Disclaimer: I do not own Owari no Seraph (Seraph of the End). I write this for your enjoyment only. This story is an alternate version of the Shibuya/Shinjuku arc with differences from the original. For the most part, I've decided to make the first half of the Shinjuku Battle similar to canon with a change of dialog as well as adding the presence of Satoshi's Squad to keep things interesting and different. Once again, I would like to thank my beta reader, ResidentialPsycho for her help in making this fic possible. Enjoy and please review!
Chapter 16: Fated Reunions, Part II
BOOM!
Mikaela was snapped out of his thoughts and bolted from his seat on the hood of the old car he was sitting on when he suddenly heard a loud explosion behind him. Not wasting even a moment, the blond quickly spun around and saw to his surprise, a raven-haired young man in his mid-twenties clad in the dark uniform of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army locking swords with Ferid himself after slaying the two vampire soldiers flanking him.
And from the look of things, the human wasn't alone either but accompanied by a taller blond man with a goatee and three younger women clad in similar dark uniforms.
That man… I feel as though I've seen him somewhere before but where? Mika pondered as he met the other man's icy stare over Ferid's shoulder with one of his own before withdrawing his sword from its sheath.
As if reading his thoughts, Mika heard Ferid answer his unspoken question as he easily jumped out of the way to evade the raven-haired man's next attack and landed right behind Mika himself.
"Don't let your guard down, my dear Mika; these five aren't ordinary soldiers but the elites among the vampire annihilation force."
"You mean the Moon Demon Company?"
Ferid grinned. "None other. And it appears that that man is their leader. I do believe his name is Guren Ichinose."
Mika was startled at the revelation but soon tightened his grip on his sword when he saw the human commander sneer at him and Ferid in a display of arrogant confidence.
"Shit, it looks like I missed the leader. No matter, though; gaining more ground and destroying some bloodsuckers while at it is still a win," Guren said coolly as he gripped his dark sword in one hand and bounced the flat of the blade lightly on his shoulder.
"My, what confidence you have, human," Lacus sneered as he and Rene stealthy walked up behind Ferid and Mika while accompanied by several other vampire soldiers. "I hope you have the skills to back it up if you don't wanna die where you stand."
Instead of being intimidated, Guren merely smirked and made an equally snarky retort to the purple-haired vampire's remark.
"Heh, did you enjoy your little bloodfest back there? Because it's the last one you'll ever have."
Ferid snickered. "Spoken like a truly conceited human bastard. It looks like someone needs to put you in your place."
As if on cue, Lacus and Rene drew their weapons and prepared to attack the human who was dared to diss a progenitor. But Ferid, unoffended, raised a hand and made a gesture for them to stay put.
"Lacus, Rene, you and the others hold off the humans surrounding their arrogant leader. I'm giving him to Mika," the vampire lord said smoothly, his ruby eyes falling on the blond as if searching for any signs of fear or hesitation.
Signs that were nowhere to be seen.
"He's all yours, Mika!" Ferid said with a mock bow. "Show me the power of our queen's favorite knight!"
Mikaela's expression hardened as he withdrew his sword from its sheath and began walking towards Guren, coldly ignoring Ferid's unwanted praise. Pointing his sword at the human commander, Mika challenged him to a duel in front of both the human and vampire soldiers.
And instead of being intimidated, the older man merely grinned in amusement at the baby-faced blond boy as if he found Mika's challenge a joke.
"You're sending a child to fight me? You vamps truly are overconfident bastards!"
"This 'child' is going to be sending you to the other side, human!" Mika sneered. "My sword, drink of me," he commanded before the thorny vine emerged from the hilt of his weapon to pierce his wrist.
"Well, if you're going to call on your power, it's only fair that I call on mine as well," Guren said coolly as he withdrew his own dark sword. "Mahiru-no-yo, lend me your power."
The demon's reaction was instant and Mika's brows rose slightly when he saw the pitch-black blade of Guren's dark sword start to emanate dark smoke and vibrate with an unseen energy though he showed no signs of being intimidated.
Without waiting for Mika to be ready, Guren suddenly charged at him with his sword drawn, the movement finally spurring both sides into action.
