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The Council of Thirteen

Book Seven: The Second Lord

The Kuran Restoration

Chapter 4: The Plot Thickens

Beta:

"You have some gall, Hio Shizuka, to show up here unannounced." Kaname said from behind his desk, glaring at his fellow Pureblood.

The beautiful and tall woman with long silver-white hair and eyes that were an unusual shade of pink, similar to the color of cherry blossoms dressed in a pale, white-colored kimono with a thin ribbon around her waist with a bell attached to it smirked as she replied.

"Would you have received me if I informed you that I would be arriving?" The female Pureblood asked. "Or would you have instead informed the Vampire Hunters so they could slay me?"

"Don't take me as a fool," Kaname said, narrowing his eyes at the woman. "We both know that your status as a subject on their list of targets is simply a matter of politics."

"Perhaps, but it is a concern nonetheless. After all, I am not only responsible for myself." Hio said gesturing to her two attendants.

On her left was a petite built vampires, with grayish-purple hair and eyes. She had long and straight hair, with a full dolly fringe at eyebrow length and a small bun adorning the side of her head. This was her handmaiden, Kurenai Maria, one of Hio's distant relatives. And on her right was a man who shared a striking resemblance to Kiryu Zero, the Level D's twin, Kiryu Ichiru, who was armed with a sheathed katana.

"Niisan," Yuki greeted as she and Kaien-san were being shown in by his loyal bodyguard Seiren, who he noted with some amusement had been joined guarding the door by Yori. "The Headmaster and I have arrived."

"Greetings Yuki, Kaien-san." Kaname said, greeting his sister with a smile as the door closed even as he nodded to his future sister-in-law, unable to properly greet her due to vampiric etiquette.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Kuran Yuki-dono," Hio said, standing and offering his sister a greeting before shooting an uneasy glare at the former Hunter. "You as well, Cross-san."

"Do I make you uneasy, Hio-dono?" Kaien-san asked, with a tinge of amusement to his otherwise serious tone.

"You are the former number one Vampire Hunter." The silver haired woman said as everyone took their seats. "It is understandable, no?"

"Yes, he is." Kaname agreed. "But his presence here is non-negotiable. He is the Academy's Headmaster and he is thus one of the leaders here."

"Fair enough," Hio said with a frustrated sigh.

"With that out of the way," Yuki said, offering the other female Pureblood a welcoming smile. "Why have you come here Hio-dono?"

The barefoot woman fidgeted for a moment, clearly second guessing her decision to come to them at all. No one said a word, letting her deliberate on the matter and let her speak on her own time. It took her a few minutes before she finally breathed another frustrated sigh before speaking.

"I would like to request refuge here at Cross Academy."

Kaname smiled. This was perfect! Having the assistance of another Pureblood would greatly strengthen their faction. With her support, they would be much stronger in their struggle with the Senate. Their plans would surely be helped immensely by this development.

"I have no objections to doing so," Yuki said, nodding at Kaname having read his opinion from his smile and turned to Kaien-san who nodded his own acceptance. "Correction, we have no objections. However, I have conditions."

"Name them," Hio said, frowning.

"First and most expected, we expect you to support us in our plans. Which I am sure Kaname will explain to you." She then shot him a knowing look and Kaname nodded. "Secondly, I want a vial of your blood."

"My blood?" Hio said, a knowing smirk spreading across her face. "You want to save Kiryu Zero?"

"He is one of my subordinates," Yuki said with a shrug. "It is only natural that I would do what I can to assist him."

Hio glanced to Kiryu's twin who nodded.

"Very well. I accept your terms."

"Then welcome to Cross Academy." Kaien-san said, on their behalf.

"You called?" Zero asked in the most disrespectful tone of voice he could muster as he walked into the small office that had been assigned to the Pureblood masquerading as Cross Academy's Student Council President.

He didn't want to be here and had only come because if he didn't that the Headmaster would be upset with him. And as much as he thought the man was being a fool for pursuing peaceful coexistence with their mortal enemies, he respected the man enough for being the former number one Hunter and for raising him after his parents died to want to avoid disappointing him. It didn't mean he had to be polite whilst doing it though.

"Yes," the petite woman said with a pleasant smile despite his rudeness.

She's so fake. He thought with disgust. He honestly much preferred the anger, her lover and the Council's Vice-President shot him from her seat just off to the side of the office. At least his fellow former human was honest about her feelings. Unlike the duplicitous bitch that was her sire.

