinkie Pie asked Chisame.

"You'll see, this may be difficult to accept, but she is a goddess of the future, and she is supposed to know how the future goes," Chisame said. "Not like that has helped us to avoid being attacked, scattered across an alien world, and then being hunted like wild dogs for months..."

"Give me a break, the timeline tends to flow following certain patterns, so even if you try to avoid them, time finds a way!" Skuld protested. "It could have been much worse if not for me, seriously!"

"And yet," Nodoka said, "this pattern you speak of, which would have allowed us to meet such important and helpful individuals, isn't coming to happen regardless..."

Skuld glared at her. "I liked you better when you had no spine."

Nodoka shrugged. "I can see why you would."

Skuld sighed. "The person I'm talking about is Princess Theodora from Hellas Empire."

"Who?" Asuna asked.

"You know," Skuld said, annoyed. "The one from Rakan's mockbuster."

"Ah, the loli with horns?" Tsukuyomi asked.

"She's not a loli anymore," Skuld said.

"Pass, then. I'm not into old hags. Nothing of any value was lost," Tsukuyomi pouted, looking aside.

"This isn't about meeting the standards of your lust, get that into your head already!" Skuld growled at her.

Pinkie Pie laughed. "Ah ha ha ha! You're funny! Goddess of the Future? You should be the Goddess of Funny instead! I like you already!"

Chisame stared at her. "You... I said 'this may be difficult for you to accept' when I told you she's a goddess!"

"We are familiar with the immortal Goddess Empress of Equestria," Rarity said. "Why should we be incredulous about that?"

Chisame slammed both hands on her own face. "I'm talking about our respective divine acquaintances with pastel colored mares... Why did my life have to take this path...?"

"Girls, please, let Sku-chan explain herself already," Rito pleaded. "What was this Princess going to do that is so important, Sku-chan?"

"Um, sorry for like being so rude and stuff, but I'd like to like ask a question of my own first," Tree Hugger said from where she sat next to Rito. "Why is your hand on my plot?"

"Your... what?" Rito asked, and then he realized his right hand was squeezing Tree Hugger's hindquarters, right behind the Cutie Mark. "GAHHHHHH!" he screamed, pulling the hand back as if it was on fire. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Sometimes it does that on its own! Please don't retaliate violently!"

"Chill down, man," Tree Hugger said benevolently. "I'm a pacifist. I will never resort to the way of violence."

"On the other hand, since she can't do that, I'll do it for her if you do that again," Rarity warned him, making Spike sigh loudly.

Rito winced. "You would...?"

Rarity nodded, made a motion of stabbing with her horn, and added, "Part of Generosity is doing the things your friends can't do for them!"

"... bunch of clowns..." Skuld muttered. "Listen, Princess Theodora was going to make a Pactio with Negi. Said Pactio would have allowed him access to an artifact he could have used to defeat Jack Rakan..."

Trixie spat all of the drink she'd been sipping, putting the campfire off, and then screamed at the top of her lungs, "JACK RAKAN?!"

"She mentioned his name before," Yue said. "Why are you so shocked only now?"

"She only mentioned his mockbuster!" Trixie ranted frantically. "And everyone who has been trained in the Great Mysteries and has the money to pay its outrageous prices has watched that piece! But, but are you saying that you actually know HIM, and that you're going to engage HIM in combat?!"

"A flesh and blood goddess didn't impress you, but the mention of Jack Rakan does?!" Chisame said.

"Look, we love Princess Celestia dearly, but everypony knows that if the Jack Rakan of legend were to turn mad and invade Equestria, he would kick the Princess' plot," Rarity said.

"What?! No, lies and slander!" Twilight gasped. "Princess Celestia is unbeatable!" she argued, horrified. "What kind of citizen are you?!"

"It could go either way...!" Trixie said, hooves on her own head. "But there's only way one duel between this foal and Jack Rakan could ever go! Absolute and total defeat! No two ways around it!"

"I'm not a foal, I'm a boy," Negi reminded her.

"By the time he's done with you, you'll only be a stain!" Trixie predicted.

Louise's face began twitching. "I knew all of this was an awfully dumb idea...!"

Skuld clapped several times, even harder than before. "Shut up, everyone! I have a plan!"

"Great, now I am scared," Nodoka said.

"All that time spent with Illya-chan sure marked you, huh, Bookstore?" Asuna wondered aloud.

"In the absence of Princess Theodora, I will take that role upon myself!" Skuld proclaimed, aiming a pointer finger upwards. "I'm going to become Negi's Magistra, so he can deploy his undefeatable Artifact!"

Everyone paused and stared at her in stunned shock. This included Chachamaru, who had been restarting the fire diligently, Fluttershy, who had been feeding some passing lizards, and Rito, whose hand was unconsciously wandering towards Tree Hugger's plot again.