In compliance with Ferid's orders, Lacus and Rene as well as the rest of the vampires targeted Guren's immediate squad members along with the other humans, making sure to block their every attempt to assist their commander.
Not that Guren actually needed it.
As he expected, the blond vampire easily fended off his blows one after another, even when they took the fight to the air. Guren may have been confident as a fighter but still wise enough never to underestimate or take his enemies lightly regardless of their appearance or demeanor.
"Well, what's this?" Guren asked with a hint of perverse delight as soon as he and Mika were back on the ground. "For a kid, you're pretty good! And for a moment there, I thought that commander of yours took me for a fool!"
Like with Ferid himself, Mika cared very little for Guren's praise or compliments and gave a snarky retort instead.
"You are a fool if you think you can take me down easily, human," he said without emotion as he re-positioned his sword to attack again while waiting for his challenger to do the same.
But instead of trying to attack him again as Mika expected, the human commander's next action actually did take him by surprise. Guren quickly sheathed his sword and dashed right up to Mika before pulling what appeared to be a piece of paper from his uniform jacket and slapped it to blond's forehead.
"Explode, Fudo-Myo-o!" he commanded.
The reaction was instant and the resulting blast from the cursed talisman caused a nearby building to collapse, the resulting cloud of dust impairing the vision of both the human and vampire soldiers, forcing them to cease fighting for a few moments.
After the dust cleared, Guren turned to see Mika landing on the ground several yards ahead of him.
"Hmm… impressive you got out of that with only a few specks of dirt on your clothes. Still, I'd thought you'd be faster than that; especially if you are the favorite of the queen like your commander says."
Mikaela sneered at him. "I evaded the blast; it never touched me. And besides, did you really think you could kill me with such a cheap parlor trick?"
Before Guren could answer, they both heard a snicker coming from behind Mika and the blond turned slightly to see Ferid standing on a broken structure behind him with a grin while clapping.
"Make no mistake, human. Mika is indeed the favorite knight of Queen Krul Tepes. His power and confidence should be overwhelming proof," the vampire lord said before his eyes fell on Mikaela again. "But if you're not careful, that arrogance could also get the rug pulled out from under you, child. Would you like my assistance?"
The blond snorted as if he found his commander's offer offensive.
"Your assistance is not required or wanted, my lord. There's no way I'll lose to a bastard like him!"
Ferid chuckled as he pointed to the ground beneath Mikaela's feet.
"The rug underneath you…", he warned.
Puzzled as to what the vampire lord was talking about, Mika looked down to find what appeared to be glowing cords set in an intricate pattern on the ground surrounding him before Ferid continued.
"Now do you understand, Mika? Were you really so naive to think that our enemies ever intended to fight us one on one?"
As realization finally dawned upon Mikaela, Guren's lips curled into a cruel sneer, one that rivaled even Ferid's when he mercilessly slaughtered the Hyakuya children.
"They've caught on Shigure. Kill him!"
"Yes, sir!" a female voice said from behind Mika.
Turning towards the owner of the voice, Mika saw a petite young-raven haired woman with blunt fringes standing behind him. Judging by the rings on her fingers that the glowing cords were attached to, Mika quickly figured that she was the one who set up and was about the spring the trap laid out for him.
Without another word, Shigure deftly moved her fingers and tugged on the cords, resulting in the attached kunais that have been embedded in the ground to fly into the air surrounding Mika and fly towards him. If he had not moved fast enough and deflected the sharp little daggers with his sword by swinging it in a circle and making a gust of wind around his body, they would have easily impaled him like a pin cushion.
As if he was expecting the possibility of Mikaela evading this trap as well, Guren called for another one of his squad mates.
"Goshi, the illusionary spell!"
Scanning the area around him for his next attacker, Mikaela saw another young man out of the corner of his eye who appeared the same age as Guren with sandy-blond haired tied in a short pony-tail and a goatee. However, unlike the other soldiers, he appeared totally unarmed with the only thing in his hand being a vintage gold-toned metallic pipe.
"Already on it, sir!" Goshi said, his lips curving in a small smile as he gently blew on his pipe. It didn't take Mika long to realize that the pipe was his weapon when the blond saw monsters resembling large snakes with glistening fangs made entirely of purple smoke fly towards him.