"It's been a week. It's about time you have another dose of my blood." She reminded him as she produced an ornate vial from whatever magical hammer space she had been keeping it in and placed it on her desk.

"I don't need it," Zero said, turning to leave.

"Then would you prefer to degenerate into a Level E?" Kuran said pointedly, even as Zero's hands closed around the doorknob. "You won't be able to hunt any vampires then would you? In fact, you'd be the one hunted, wouldn't you?"

"Are you trying to rub that in?" Zero hissed, spinning around to glare at the bitch.

"Hardly," she said, unfazed by his anger. Heck, the bitch seemed amused. "Merely pointing out to you what is at stake. Do you really want to take the risk of all that?"

Zero growled angrily but knew she'd got him. If he wanted to live anything resembling the life he wanted. If he wanted to be able to continue being a Hunter, to continue to pursue the monster that had killed his parents and abducted his twin, Ichiru, then he had to drink the bitch's blood.

"Just give me the damned vial." He shouted, giving voice to all the helplessness and frustration he felt at his predicament.

"No need to be so loud, Zero-san." The bitch said as she playfully pretended to wince. "You're lucky this office is magically soundproofed or your shouting would've probably had everyone outside rushing in to see what was wrong."

Zero ignored her jabbering, instead choosing to stalk over to her disk and snatch up the vial of her blood.

"You're bottling it now?" He taunted as he uncapped the container. "You're going on the market with this stuff?"

The bitch giggled and shook her head. "No, just that after the last time I thought it best not to bleed myself in public. I wouldn't want to cause the other vampires on campus to panic again if they smelled my blood."

"How thoughtful of you," Zero said with a roll of his eyes before he downed the contents of the vial in one gulp.

It flowed down his throat like ambrosia, filling his body with strength and vitality unlike anything he had ever felt. Not even the last taste of her blood could compare and that had been a truly divine experience. But this, this transcended that tenfold! It was so overwhelming that he staggered from the sheer intensity of it, dropping the vial in the process.

It shattered, sending shards of glass flying. But it wasn't the only thing that broke. For as the blood he'd just consumed continued to energize him in ways he'd never even imagined possible, something within him broke as well. A bond he'd never perceived but which in hindsight he'd known was always there, wrapped around his deepest being, snapped and the force of it reverberated through his being, finally knocking him out of his high.

"That-" He said, as he stumbled trying to regain his bearings. "That wasn't your blood."

"No," the Pureblood admitted with a smile like a cat which caught the canary. "That was Hio Shizuka's."

At the name of the monster that had ruined his life, Zero lost it. Rushing forward as fast as his body allowed him, he grabbed the smug looking bitch by the throat, pulled her out of her chair and slammed her hard against the wall behind her desk.

"Where did you get-"

He failed to finish the sentence before the accursed Pureblood's whore, who had been so silent until now he'd practically forgotten she was even there, suddenly blurred into his side with a sword glowing with arcane energy aiming to run him through.

Thanks to his own enhanced reflexes due to his being a Vampire Hunter and as Vampire, he managed to leap away, releasing the Pureblood in the process.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on Yuki-sama!" The normally quiet former woman hissed as she slashed her sword through the air, releasing a wave of arcane energy at Zero.

His eyes widened at that even as he tried to dive out of the way and desperately fired Bloody Rose in quick succession to try and blast a hole in the incoming wave of raw magic, but his bullets simply disintegrated upon contact with the incoming attack.

His evasion was partially successful though and the wave of magic slammed into his lower body, slamming him into the wall, singing his clothes and burning him but saving him from being killed.

"Argh!" He cried out in pain even as he slammed painfully in the ground.

He wasn't in contact with the ground though, even as he was trying to push himself back onto his feet, the sword using bitch was upon him.

Running him through with her sword and charging him with enough speed to slam him into a wall.

"Time to die," the brown haired swordswoman said, her eyes narrowed angrily and glowing a malicious crimson even as the arcane magic in her sword began to build in intensity.

Zero tried to bring Bloody Rose around to shoot the crazy bitch in the head but he'd barely turned his wrist when a sword materialized out of nowhere and skewered his wrist, pinning him to the wall.

"Yori! Stop!" The Pureblood finally seemed to have gathered enough of her wits to say.

"But Yuki-sama, he-"

"I know," the Pureblood said, shaking her head. "But calm down! What he did doesn't deserve death."

The crazy bitch had to take a deep breath to calm herself down before with a nod to her mistress and one last glare, she pulled the sword impaling him to the wall out of him and dismissed the one skewering his arm back into the aether.

