We are almost done with the deep blood arc, and things are gonna heat up, and now another addition has entered the battle, perhaps a great asset to have at your side in any fight scenario, let's see how this plays out shall we.
Index and Fate belong to Kamachi and Nasu respectively.
Chapter 12: Two Fronts The King of Knights Arrives
If one were to look at Misawa Prep School from a good bit away they would see multiple explosions go off on some of the upper floors.
Tamamo POV:
It was a huge game of cat and mouse, Stiyl did what he could to counteract and dodge a livid Tamamo's attacks, she eclipsed him in terms of magic prowess so the most he did was hit and run tactics, however it was a hassle to not let her get close with that damn spear!
The two of them were staring each other down labored in breath.
"You done!?" Stiyl snarked.
"Not until I have your head on a pike!" Tamamo snapped back.
They were preparing to go again but the sound of clapping halted further advance.
"Well, this has been entertaining but it dragged on long enough. I simply cannot have my base of operations torn apart by petty infighting between intruders."
A man with a white suit and green slick back hair approaches them with a calm yet annoyed expression.
"So you decided to show yourself now of all times is that right Aurelos Izzard." Stiyl said scathingly.
"So this is the guy huh?" Tamamo followed.
"I came to dispatch of you lot but all three of you at once was risky, but you just had to try and kill each other to the point of weakening yourselves so the opportunity to strike presented itself."
"Squeamish Blood Rune!!!" Stiyl shouted evoking one of his signature spells.
Fire blasted its way towards the Alchemist who just stood there.
"Your fire dies immediately." He calmly said.
And just like that the flames simmer out.
"What!?" Stiyl said shocked.
All of a sudden Aurelos was in front of him and pricks his own neck with a large needle, Stiyl ended up passing out.
"Now for the monster." He said looking at Tamamo.
"In my hand a gun will appear, loaded with magic bullets, any one of which will carry your death, the shooting will now commence." A pistol appears in his hand.
He took aim and shot her in the middle of her chest causing her to hack up blood, but she stayed standing despite the pain.
Aurelos was shocked that the first bullet didn't kill her outright.
She was going to draw talismans but couldn't as another shot got her in the stomach, she collapsed to her knees and fell to her hands, her vision grew hazy but she once more stood back up, she still had her spear and would rush him in the adrenaline high.
"The next step you take blows up the floor under you!" Aurelos called out.
True to his word the moment Tamamo took a step the floor under her blew up, it was strong enough it blasted her through the wall of the school as she went flying to the outside.
"That just leaves one more pest." Aurelos said calmly.
Tamamo POV:
Tamamo found herself in a white fog filled space.
"Is this it, was I reborn into a new life just to die again?" Tamamo said sadly as tears flowed from her eyes.
"I don't want to die again!! I want another chance, I want to be with my beloved, he needs me!! TOUMAAA!!!"
"Stop your excessive whinning you dumb little fragment, you won't die."
She looked over to see her origin self standing before her, sunlight radiating around her.
"Amaterasu." She growled.
"I won't let you die, besides, someone special to both of us made a promise."
Tamamo was then met with a bright light.
Touma POV:
"Damnit, something big is going on up there, I hope Tama's ok as well as Stiyl, that last explosion was huge!!" Touma panicked.
"Don't go after them, their fight may have already drawn Aurelos's attention, he is not to be taken lightly.
Touma's brows furrowed in frustration, everything was a disaster, he wanted nothing more than to scream till his vocal chords died, but knew it wouldn't help, so to calm his nerves he continued to talk to Himegami.
"Ok here's what I don't get, if you're so worried about your power then why were you out getting lunch?"
"Simple Aurelos needs me to attract vampires, and the barrier he created here stops my powers from taking affect." Himegami explained.
"Ok but doesn't doing that for him go against your overall objective?"
"Aurelos promised me he wouldn't harm any vampires and doesn't need to. He only needs the vampires power to help someone, instead of kill my power can help, that's how I want it to be."
"It won't work, even if it's true what he's doing has gone too far, if it keeps up there will be no turning back."