Predictably enough, the scene of collective paralysis was only broken when Louise sprang up and slammed her riding crop downwards, on Skuld's face.


After Chisame calmed Louise down and Yue fixed Skuld's nose, Skuld began drawing a magical circle on the ground.

"Oboy, a Pactio creation," Trixie said eagerly, leaning ahead. "I'd never seen a Pactio creation before!"

Twilight looked at her. "Seriously?"

"I mean, between humans," Trixie amended quickly. "Someone as learned and experienced as the Great and Powerful Trixie has seen plenty of Pactios before, of course! Not that I've ever made any myself since I have too much power already, but I've seen them happen everywhere during my adventures! Oh ho ho!" she laughed.

Twilight and Spike, who weren't fooled, just keep on staring at her. "Of course..." the former agreed blandly.

Louise fumed, forced to sit on Chisame's lap while the taller girl sat on the ground herself. "I can't believe you let these things happen all the time...!"

"I can't believe it either," deadpanned Chisame. "Funny how that works, huh?"

"You've spoiled him!" Louise said. "Men need to be treated with discipline and rigor!" Then she whacked Rito's face as his hands, while still bound together, absently found their way to her ass while the boy just watched at the procceedings in the middle of the clearing.

Rito didn't even yelp. Clearly, he was getting used to this kind of thing by now.

"Now, this isn't going to be enough on its own," Skuld warned, stepping back from the completed circle and wiping her forehead. "Princess Theodora was supposed to come with two other allies who would have taught you and Kotaro further techniques to use along the way, Negi. But we can improvise. Fairy Tail is only a call away, so we'll ask Erza, Natsu and Gray to replace them. I'm sure those morons can teach you a few tricks."

"But there's not enough time for training before the match!" Collet said.

"Yes, there is," Skuld answered. "With materials taken from Evangeline's scroll, I can duplicate a time distortion capsule acting much like the resort, where you can train for a few hours that will be days inside. That should be enough, what with your crazy learning capacity being what it is."

Negi gulped. "Thank you so very much, Skuld. I don't know how can I ever repay you..."

"Yes, you do," she said, motioning at him to come closer as she stood on the circle. "Let's just make this fast, for starters."

"Must you be the one doing it?" Nodoka asked. "Why not Twilight-san? She is extremely powerful as well..."

"I'm more powerful than her!" Trixie said. "Not that I want to kiss a human boy or anything, but...!"

"By this point Negi has surpassed Twilight Sparkle's magical capacity, if they tried to establish an alliance he'd turn out the Magister," Skuld said while Negi walked over to stand before her. "I may lack fully fledged magics, but I'm still a goddess with links to Yggdrasil. I'm bound to be the Magistra no matter what."

"And..." Muffins said, "he shouldn't be the other thing that is not the Magister because..."

Skuld sizzled in annoyance. "I told you already, he can't summon Pactio partners into an arena battle! But he can use a Pactio card of his own just fine, that's part of the equipment allowed by the rules!"

"But, Skuld..." Negi doubted. "You once told Keiichi-san and Makie that they couldn't have any more Pactios after yours. Does that mean that I won't be able to make any new Pactios after this, either?"

"You want to keep kissing even more girls?!" Chisame and Louise screamed as one.

"Oh, but I am the Perverted Beast," Rito droned.

"Relax, what that means is that nobody else will be able to be your Magistra ever again, only me." Skuld took a moment to, after pausing in doubt, gently touch his cheeks with her thumbs. "This... This will bring us together for all of eternity forever, in a way, j-just like with Keiichi and Makie, since you, too, will be my acolyte. But you will be able to keep on making others your Ministra regardless. It's turn that, in turn, they will be my acolytes too by proxy..."

"Suddenly I don't like this idea a very whole lot anymore," Yue said.

"I trust you," Skuld added, patting Negi's cheeks. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have come here with you. If anyone in this world can help me save my sister, that's you. So don't disappoint my trust. Okay, boy? That's it. Good boy."

"Aaaand the mood has suddenly turned very romantic for some reason!" Tsukuyomi giggled while Collet blushed.

Louise and Yue frowned and, each from a side, slapped her on the back of the head.

"What is 'nobody' and 'anyone'?" Muffins asked.

"We have been through this already, Muffs," Pinkie said.

"No, you told me what is 'everyone', which is 'everypony', but-"

"Well, this is 'nopony' and 'anypony'!" Trixie said, exasperated.

"Ah. But why do they-"

"I don't know!" Trixie said, just to stop her talking. "There are things that even the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't know, okay?!"

"What a fearsome thing to consider," Rarity said slyly.