"Thank you, Yori." Kuran said, directing a grateful smile to her lover who just nodded again and took a guarded stance next to her mistress, that damnable sword of hers still in hand.

"Are you alright Zero-san?" Kuran asked, the lying bitch actually sounding genuinely concerned. "Do you need healing?"

"I'm fine," He growled out, even as his injuries healed at an accelerated rate probably thanks to that blasted blood she'd tricked him into drinking. "Just explain how you managed to get your hands on that woman's blood!?"

He would've asked her why she did it too, except he knew why. The manipulative monster wanted to use this to buy his loyalty. Well, she could keep dreaming. He would never align himself with a vampire. Never!

"It was the price we extracted from Hio-dono in exchange for an alliance with Niisan and I."

"Alliance?" Zero growled, barely managing to keep his anger in check.

"She asked for refuge here in the Academy," the Pureblood elaborated hesitantly.

"She is here!? Here in the Academy!?"

"Yes," the bitch said hesitantly.

"Where is she hiding?" He said, stepping towards the Pureblood only to stop when her whore stepped between them brandishing her sword.

"Do you honestly expect me to tell you?"

Zero growled and knowing that he would not be able to get anything from the bitch, he turned and slammed the door to her office open and stormed out of the room. Behind him, his enhanced senses allowed him to hear the bitch sigh.

"This will not end well," the whore said in an angry whisper.

"I know but I needed to try," the bitch said, sounding tired. Like she had any right to be.

Ignoring them, she focused on the most important thing to him right now, hunting down the monster that ruined his life!

Despite his determination and his meticulous search of the Academy campus for the monster, he failed to find anything in spite of hours of searching. He refused to give up though and after having thoroughly searching the newer sections of the campus, he'd moved on to searching the oldest part of the campus, the largely abandoned housing district that had originally been built as temporary housing for the workers that had been responsible for building the Academy in the first place.

He was just entering the area when suddenly a hauntingly familiar voice called out to him.

"You won't find Shizuka-sama that easily, brother. I won't let you!"

Spinning around Zero saw a man who could've been his doppelgänger stepping out from behind the trees that lined the path. And in many ways he was. He had not seen him since they were children, but Zero would recognise his twin anywhere.

"I-Ichiru?" Zero gasped, shocked at the sight of his long lost brother.

"It's me," Ichiru confirmed as he drew a katana and with scabbard in one hand and blade in the other, stepped fully onto the path. "And I'm here to stop you from finding Shizuka-sama."

"Why!?" Zero growled, infuriated that even his brother was standing in the way of his rightful vengeance.

"I could ask you the same question, brother." Ichiru said as he fell into a ready stance. "Why do you seek out Shizuka-sama?"

"To avenge our parents!" Zero shouted. Why did he need to spell out the obvious?

"Then the target is right here," Ichiru said, his eyes narrowed. "It was after all I who led her to our parents. I who disabled the wards keeping us hidden from her."

"Y-You?" Zero asked, taking a step back in shock. "W-Why!?"

"Because it was the only way both of us could live." Ichiru said with a shrug. "We are twins, Zero. You know what Hunters do to their twins?"

"Kaasand and Tousan would ne-"

"They would!" Ichiru insisted. "I overheard them. They were worried I was too weak and sickly to survive till we were ready for the ceremonial duel to see which of us deserved to live or die, so they decided that they would take things into their own hands."

"They wouldn-"

Ichiru ignored him, just kept spewing his lies. "They decided they'd kill me and then secretly feed you my remains so you would absorb my power like you should've done in the womb."

"No, you're lying!" Zero shouted, drawing Bloody Rose. "Say you're lying!"

Ichiru shook his head, refusing Zero's demand even as he kept spinning his tall tale. "I ran away into the woods after that and ran into Shizuka-sama. She couldn't pierce our wards, but she could certainly make a rough guess as to our location. So she'd been lurking around the area since she had, waiting for a chance."

"She made you say this, didn't she!? That Pureblood!" Zero shouted, not even sure which Pureblood he was referring to. The manipulative bitch or the monster. Both of them seemed entirely capable of something like this.

"I thought she'd kill me then and there," Ichiru confessed. "Unlike you, I paid attention even back then during our lessons, so I knew the debt of blood we owed her. But to my surprise she refused to do so, even when I offered. After all, I was scheduled to die anyway, why not do it protecting our family from the evil Pureblood. But she wasn't evil. She was kind."

"She was deceiving you!"