"Perhaps, but why would I want to turn away from the path I have chosen?"
"Has he been listening?"
Himegami nodded slightly.
"I've been here longer than you think, I'm nearer than you imagine."
To Touma's shock Aurelos appeared in front of him, Touma impulsively went for a right hook but Aurelos said the attack would miss, and it did. Same thing happened to the following left hook.
"What happened, how did you do that?!"
"Now I found your company lacking. Time to go!"
"No!" Aisa yelled standing in front of Touma.
"When push comes to shove you rely on the power of the Deep Blood, which implies you do not wish to give it up." The man smirked.
"If you cling to it, how does does that make you any different from me?"
"I'm not a killer, this boy didn't even know what Deep Blood meant. He only came here to save a stranger he met over lunch. Tell me Aurelos what is your true goal?!!"
"Do you intend to take an innocent person's life just cause he inconvenienced you, if you are the type of man who would do something like that our arrangement ends here and now!!"
"Very well, I already dispatched that fox, I can't afford to waste more time anyway."
"What did you do to Tama you bastard!!"
He didn't get an answer when the alchemist took a large needle and stabbed himself in the neck then pulled it out.
"You will forget everything that has transpired here."
Touma then blacked out.
Basement:
Saten was utterly frightened of the pale man in front of him who just looked at her with an analytical stare.
"What do you mean I look like her, who are you talking about!?" Saten questioned.
"It's not my place to say, you will find out soon enough." The pale man stated.
Saten got a better look at the man and managed to catch the fangs and her eyes went wide.
"Are…are you a-"
"Vampire, you are correct little girl though you can call me Lucius, I am one of the oldest vampires to walk the Earth."
"What do you want from me Lucius, what happened to my friends?!" Saten shouted anger replacing fear for a temporary time."
"Those nuisances gave chase when I captured you though the little nun stayed behind, the girl with electric powers was a pain, but I dispatched them soon enough."
"No!" Saten cried.
She began to fear for her friend's safety, but a question ran through her head.
"Where are we?"
"We are below the building you call Misawa Prep School."
"Wait, isn't that where the Deep Blood is held?"
"That accursed power, it killed off many of us, I would be victim to it if malady hadn't blocked my and my kins sensitivity to it, that foolish alchemist really thinks he can save the walking library using us, don't make me laugh!" Lucius stated as he spat blood on the floor.
"Malady?"
"Someone you knew eons ago, well at least the old you that is."
"I don't understand! Is she someone you work for?!"
"Oh I don't work for her directly, that honor goes to my father."
"And who is your father?"
"The very first vampire, and most powerful of all, Cain."
Saten wasn't religious but she looked at legends here and there, she knew Cain was the brother of Able, whom he killed and God punished him for it by walking a barren Earth.
"Why tell me all this?"
"Your going to die as soon as I deliver you to malady herself so it won't matter much, though this is all I'm going to tell you. We'll leave as soon as the chaos dies down."
Saten only gulped.
Touma POV:
Touma slowly opened his eyes, he felt a slight headache, he looked around to see he was in a park, but why was he here?
He put his right hand to his head and a glass shattering sound was heard as memories flooded his mind.
"Kamijou!!"
He looked over to see none other than Misaka, Uiharu and Shirai lumbering over to him, each of them alarmingly injured.
"Girls are you ok?!!! What are you doing here!?"
"We were nearby when we saw you laid out on the grass." Misaka explained.
"Saten was kidnapped!" Uiharu said in panic.
"What?!!! What about Index?!"
"She stayed behind when we gave chase but now she's gone too, we didn't see her anywhere in the dorm room when we got back there!" Shirai added.
"Do any of you know who took her?!" Touma asked in panic.
"No, we don't know who took Index but we saw who took Saten." Uiharu stated.
The girls then explained the kidnappers appearance to Touma as well as what powers they witnessed.
"So, my intuition was correct."
"The group of four turned to see a knight looking woman who had a royal grace about her, but they were alarmed by who she was carrying in her arms.