Acting on his soldier's instinct, Mika swung his sword again, the resulting gust of wind decimating Goshi's illusions before they could touch him when the blond suddenly heard a voice behind him.
"And that's checkmate!" Guren said with a smug grin as he prepared to make the killing blow before Mikaela could turn around to confront him.
However, the blow never came for Ferid suddenly appeared between the two and warded off the human's attack by blocking Guren's sword with his own.
Mikaela glared at the vampire lord for going against his wishes to stay out of his fight with Guren but Ferid merely smirked and said:
"It looks like you did need my help after all, Mika. Now you owe me one. After all, Queen Krul would be rather displeased with me if I let anything happen to you."
Were they not locked in a heated battle, Mika would have told his ex-benefactor that he could care less what Krul would say or do to Ferid for failing to protect him. The vampire lord didn't give him a chance anyway before he cocked his arm and backhanded Guren across the face.
With Ferid's vampiric strength, he could have easily decapitated the other man but purposely held back and only struck Guren hard enough to send him flying dozens of yards away from Mika and himself.
Mito and Sayuri watched in shock as their commander was flung through the air like a ragdoll, his body colliding with two or three structures before he finally landed against a slab of concrete. As painful as it was, the lieutenant colonel was grateful he crashed against something flat instead of jagged or he might have been totally incapacitated.
Wiping the blood that was dripping down a corner of his mouth, Guren coughed and grimaced at the taste.
"Damn, it's worse than I thought," he muttered as he looked at Ferid and Mika. "That bastard must be a noble."
After giving the battered human commander a look of amusement, Ferid turned back to Mika again.
"I hope you take this as a valuable lesson, Mika. You should never underestimate the livestock; there's nothing honorable how about these vile vermin fight. Though as an ex-human yourself, you should already know that."
Mika bared his fangs at the older vampire, unable to resist the opportunity to call him out on his hypocrisy.
"The same could be said of you, my lord!" he snarled.
Like always, Ferid brushed off the blond boy's insult.
"In any case, we'd best get serious and end this quickly. Personally, I'd like to be home in time for dinner."
"And like I said before, Ferid, I don't need your help; I'm more than capable of figuring out their strategies myself," Mika said coldly as his irritation at the vampire lord finally made him drop the formalities.
"Hmm… there's that arrogance and sharp tongue again! I do wonder how our lovely queen puts up with you, Mika…" Ferid teased.
The blond ignored him and turned back to face Guren.
"My sword, drink again," he commanded without taking his eyes off his enemy.
Catching onto Mikaela's intention, Guren decided to pull his own trump card and withdrew a small plastic case filled with green tablets from his uniform pocket.
"Looks like I'll have to take two pills to pull this one off…" he muttered.
Sayuri, who was locked in combat with Lacus not far away, gasped when she heard her superior's intent.
"Don't do it, sir!" she cried while doing her best not to look away from her opponent.
Lacus snickered. "You should be more concerned about yourself than him, little girl. Take your eyes off the enemy for even a second and you might end up dead."
Before Sayuri could respond, another sharp feminine voice cut in.
"Speak for yourself, bloodsucker!" Mito said coldly before suddenly showing up at Lacus's side and pivoting on her left leg before striking him hard in the chest with her fist, knocking the purple-haired vampire a safe distance away from Sayuri and herself.
If he were a human, Mito would have crushed his sternum with the force she put behind her blow but the strike merely knocked the wind out of Lacus for a brief moment.
"Oh, wow, not bad!" the purple-haired vampire praised with a grin after he recovered from the blow. "And for a moment there, I thought you were just a pretty face, lady!"
Ignoring Lacus, both Sayuri and Mito turned to their commander.
"Sir, I strongly advise you not to take more than one pill!" the scarlet-haired woman warned before giving Lacus a quick glare to let him know she was still watching him in case he tried to attack again.
"If you die of shock from overdosing, you won't be able to lead us!" Sayuri added with a pleading look in her eyes.
Guren closed his eyes for a brief moment before forcing himself to his feet.
"What other choice do we have? If I don't take them, we could all end up dead anyway, especially since our reinforcements haven't arrived yet. Do you want me to take that gamble, ladies?"
Not waiting for either woman to answer, Mika impatiently cut in.
"Are you going to fight or just stand there and talk, human?"