"Do you know why she had to kill our parents, Zero?" Ichiru asked, but answered his own question before Zero could even process it. "Because, it was that or war. She might've been a rogue but she was still a Pureblood. The death of one of her dependents, her lover no less, was an act of war. The Association couldn't just wash it away by saying it was a mistake. Killing our parents, was the only way to prevent that by applying the law of an 'eye for an eye'. It was why neither the Association nor the Vampire's Senate actually tried to hunt her down after they let her escape her confinement. It was why despite the Sword of Damocles on our heads, we weren't living in protective custody. It was why she suffered no repercussions for her actions."

It made sense. A traitorous part of Zero's mind said, but he ignored it because it just couldn't be true.

"Stop spewing rubbish and just tell me where the monster is," Zero said, finally losing is patience and deactivating Bloody Rose's safety as a threat. "Or I'll make you."

"I would like to see you try," Ichiru said with a smirk. "But no, I will not help you. Neither will I allow you to continue letting you live in ignorance."

"Then get out of my way!" Zero said, pulling the trigger. It was an anger fueled action and one he regretted immediately.

"Ichiru!" He shouted in warning even as the bullet flew from his gunbarrel.

He needn't have worried.

In a display of incredible speed, agility and skill that Zero had only ever seen in the most powerful vampires or magicians, Ichiru blurred into motion such that he not only sidestepped the bullet but he cut it in half with his sword as it whizzed past him.

"I told Shizuka-sama all my troubles," Ichiru continued his rant even as he blurred in front of Zero and slammed his scabbard down on his gun arm. The force of the strike was probably enough to snap steel but Zero was both a Vampire and a Vampire Hunter, and his superhuman physiology saved him from so much as a broken arm. It was however more than enough to cause him to lose his grip on Bloody Rose.

Leaping back and clutching his aching arm, Zero realised that was probably exactly what his twin had been aiming for.

"Not all in that one night of course," his brother said as he kicked Bloody Rose away. "But I snuck out night after snuck over a month to see her. She was the first person to ever listen to me after all."

"That's not tr-" Zero said, even as he broke out into a run in the direction of his gun.

"It was," Ichiru countered sternly even as he slashed at the air, his sword glowing and somehow sending a vacuum blade flying in Zero's direction.

"Our parents never did, too focused on you, their true heir. And you didn't either, too absorbed in yourself to care." Ichiru continued as Zero's mad dash for Bloody Rose was cut short by the need to avoid being cut in half by the vacuum blade. "But she was a listening ear I never knew I needed. And I was hers. We became fast friends and together we hatched the plan that would free us both."

"The one where you worked together to kill our parents? Where I got turned into a vampire after seeing them get murdered?" Zero accused whilst he tried to rush his brother.

"Yes," Ichiru said as if he wasn't confessing to some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. "It was the only way."

"Even turning me into a vampire!?" Zero demanded seconds before his charge abruptly ended when Ichiru slammed his scabbard into his chest with the force of a freight train and sent him flying into the trees.

"How else do you think we could justify leaving you alive, brother?" Ichiru asked, sounding like he thought Zero was a fool even as she walked towards him through the path into the woods his flight had created, stepping over the dozen or so fallen trees one by one. "Did you think the Association would've just let you a potentially dangerous half of a pair of Hunter twins live, in light of the horror stories of how out of control some of those can become? Especially when the other half was missing?"

Zero attempted to shut his brother up by uprooting a tree and trying to slam it into him from the side, but Ichiru just blocked it with his scabbard without any difficulty.

"But a vampire sired by a rogue Pureblood that could potentially be used to lure said rogue out? That, that had potential." Ichiru said even as his scabbard pulsed with magic and suddenly the tree Zero was pressing up against it, exploded. "Besides, unlike me, you had no potential for magic which meant unless you were turned, you wouldn't have survived long anyway. Being a Hunter twin is a fatal condition."

"So you decided turning me into something I hated was better?" Zero shot back as he leaped out of the debris of his improvised weapon, hoping it had created enough of a distraction for him to get close.

"It was either that, death or we cannibalize the other." Ichiru said as he casually swung his blade in Zero's direction and unleashed another vacuum blade that cut deep into his flesh. "I chose the most palatable of the terrible options presented to us."

"Y-You l-ly-ing tr-traitor." Zero garbled out as he lay on the forest floor, his supernatural healing desperately trying to repair the damage his body had sustained.

Ichiru's attack had left him with a deep wound that ran from his right shoulder all the way down to his left hip. A wound like this would've been fatal for a human, then again a human would likely have been cleanly bisected by the attack so perhaps that wasn't the best comparison to make.