"TAMA!!" Touma ran up to the woman.
"Am I to believe you're her master?" The woman asked.
"My name is Touma Kamijou, she's with me, what happened to her."
"You can call me Saber, an explosion went off in the nearby building I was heading towards and she was in it, she was severely injured and unconscious but luckily still alive."
"Thank goodness." Touma joyfully said as tears brimmed in his eyes when the woman handed Tamamo to him.
"If I may know the rest of your names and the situation going on at the moment?" Saber requested.
And so Touma and the girls sat on the ground to get comfortable alongside Saber and told their respective stories after the girls introduced themselves, Touma had Tamamo resting in his lap throughout. Once they were finished Saber had a grave look on her face.
"This is truly a dire situation, I will be your ally in this endeavor." Saber affirmed.
Touma suddenly noticed Tamamo shifting a little as her eyes began to open.
"Tama!" Touma shouted happily.
"Touma, what's going on." She whispered.
She looked over to see three of her middle school friends, then she panned over to a familiar face, first she thought it was Nero but quickly corrected herself when she saw the armor.
"You!!" Tamamo gasped.
"It's been sometime Tamamo, looks like we both find ourselves in a situation once more."
"You know each other?" Misaka asked.
"It's a long story and we don't have time to explain." Tamamo answered.
Tamamo was given a brief summary of everything and she quickly understood.
"Saber, have you been tracking the vampire this whole time?" Tamamo asked.
"Yes, the bastards been a nuisance for sometime now, and I believe he is in the building you were in not to long ago."
"Hey guys look!" Uiharu called out.
Everyone looked to find Stiyl Magnus passed out nearby but was slowly waking. Night had officially come as the street lights came on.
Once the robed fire priest made his way to the group, Tamamo struggled to get up despite Touma telling her not to and was on both feet shakily.
"What do you want fox, right now I can't remember anything!" Stiyl sniped.
Touma kept his arm around Tamamo to keep her steady and whispered in her ear, she then nodded her head.
"I want to show you something that can help with that. My beautiful assistant here can give the example."
"Home remedies are Kanzaki's specialty, I'll just ask her later."
"Come on, like this." Touma insisted.
Tamamo closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. Stiyl was confused but decided to humor them by following along. The duo then looked at each other and gave a quick nod and rushed Stiyl cocking back their fists.
"This is for using us as a decoy so your cowardly butt can run away!!" They both shouted at the same time and struck him with a tag team uppercut, forcing him to bite his tongue and force him to go a good 6 inches into the air as a glass shattering noise rang, before landing back first on the ground. Tamamo stammered from the aftermath of the quick movement and almost fell since she was still damaged, luckily Touma caught her quick.
"Wasn't that satisfying Tama?"
She responded by nuzzling him lovingly. The other girls including Saber laughed as they knew Stiyl deserved it.
Stiyl wanted to argue but the memories flooded back to him.
"You remember now?" Touma asked.
"I do, also who the hell is that girl?"
"No time to explain but she's an ally to fight another problem we currently have, a vampire kidnapped Saten, and Index is missing too." Touma explained.
"You can't be serious!! A vampire? In this city, and Index is gone, you did one hell of a job looking after her!"
"We were ambushed by a live vampire you asshole, how do you expect us to be prepared for that!!" Misaka snapped
"We don't know who took Index in the chaos of it all." Uiharu added.
"Tch, I have reason to believe it was Aurelos, but you still need to explain everything."
"Like I said no time to explain we need to end this, we'll tell you everything when this is over!"
Stiyl looked at him incredulously before submitting.
"Fine, but I need as much detail to relay to the church when this is through got it." He then sped off.
"Tama, I need you to stay here." Touma instructed.
"I'm going with you, it's a wife's duty to serve her husband!!"
"You're too hurt, I can't risk it, you're staying here!"
The command seals on his left hand started to glow reaffirming his instructions to Tamamo's dismay, she was a divine being and no normal human can control her but somehow he could and she struggled to resist but it was no use.
Touma looked at his left hand in surprise and Saber came to inspect.
