It's been... a long time since I put a chapter up. I have no excuses. Well, i do have them but it's no good to explain. Pretty sure some know what life is like these days.

Well without further adieu, Here's the start of chapter 9. BTW, this marks the half way point of the current arc.

Disclaimer; i do not own Negima. I only claim ownership to my OCs. I have no intent on sharing them either... maybe.

Voices. That's all he could hear. Not knowing what happened, Sojiro could only just barely open his eyes. There, he could hear the shushed noise a little more clearly.

"The situation is out of hand. And while thankfully no one has been hurt too much, everything within five kilometers is under the control of the Lizard beings."

A girls voice spoke then, "Well, if it's any consolation, the Japanese government is keeping the population from finding out about it.." Then another reply from a different voice,

"I have seen the extent of the damages, and from our Intel inside the 'circle' there are students and civilians being used for hard labor. I personally wish the higher ups would let us take it back with force."

the first voice then replied, "And you know perfectly well why we can't do that. This group behind the Lizard men are stronger than you think. Several members are already said to be on par with Jack Rakan, though he himself does not care for the situation apparently- Oh, your hero awakes." he noted Sojiro was awake. "Let us discuss this at another time shall we? I need to check on the other patients."

The sound of someone leaving was made and the door closed. Sojiro took this as his moment to sit up, wincing as he did so. "Oh no you don't." He felt someone push him back down. Finally able to see better he recognized her as the girl who saved Setsuna. The ninja girl was not wearing that mage's cloak anymore. Other that her cat ears, she had blonde hair and was wearing brown pants and and a white shirt that exposed her abdomen which revealed her curves. She wore a short brown vest over the shirt.

"Where am I?"

"Safe. That's all I can tell you now."

"What about Setsuna and Konoka?" he asked starting to panic.

"Whoa there. They are fine. Setsuna made it out of the critical zone while Konoe-san..." She paused. "Konoe-san had a ton of her magic go out of control from some sort of effect we don't know about. All we know is that the Contract between the two was somehow severed."

"Severed?" Sojiro jumped. There was a third voice and he didn't notice he was still here. He was sitting in a chair in a corner of the room.

"There are these tiny little sprites that bind the Mage and his 'Partner(s)' which gives the Partner their artifact card and create the magical bind between them. Somehow though they were able to create something that could disrupt that balance. Well, it effectively lets them steal a Artifact at the cost of damaging the Pactio spirits." The girl explained.

"Is the system that easy to figure out?" the boy asked.

"No. it's more complicated than that. For someone to create such a device like this must truly be a Genius."

Sojiro finally found a point to speak, "What exactly happened to Konoka?"

"The method they used seemed to effect the Magister Magi more than the Ministra to the point that she went into a comatose state. Strangely enough, she is able to eat and drink and sleep, But her movements are limited to simple hand gestures and inaudible sentences. She's almost like a vegetable." She replied with a slight hint of distress.

"But enough of this depressing talk, right now we are looking for a cure but in the meantime lets get to introductions!" she suddenly said cheerfully which caught him off guard as the tense atmosphere just vanished.

She pointed to the red spiky headed boy. he wore black clothing and a green bandanna. He also noticed that he also had cat ears. "This here is My reckless brother Richard." So thats why.. She pointed to herself, "And i am Sophia! Nice to meet you?"

"Sojiro."

her ear twitched but she shook it off, "Okay! Now thats settled, Sojiro-kun... You need to rest for a little while longer, but i'll be back this evening to let you meet our boss. Okay?"

He didn't even get a word in when she suddenly left the room happily. This caused him to stare at Richard in a inquiring way, to which the cat-man just shrugged. "Sophia and Setsuna met in a city called Ostia a while ago, I am sure she just wants to make sure her friend is alright."

"What about you?"

"I'm just keeping watch to make sure you rest like your supposed to." he said smirking.

(scene change)*Rise*of*Darkness*(scene change)

Sophia was leaning against the door with her head down. Hearing the muffled conversation, she seemed even more down. "Idiot.."

"Who is the Idiot?"

She jumped and turned, she saw a young teen boy who looked like a high schooler.. No literally, he was dressed in a boys school uniform shaded black. His brown heir and sly smile made him look normal.. If he wasn't a geezer.

"Shut up." she said coldly before walking away.

"Ah don't be like that Takeshi-chan~" He said with a very familiar sounding voice.

"Pervert." It seemed like a spear stabbed him in the heart as he paled. He then instantly was sulking in a corner whispering, "She called me a pervert...what did I do?"

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up. What do you want?"

He suddenly regained himself and said, "I came regarding the matter of that Magic spell you wanted me to look into."

"And?"

"There is no known Cure for treating someone who's had part of their brain altered."

She only stared at him, meaning it was alright for him to continue.

(scene change)*Rise*of*Darkness*(scene change)

Richard had walked out of the room and only overheard the conversation. He turned and walked the other direction, with a seemingly sinister smile. Everything is proceeding to plan.

He turned into the next corridor and eventually found the exit. He pulled out an old cell phone and dialed a number. "It's me... Yes, it seems that everything is going to work out fine." The rest of the conversation was muted as he walked further away from the presence that was watching him. "I'll wait a while before dealing with those two from Mahora."

It seemed that even within this Group, there are many dark corners.

It seems as though there is an enemy lurking behind every corner for our heroes. What place is safe from the clutches of this madman who leads the assault against the human world?

Well, here is my comeback chapter in all it's glory of how much i kind of suck at Punctuation and whatnot. Oh well, it's the story thats counts and so far everyone has been able to read it alright so i'll continue it in this way.

so yeah, there are about 3 more chapters in this arc before going into a more actual fantasy like story which as you might be able to guess what i'm about to do before going into all that.

Oh right, for those who read my other stories along with this one, the current plot ideas for the others are in my mind somewhere. But i'm going tpo be updating them at some point this year. No promises though.