"Do not look for Shizuka-sama again, Zero." Ichiru said as she calmly sheathed his sword and turned away from him. "The next time, I will not be so kind as to let you walk away with your life."

"I would advise you not to make such threats to one of our people whilst under our protection, Ichiru-san." The bitch said as she materialized out of nowhere, the Headmaster clutching her arm.

"Apologies Yuki-sama," Ichiru said with a nod even as Cross rushed to Zero's side and without a word picked him up.

"Yuki-chan, we need to get Zero to the healers." Cross said urgently, his voice serious and calm as befit a former number one Hunter.

I must be in really bad shape if it's brought out the old man's serious side. Zero noted with a frown.

"Just do not do so again." The bitch said to Ichiru distractedly, earning a nod from his traitorous brother before she turned her attention to Cross and Zero. "Come on let's get you to the infirmary."

With that she grabbed hold of Cross' shoulder and they teleported away.

The last thing Zero saw as the sudden movement through spacetime knocked him unconscious was Ichiru walking away as if he hadn't just wrecked his entire worldview with his rant and beatdown.

"I am sorry, Yuki-chan." Kaien said, offering the young Pureblood an apologetic smile. "It seems my foster son has caused you trouble again."

"Don't say that," Yuki-chan said with a shake of her head as they both stood side by side outside the Academy's infirmary where its healers were busy trying to save Zero's life. "Zero-san is responsible for his own actions. I know you've tried to restrain his recklessness, he is just too stubborn to listen,"

"Still, he is my ward. I am responsible for his behavior."

Yuki-chan sighed and let the matter rest.

The two fell into silence for a long moment before she finally spoke up.

"If you want to take responsibility," Yuki-chan said, sounding hesitant. "Then I must ask you to send Zero-san away. He is a loose cannon and we cannot afford those at the moment. Not when our plans are at such a sensitive stage."

Cross wanted to refuse. To deny her claim, but he could not. She was right. The sheer number of complaints that he'd received about Zero proved it.

"Very well," Kaien said with a disappointed sigh. "I will make arrangements to have him sent to the Hunter's Association. They'll resist but I will insist."

"Thank you."

Yuki was just on her way back to her dorm room after it was confirmed that Zero-san was out of danger, it had been a long wait. It had taken four hours, and considering that he had been sent into the infirmary in the middle of the night, it was now almost daybreak. She was sure that the only reason Yori had not come searching for her was because she had ordered her to go to bed and not look for her when she'd first left their room in response to Zero-san's fight with Ichiru-san.

Damn. I have had no sleep today at all! Yuki cursed to herself. And I have class tomorrow! Or is that today? This sucks!

"Yuki," Niisan said as he teleported a short distance ahead of her. "I have ne- Yuki! Are you alright?"

"Yes," Yuki said, offering him a tired smile. "Just tired. You said you have news? I take it that it's important if you came to inform me immediately."

Niisan looked skeptical but nevertheless nodded in acceptance of her assurance.

"Yes. I just received word that the Ori family was wiped out by unknown assailants last night."

"The Ori?" Yuki asked, her eyes going wide at the news that an entire family of her fellow Purebloods were wiped out. "That's-"

"That is not all." Kaname said with a frown. "Perhaps more worrying, the other Purebloods are responding by meeting to discuss the matter of these killings of our kind."

This truly surprised Yuki. She had heard no such thing, much less received an invitation to such a meeting.

"They didn't invite us?"

Niisan shook his head.

"They suspect we might be the culprits, don't they?" Yuki said, worrying her lips nervously.

"I am afraid so."

As the active Kuranian Purebloods gathered inside a heavily warded ballroom inside the luxurious Kuranoya Sapporo hotel, a butterfly made out of plant matter sat on one of the room's chandeliers and observed the events.

"The Kurans are behind these killings I tell you," the young Pureblood named Toma Shizuku with light-colored hair and eyes said with brash confidence. "They are doing it so they can be our monarchs again!"

This was met with worried and disbelieving whispers amidst the gathered Purebloods.

"But that discounts the evidence we have unearthed of Outsider involvement." Shoto Isaya, a neatly dressed older Pureblood man with shoulder length hair, said over the noise, his words sparking murmurs of agreement among the other Purebloods.

"And who exactly informed us of that?" The Toma boy said with a snort. "Kuran Yuki that's who! There is no reason to trust her."