"This is odd, command seals fade after each use but yours remains fully intact."
"I'm sorry Tamamo, I can't risk losing you." Touma said solemnly.
Tamamo only stayed silent giving no response. Touma felt horrible that he inadvertently forced her to obey his whim, he then brought a hand to her face caressing her cheek which made her look at him.
"I'll make it up to you, ok." He whispered.
He then ran to catch up with Stiyl, meanwhile Saber was preparing to set out to when a hand went to her shoulder. She turned to find Misaka with a determined expression.
"I'm going with you."
"You're hurt, you must stay behind and rest."
"Saten is my friend Saber, and I'm not gonna sit back while she's in life threatening danger!!" Misaka pressed further while her ability sparked a bit.
Saber gave her a hard stare looking for any signs of hesitation, but found none.
"You are very noble, going into danger despite injury to save your friends. Very well, you may come but let me handle the direct fighting."
"Got it."
The new tag team of Misaka and Saber ran off to Misawa Prep School to rescue Saten and stop the vampire.
"Be careful, all of you!" Uiharu shouted.
"Kick some vampire ass sissy!!" Kuroko cheered.
Tamamo remained silent as she looked on, a glum expression still adorned her face.
Touma POV:
The group of four dashed their way to Misawa Prep School, upon arriving they were met the sight of several men wearing suits of armor all armed with swords.
"Hey, those guys are like the corpse from earlier." Touma pointed out.
"The surviving knights of the Roman Catholic Church." Style replied.
Saber was amazed to still see knights operating in the modern day.
The knights all raised their swords skywards, as per commands of the one in the middle of the group. A bright red light showing at the tip of each blade.
"A Gregorian Choir, a real Gregorian Choir, not like the alchemist's replica."
"I thought it took up to 3,333 people to make it work?" Misaka asked confused.
"Right now there are probably that many congregates offering up prayer in the Vatican. It's a Holy Hex Bombardment."
"Which is?" Touma asked.
"That."
Above them the clouds began to swirl and surge with red lightning. It appeared to be a small thunderstorm with the strength of a hurricane condensed into one area.
"What an incredibly terrifying power, I've never seen anything like it before." Saber said in awe.
"Himegami, Saten and possibly Index are in there, not to mention the other students!" Touma cried out.
The storm struck the building with a giant bolt of red lightning, one that rivaled the kind of storms Misaka made when at her angriest. The building started collapsing, the building, windows shattered and the two main towers began to fall.
"To attack a structure while innocents remain, such a thing is unbecoming of knights, have they no honor!" Saber shouted in fury.
However, the towers started to realign, the windows repaired themselves and it began to look like it did pre Bombardment.
"It's going back up." Touma said.
"Ars Magna, it's the true power of Aurelos Izzard, and ultimately what you and me are up against kid."
The group rushed inside of the school anticipating a heated confrontation soon.
"This is where we break off, Misaka and I are heading below to meet the vampire and save Saten, I can sense his presence beneath us." Saber said.
"Good luck you two, we have unfinished business with Aurelos up top!" Touma responded.
With Misaka and Saber:
Misaka and Saber reached the basement with no resistance to find a tied up Saten in a chair.
"Misaka!!" Saten cheered.
"Saten, I'm so glad you're ok!"
"Who's that with you Misaka? Is she a princess knight?!"
"This is Saber, she was hunting the vampire that kidnapped you."
Saber went behind Saten, summoned her wind sword and in one precise swing cut her bindings.
"You have been a thorn in my side for too long, knight!!"
"Lucius!!" Saten yelled in panic.
"You know his name?" Saber questions.
"He was forthcoming about some stuff."
Suddenly black smoke began congregating into a single spot as Lucius made his presence known a black long sword in hand.
"It's time to end this!" He snarled.
"Agreed." Saber responded as she held up her blade. Misaka stood a ways behind her forming iron sand into a sword of her own and laced it with electricity.
With Touma and Stiyl:
The uneasy duo took an elevator up since it seemed the barrier was down. The school was empty but considering the time of day it made sense.