"My, what a polite little vampire you are!" Guren said sarcastically. "Would you be so good as to give me a little more time to get ready?"
Mika's brows rose as he gave the other man a look of astonishment.
"Are you serious? How much time could you possibly need?"
"Oh, about twenty seconds or so to take my meds if you can kindly wait-"
Before he utter another word, Mikaela suddenly vanished from Guren's sight before reappearing before him with his sword raised. Knowing very well that the blond had no intention of granting his request, Guren was prepared and quickly raised his own sword to block Mika's attack.
"Haha, well you can't blame a guy for trying, can't you?" he joked. "Is it my imagination or are you a lot faster than before?"
Mika's eyes narrowed as he locked swords with the older man.
"I was actually going easy on you, human. Don't think I'll be holding back anymore. I suggest you not take me lightly if you don't want to die," he sneered.
"Heh, holding back? You really are as young as you look, aren't you, boy? If you were truly a seasoned warrior, you'd know that holding back on the battlefield could easily get you killed, vampire or human." Guren shot back while shoving his weapon against Mika's.
"And Ferid tells me I'm arrogant and overconfident," Mikaela growled before using all of his strength to shove his opponent back, knocking the older man off his feet and sent him landing on the ground before the concrete slab Ferid knocked him into before.
Had he not been weakened from Ferid's attack earlier, Guren might have been able to fend Mikaela off but now the fatigue from being pommeled by two powerful vampires was starting to take a toll on his body.
"Damn you…" Guren snarled with a defiant look on his face as he saw the blond vampire slowly approach with his sword raised to deliver the killing blow. The only difference being that Mika displayed no signs of the smug satisfaction Guren himself showed when he thought he had the upper hand after catching the blond off guard with the cursed talisman.
Ferid, who had been watching the entire exchange between his subordinate and the human commander in silence, finally spoke when his sharp vampiric hearing picked up the sound of numerous humans approaching.
"Hmm, it looks like his back-up has finally arrived. I suggest you go ahead and put the bastard out of his misery, Mika," the vampire lord said coolly when he saw what appeared to be two squads of teenage JIDA soldiers heading their way.
Although none of them had Ferid's superhuman vision, both Shinoa and Satoshi's squads were able to get close enough to see what was happening.
"This is bad!" Shinoa exclaimed. "The lieutenant colonel's been cornered! We have to do something quick before he gets killed!"
Satoshi nodded. "I agree, Shinoa! Everyone, take your pills; we'll save him and retreat. And remember, no more than one!" he ordered.
No one needed to be told twice; as soon as Satoshi gave the order, both squads pulled out their cases and popped a pill into their mouths while taking care not to drop the rest in their haste to save Guren.
Especially Yuichiro.
Ignoring the approaching humans who had just arrived in time to join the fray, Mika drew his sword back and looked Guren directly in the eye. Even though the man was looking death right in the face, he still showed no signs of fear, something even the blond had to admit was admirable.
"You fight well for a human, I'll give you that. Do you have any last words you'd like to share?"
Instead of answering right away, Guren glanced over Mikaela's shoulder and his expression became smug again when he saw Yuichiro rushing ahead of the others to come to his rescue.
"Don't look behind you, vampire…" he sneered.
Puzzled as to what the older man meant, Mikaela quickly turned around and his eyes widened when he saw a young teenage girl with long raven hair tied up in a high ponytail and sharp green eyes running at him with her sword drawn.
"Bastard, you get away from Guren right now!" she screamed.
No, it can't be…
Before the blond could even get her name past his lips, Mikaela felt Yuichiro's sword pierce his chest as she used all her strength to drive it into him up to the hilt.
With their faces only a few inches apart, Yuichiro finally got a good look at the vampire who had intended to take her mentor's life only moments before and her expression became a mirror of his when recognition finally set in.
That soft and wavy blond hair…
Those ocean-blue eyes…
That angelic face…
No… it's not possible…
"Mika?"
A/N: For the enjoyment of my readers, I invite everyone to look up my profiles on Twitter and DeviantArt to find artwork/illustration of both my fem!Yuu stories. My pen-name there is the same as on FF. Net and Ao3: Elly3981. Enjoy and please leave comments and reviews; they are like digital hugs to me. ^^