"She made the declaration of Outsider involvement not in the capacity as a Kuran but as a Lord of the Council of Thirteen and that makes her word sacrosanct." Shoto countered.

"That did not make what she said true." The brat said with a shrug.

The majority of the Purebloods seemed to agree with this statement if the nodding heads was any indication, something that had the butterfly fluttering its wings happily.

"You are playing with fire, boy." Shoto said, his eyes narrowed. "If you insist on making an enemy of Kuran Yuki-dono, you will be making an enemy of the Thirteen and I want no part in that."

With that said, he stood before promptly leaving, followed by a number of the others.

Hmm… I had hoped there would be more who stayed, but I suppose this is enough. The being controlling the floral butterfly thought.

"Good riddance," the Toma boy said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "They're probably Kuran supporters anyways. Now that they're gone, we can plan on how we can stop the Kurans from trying to seize power."

"And what would you suggest, Toma-dono?" One of the remaining Purebloods asked.

"We don't know when and against whom they will strike next so we can't exactly ambush them as they carry out their assassinations but we can strike at them at one place we know they hold power."

"And where is that?"

"The recruitment centre for their faction," the child-like Pureblood said with a smirk. "Cross Academy."

The Hanadagi estate was the ancestral home of the Hanadagi clan of Kuranian Purebloods and the place where the clan had chosen to sleep away three centuries in hibernation so as to break the monotony of their endless, unchanging existence. It was a picturesque if rather modest, by Pureblood standards, traditional Japanese castle nestled in the mountains of the Daisetsuzan National Park. Due to its owners' hibernation, it was a quiet place with few visitors.

Tonight however, it was receiving some rather unwelcome ones. Ones that had shattered its wards, massacred its guards and now stood poised to kill its slumbering owners. Standing over the sarcophagi of the Hanadagi in the depths of the castle's hidden underground crypt were the two women responsible.

One was a teenager with brown hair and wine red eyes that was dressed in a black suit, a light blue blouse, and had her hair tied back with an orange hair tie into a large bun. Her arms were a pair of wings covered in chestnut-colored feathers and her feet were the scaled feet of a bird that ended in large talons. Her partner was a young woman with pale skin, short brown hair and large brown eyes. She was dressed in a white blouse with a dark gray blazer and medium length skirt. Ominously, she was holding an oversized pistol sporting the Browning short recoil mechanism, but with a long slide and a golden barrel that looked 10 inches long. A weapon that she had leveled at the stone coffins that housed the sleeping Hanadagis and within which she was gathering a great deal of magical energy.

"Rain of blades," Yuki heard Yori cast even as they teleported in, summoning Artemis and slamming the butt of its staff into the ground, using her Mystic Code as a conduit to channel her mastery of matter to raise a barrier of earth as tough as nuclear pasta, the same exotic matter that made up the crust of neutron stars and the hardest material in the known universe, between the Hanadagis' sarcophagi and the gunslinger's attack.

Normally, the radiation from such material would be fatal to life for miles around but Yuki commanded matter to a degree that she could easily create something with the strength she needed without being radioactive. Even then, the exotic barrier still only barely managed to absorb the full force of the magical beam the woman's gun shot out.

It also took a lot out of her and she breathed a sigh of relief that Yori's attack had sent both the extradimensional aliens scrambling for cover and bought her the time to recover.

Not that it lasted for long, as the harpy woman dived in her direction, its talons ready to rip her to shreds.

"Yuki, I'll take her." Yori shouted as she used a Sword Bullet to force the harpy-like creature away and she teleported in to engage it in midair thanks to the Fly spell and with a pair electrically charged blades in her hands.

"Be careful!" Yuki shouted after her lover even as she used Shadow Step to teleport out of the way of the stream of energy bullets the gunslinger shot her way and into her guard.

"You're the Gun Witch aren't you?" Yuki asked, even as she swung Artemis in a wide arc to attempt to bisect the other woman only for her to acrobatically leap backwards into a handstand before righting herself and unleashing another hail of bullets from her gun.

"Y̶e̶s̸,̶ ̷I̵ ̴a̷m̵.̷" The woman replied, her speech distorted and just barely comprehensible. "I̶t̵ ̴i̷s̷ ̸a̵ ̶p̵l̸e̴a̷s̸u̴r̴e̶ ̶t̵o̴ ̷m̷a̴k̸e̶ ̶y̶o̸u̵r̷ ̷a̵c̶q̴u̸a̴i̸n̸t̷a̷n̴c̴e̵,̷ ̵S̶e̴c̸o̴n̷d̵ ̵L̶o̴r̵d̸ ̸o̵f̶ ̸L̸o̷r̵d̸ ̸T̵h̸i̴r̶t̷e̴e̶n̴.̵"

Yuki winced even as she spun out of the way of the bullets and behind the rapidly diminishing cover of a stone pillar. That was a lot worse.