"I thought the purpose of the barrier was to keep Himegami's Deep Blood from attracting vampires?"
"Perhaps he's trying to lure one, but there's one already here, and it's not going after Deep Blood for some reason, something isn't right." Stiyl deduced.
They reached their target destination sooner since they weren't taking the stairs, Stiyl seemed have an idea of where Aurelos could be hiding, like he knew him personally at one point, even how the man thought.
"Are you sure do you really have some where the bastard is hiding?"
"Of course, did you really think I would just wander through the hallways of this building if I had no clue where I was going?"
"I have to admit it's a bit scary, if this guy can really bend reality with words…damn how are we supposed to get Himegami out and Index is somewhere in here to!"
"Supposing she just wandered in here, Aurelos wouldn't launch an attack on her like he did us, I know that much."
Stiyl abruptly stopped much to Touma's annoyance as he stumbled.
"What is it this time!?"
"That's it, why didn't I see it before, he's been hiding for three years, he's unaware of new developments!"
"What are you talking about?"
Touma didn't get an answer as Stiyl began to run which made him start moving too. They turned a corner and walked through a set of open double doors, where moonlight was pouring in, they stopped and were faced with Himegami, Aurelos and Index in the office in front of them. Index was asleep on the desk with the Alchemist watching over her. Touma was about to rush in when Stiyl held up his arm stopping him.
"I have some bad news for you alchemist, your plan will never succeed." Stiyl claimed calmly.
Aurelos turned around with a confident grin on his face.
"Oh? It seems you've realized my intentions here are, in that case why don't you howl at your own impedance when I achieve what I meant to do."
"A year ago I would've done anything to see your plan succeed. But I'll tell you again there is nothing you can do for Index now."
"You speak out of jealousy because you failed her in this. Not I. I will not fail."
He gave Index a brief caring glance.
"I will save her. My Index. She had taken the weight of all grimoirs and now she can never escape the terrible spell put upon her, but she stayed strong. She accepts the fate decreed upon her by the church, hoping her curse would be a blessing to others."
"You see this man was Index's partner as well, this year you and the fox have that honor, last year it was me, and three years ago it was this man Aurelos Izzard." Stiyl explained.
"Index's survival is contingent on annual memory erasure." He informed unaware that Touma already knew.
"Without the process she will die, an inescapable fate her human body can't handle. However…if her body was not human things might be different."
Stiyl decided it was time to break the news to the misguided alchemist.
"Then nothing I say will change your mind, well in that case, as one of her current partners would you care to do the honors of telling this misinformed hack about the recent change in Index."
Touma stared at the alchemist with before him speaking but before he could, he felt the building quake as did everyone present.
"What is the meaning of this!!" Aurelos shouted.
Misawa Prep School Basement:
Lucius was fast as he ran circles around Saber who kept a sharp eye on him to fend off any strike and attempt to hit him with one of her own.
"Strike air!!"
She sent a torrent of air directly at the vampire who barely evaded it, however he was met with an electrically enhanced iron sand saw courtesy of Misaka who had to focus on timing her hits, Saten was behind cover away from the line of fire.
Lucius casted dark energy around himself and sent it against Saber, who blocked with her wind blade and charged herself going for a side slash. Lucius again dodged.
"Your hit and run tactics are cowardly spawn of evil!!"
"You have a lot of nerve to talk when you have backup!!"
He was distracted in insulting Saber he didn't focus on Misaka taking out an arcade token and fired her signature rail gun move piercing straight through Lucius's chest where his heart would be, he fell to the floor in a heap.
"Did I get him!?"
Saber looked at the downed vampire and frowned when she saw him getting and gathering mana into his body.
"Not quite."
To be continued….
Welcome to the bottom of the chapter, free drinks and whole lotta wow, this one was a trip, I definitely plan to give Aisa more deserving screen time then in cannon, especially for any new developments involving vampires, though near future chapters can see her in more domestic roles for the time being, so now we approach the end of the deep Blood arc, hope you enjoy.
Next Chapter: Long Live The Kings
Till next time.