"Hey, Sku-chan," Asuna said, pointing down. "If the circle works, why isn't it glowing yet, they always gl-"

Skuld stomped a foot down, and the circle began glowing a ghostly blue. Sayo trembled and hid behind a sighing Kotaro.

"Oh, well, that'll show me, I suppose!" Kagurazaka said.

"Well, here we go," Skuld drew a deep breath, struggling not to blush and keeping Negi's face in her hands. "A victory charm. The blessing of a goddess."

Negi blinked. "I-If you don't want to, we don't have to-"

Skuld pulled his face towards hers and kissed him in the mouth.


Negi held his brand new shiny card and looked at it with a smile, while Skuld wiped her mouth under the vigilant glares of Chisame, Chachamaru, Louise and Yue.

"Negius Springfieldes," he read aloud. "Magistrulus Magi."

"What's that thing in your hand?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking over his shoulder. "A box of nail clippers?"

"Why... Why would they be nail clippers, specifically?" Collet asked.

"There's only one way to know," Negi said, whipping the card around and yelling "Adeat!"

A moment later, in a big flash of light, the small rectangular thing appeared in his other hand, revealed to be a handheld golden case. Opening it with a twirl of his hand, he found several copies of all of his previous Pactio cards inside. "Master, what is this good for?" he asked Skuld.

"Don't call her Master now, you dumb Familiar!" Louise screeched. "I'm your only Master! Me, me, me, me and only me...!"

"Maybe we should bring the scroll and ask Eva-sama what she thinks about that?" Rito suggested.

Nodoka smiled at him. "Senpai, I know Paru will be greatly pleased with your development when she sees you again."

He nodded at the younger girl. "Thank you, Miyazaki-kun."

"I call foul!" Asuna said. "Why didn't he get a nude transformation scene, but we have to go through one of those whenever we summon the Artifact?!"

"That's because he's in much better control of his magic than you are of yours," Skuld said.

Chisame looked at Asuna. "The summon still strips you? I got the gist of summoning only the Artifact even before we left Japan!"

"Asuna-san can't help being incompetent about handling magic," Yue said. "No offense, it's just a statement of a fact."

"I know!" Asuna bristled.

"You only wanted to see him naked," Tsukuyomi said.

"I didn't!" Asuna bristled harder.

"There's no shame in it!" Tsukuyomi said. "We all do! Well, except for Rito-han!"

"And me!" Kotaro growled. "And Nodoka-neechan!"

Nodoka blushed and looked aside.

Tsukuyomi giggled. "You're always awfully eager to jump into the furo with Negi-han, Kotaro-han! You aren't fooling anyone...!"

"You're just lucky I don't hit women...!" Kotaro bristled as hard as Asuna.

"Man, what is it with humans and like that obsession about not being seen without clothes on?" Tree Hugger wondered aloud.

Trixie shrugged. "There are things even I will never understand no matter how hard I try."

"She's only trying to get a raise out of you, don't give her that pleasure, Kotaro-kun," Negi said wearily. "Now, Master, about my question..."

"Your Artifact will allow you to summon any and all of the Artifacts of the girls you call Ministra Magi," Skuld summed up. "That gives you a full arsenal of their best trump cards, for your own use!"

Chisame, Louise, Yue and Asuna blanched out in horror.

"You... You have made us USELESS!" Chisame finally could yell at Skuld.

The goddess frowned at her. "The Artifacts are somewhat inferior copies compared to yours, and he only can use one at a time."

"You have made us REDUNDANT!" Asuna cried, aghast.

"You still can use your Artifacts just fine, too!" Skuld argued. "That's like saying a guy with a gun in a team makes any and all other guys with guns useless!"

"You just broke the narrative balance!" Yue accused her. "You have taken our agency away and given it to Sensei!"

"In addition to all of what I've already exposed," Skuld added, "that Artifact won't let him use any Artifacts given to any other Ministra he contracts with from now on."

"Those terms are acceptable to me." Chachamaru nodded.

"That doesn't help us any!" Louise said. "And as if you could make a Pactio with anyone! You're just a doll!"

Everyone, Tsukuyomi excluded, suddenly turned to stare at her in a mixture of horror, disgust and shock.

Louise blinked. "What? Have I said anything wrong?"

Tsukuyomi chuckled. "Zero-han, dear. Even I know when I should hold my tongue back in my attempts to put others down!"

"But, but she is a doll, isn't she?" Louise asked, genuinely confused. "Why are you all acting so offended, of course she couldn't make a Pactio, for that you need a soul and she-"

Making a sudden, horrible and ear piercing shriek of rage, Fluttershy leaped from her spot and pounced on Louise.


To be Continued.