Note to self: Try to avoid talking to extradimensional horrors. Yuki thought. Sadly, it was not something she could avoid at the moment, because she needed answers and if this woman was willing to provide it then she'd just have to brave a little existential unease and the resultant headache to get it.

"And that other woman is the Sparrow?" Yuki asked, even as used Shadow Step to appear behind her opponent and release a pointblank Destruction Wave.

Said extradimensional monster just teleported out of the way of the burst of destructive magic to appear in a burst of what seemed like multicolored static directly above Yuki before firing a beam from her gun down at the Second Lord.

Yuki leapt back and swung Artemis in quick succession in the falling alien's direction, releasing blades of destructive magic that flew towards her opponent.

Cutting out her beam, the gunslinger spun in midair and began picking off Yuki's projecticles with precise shots from her gun. Yuki was prepared for that though and teleported behind the distracted gunner once more, only to find herself facing the barrel of a smaller pistol in said woman's off hand that fired off a shot just as she materialized.

Her eyes widening at the sight, Yuki had less than a second to pump energy into her defensive wards and pull off an emergency teleport out of danger. Something she only just managed.

Rematerializing out of the teleport she shook her head slightly to shake loose the crystalized magic that were the remains of the wards that had kept her from taking a bullet to the head.

"You're good." Yuki complimented the alien as her wards regenerated and the other woman landed with superhuman grace and spun to face her, her smaller gun disappearing into the aether. "Then again, I shouldn't have expected any less from a Outsider's servant."

"I̸ ̸a̵m̸ ̵g̸l̴a̸d̴ ̸y̴o̵u̸ ̸t̴h̷i̵n̴k̸ ̶s̴o̵.̴ ̸T̷h̷e̵ ̵S̷p̶a̴r̵r̷o̵w̸ ̵a̷n̴d̶ ̷I̴ ̷w̷i̴l̴l̵ ̶n̸o̵t̸ ̴s̵h̶a̴m̸e̵ ̸M̴i̶d̴o̷r̸i̴-̷s̵a̷m̶a̵ ̶b̷y̸ ̷b̶e̵i̴n̸g̸ ̸w̴e̸a̵k̸.̴" The alien said, offering a grateful nod to Yuki.

"Round Two?" Yuki asked, as she raised Artemis into a combat stance, ready to continue the fight.

Her opponent however seemed hesitant, instead glancing at her partner who seemed to take the hint and disengaging with her aerial duel with Yori flew into land next to the Gun Witch. Her arms and legs gaining a human appearance as she did so.

"A̶p̵o̷l̵o̵g̵i̷e̶s̷,̵ ̷m̵y̷ ̵l̶a̶d̵y̸.̸ ̴B̸u̵t̷ ̶o̵u̷r̴ ̶w̸i̶n̶d̶o̸w̷ ̴o̶f̷ ̸o̸p̶p̵o̷r̸t̷u̸n̸i̴t̷y̶ ̴h̴a̵s̷ ̵p̵a̷s̴s̸e̸d̷." The gunslinger said with an apologetic bow. "P̵e̸r̶h̶a̷p̷s̴ ̶w̷e̷ ̴w̶i̵l̶l̸ ̵h̵a̴v̴e̴ ̶t̴h̷e̵ ̸c̷h̸a̶n̴c̷e̵ ̷t̶o̸ ̷f̸a̶c̸e̴ ̷e̶a̸c̵h̷ ̶o̷t̷h̸e̷r̵ ̷a̴g̵a̵i̴n̴."

With that she and her compatriot teleported away.

"Window of opportunity?" Yori asked as she flew in to land next to Yuki. "What did she mean by that? We couldn't have possibly scared them off just like that, right?"

"Now, I don't think so." Yuki said with a shake of her head and turned to face the presence hiding in the shadows that she had overlooked until now. "I think it has more to do with you, aren't I right, Hanadagi-san?"

"I presume so," the tan skinned man with messy and long, light hair that was the Hanadagi patriarch said as he revealed himself. "Perhaps they did not fancy facing me as well as you two ladies?"

"I imagine so," Yuki agreed though she doubted it.

The Gun Witch and the Sparrow were strong. Very strong. Would the addition of just one more Pureblood to the side of their enemies be enough to scare them off? Or were they simply retreating because by engaging them at all the element of surprise and mystery they'd been operating under till now was ruined and they needed to regroup, hence their retreat the moment there was a lull in the fighting? Or perhaps the former allowed the excuse they needed to do the retreat instead?

I'll need to think about this. Yuki thought with a frown. Probably have to run this by Sensei to get her opinion too. Maybe the Twelfth too.

"Regardless of their reasons, I must thank you two ladies for saving us." Hanadagi-dono said, bowing at them both in sincere gratitude. "I only awoke as you fought them, thus if you had not intervened, my family and I would have died helpless to do anything."

"I appreciate your thanks, Hanadagi-dono. But I would prefer that you take action instead." Yuki said with a shake of her head. "You need to awaken your family and get them to safety. With servants of an Outsider hunting our kind, hibernating is no longer safe."

The Hanadagi Lord agreed with a nod. "I will do so immediately."

"Then we shall take our leave," Yuki said, offering the older Pureblood a curtsy. "May you stay safe."

"You as well, Second Lord." The man said with a smile.

Taking Yori's hand, Yuki teleported the both of them back to Cross Academy. They appeared in the designated teleportation entry point in the Female Day Class Dorm, a small storage room just off the lobby on the first floor of the building.

"Yuki, why didn't we pursue the Outsider's servants?" Yori asked as she opened the door to the room for the both of them.

"We have too many things on our plates already," Yuki said, shaking her head. "I'll contact Sensei and see if she can do so instead. It suits her abilities better anyways."

"That is true," Yori agreed as they walked side by side, towards their room on the third floor. "Her tracking skills far surpasses our own."

"Exactly," Yuki agreed with a nod. "There are thirteen of us on the Council, each with our own specialities, so let's let those most suited to the task take charge."

"You just say that," Yori said with a giggle. "But you really just want to avoid taking on more responsibilities, right?"

Yuki pouted. It was true but did her girlfriend have to actually spell it out!

A week after the fight with the Gun Witch and the Sparrow, Yuki stood with Niisan and Kaien-san as they stood on the roof of the guardhouse and watched as Shiki Senri departed the Academy in response to a call from his mother.

"And so it begins," Yuki observed as her cousin, the illegitimate son of her accursed uncle Kuran Rido, got into the car that had arrived to pick him up.

"So it has," Nissan agreed. "Rido must be close to being fully revived."

Yuki winced even if she didn't disagree. There was little reason for Shiki-san to go home. Based on their intelligence, all was well in the Shiki estate. Thus, the likeliest reason for him to have been called back was so that his father could use his body as a vessel and gain some agency whilst he entered the last stages of his revival.

"And he'll make his move soon," Kaien-san added. "I will need to begin making the necessary preparations."

"And I will go meet with Hio-dono," Yuki said with a nod. "We will need to clue her in on our plans."

With that she teleported away.

"Is it wise to essentially invite Rido into the Academy?" Hio-dono asked, her eyes narrowed from across the table they were sitting at.

"He would have come regardless of what we do," Yuki said with a shake of her head. "As it stands, the Academy has become the site of the highest concentration of the most active Purebloods in the world at this point. He would not pass up on the opportunity to feed on our rich blood, especially not when he knows he'll need it to strengthen himself against those hunting our kind. It is better to allow him in on our own terms."

"I understand," Hio-san said with a frown. "But I continue to be uneasy with this plan of yours."

"That is fine," Yuki said with an understanding nod. "Just be prepared to play your part."

"I will be," Hio-san assured her.

A week later, things began coming to a head.

"That's the last of them, Kaname-sama." Ichijo Takuma, a tall blonde Noble with unkempt hair and first green eyes, that was Kaname's best friend and Vice-President of the Night Class said with a frown. "Are you sure this is necessary?"

"Would you prefer we are all stuck in our dorm when the fighting starts?" Kaname asks his friend. "You can sense it as well, can you not? Rido is almost fully reawakened."

Takuma nodded, though his frown did not fade.

"I shall leave now," Kaname said, offering his friend a pat on the shoulder. "You know the plan. I trust you to lead the Night Class in doing what needs to be done."

"I will," Takuma reassured him. "You be careful as well."

"I will," Kaname replied with a smile as he teleported away to do what needed to be done.

Done!

And things are about to explode in the next chapter. I hope you guys are looking forward to reading it as I am to writing it. I think it's going to be epic!

Well, till then… La revedere!