My Calling
Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
MAKAI! Seperates Paragraphs
Chapter 17: Revelations
As the snow fell around them in haphazardous torrents, Setsuka and Nelius battled it out. At times, it seemed as though the two of them had become one with the snowdrifts, dodging and weaving through each others' assaults.
'Simply amazing.' Setsuka thought as she dodged another punch from Nelius. 'His focus... it's almost as if this is second nature to him, keeping his movements fluid and precise, even though he just released himself from that seal days ago.' That thought, however, proved to be a distraction, as one of her own knives came flying back at her, cutting her on the left cheek. 'How did he..' She managed to move just in time to dodge a blast of wind that Nelius had fired off.
He was prepared to fire again, when he noticed that she'd stopped in the middle of their battle.
"What's going on?"
MAKAI!
A patched up Brad sat in the medical room.
"All I remember is wanting to get off of Laharl's Netherworld, then the next thing I know I'm getting mauled!" Before he could continue, his eyes glazed over as he slumped onto the floor, letting off a light snooze. Juno stood behind him, a syringe in her paw.
"You know, that wasn't all that necessary, Juno." The humanoid Brad stated.
"I know, it's just that I haven't had a chance to do that to him in a while." She beamed, causing him to sweatdrop.
In another area of the ship, HellStar had been talking to the fused Radara/Esara.
"So, that's how you two ended up like this?"
"More or less, that's about it."
"Anyway, why in the hell did you decimate Brad like that?"
"He left behind one of our most intregal crewmembers, the only non-Felynn to ever join!"
"Or is it something else..." She had a grin crossing her face. You know, that kind of grin...
"What are you implying?!"
MAKAI!
'What's going on?' He noticed that Setsuka had simply held out one hand, and with that, the snowfall began letting up, until it stopped completely. Though he was possibly being paranoid, something told him to keep on his guard, which was becoming a difficult task due to the coldness. Instead of the heavy air placing a burden on his breathing, this time it was due to the thin, chilly air. 'She has something planned... question is, what is it?' Unknowingly, his gauntlet had switched, the red node activating at the same time the green one had. When her hands became filled with even more of the icy daggers, he realized it. 'Get rid of the interference, battle it out right now.'
For the second time, the battle between them raged on, but due to the lack of falling snow, the two of them could easily sense each others' movements, and neither one held the advantage for the most of the battle. Unbeknowest to either of them, they had a visitor watching their battle.
"So, that's Nelius? Hm, he isn't all that bad looking." A faint giggle eminated from the one watching the battle. "He has to visit me after this bout with Setsky..." Another giggle. "Ohh, the things I can imagine doing with him."
Nelius thrusted his left hand toward the incoming daggers, creating a counteractive gust of heated air that stopped the weapons, causing them to clatter to the snowy ground. Undaunted, the icy Kunoichi threw another dagger, this one aimed right for his chest. Quickly raising his hand to knock the offending projectile away, he inadvertantly created one of his own. The red, cresent shaped wave tore through the snowy plain, heading straight for its target. Before either of them could realize what just happened, Setsuka felt an unbearable heat tear across her chest, as the wave sliced through her, creating a painfully red scar that traveled from her right shoulder, down her chest, ending at the left side of her hip.
"Holy shit!" He made to go over, but she raised a hand, telling him to stop. "You all right?"
"A deal...is a deal, Nelius. Victory is yours, and as I promised, I will tell you more about the seal Sirea used on you." Managing a standing position, she continued. "The origins of that spell actually come from a different demon world, one that's been outside of our current knowledge. In addition to sealing a portion of the victim's strength, it also saps any mana energy from the victim to the caster. From what I remember, your mother also came from a world much like it."
"So, you do know a bit more about them."
"I should. I was one of your mother's closest confidants before I joined your father's team. Either way, you've one more person to meet before your questions can be answered." With one more flash of light, Nelius was back in the central area, and as the blue pillar of light died off, a similarly colored node lit up on his gauntlet. "With your victory, water and ice are yours to do with as you see fit."
"That's three down..." He looked to the final pillar, a strange feeling of dread weighing his stomach down. "I have to do this sooner or later, otherwise I'll never get out of here." Shaking off the feeling, he stepped into it, ending up in a strange room that looked more akin to a girl's bedroom rather than a place to do battle. "I get the feeling that I either just violated someone's privacy or walked into one of the anime's top 100 ways to get an ass kicking."
"Oh, don't worry, it won't come down to either of those." A soft, almost sensual voice called out from right behind him. He turned around to see who owned this particular room.
Just like Esara, before her involuntary fusion, this person was a succubus, though there were a few differences. First off, her hair, long and red, flowed down her front, covering her bare breasts. Second, she appeared to have a completely human appearance, right down to the rounded ears and lack of horns and a tail. Third, her eyes, a rich purple, seemed to just draw someone in. Fourth, she was headed right for him.
"Never thought I'd have the chance to meet the son of our captain." She smiled a toothy but sincere grin, which slightly alleviated Nelius of the feeling that she'd try something funny. That feeling quickly returned when her eyes began roving over his body. "Though, I must say, you grew up pretty well. Kind of a shame I ended up in here without a clue as to what really happened." She hovered over to her bed, taking a seat. She patted the extra space next to her, motioning for him to sit down next to her. "I'll bet you've a lot of questions for me."
"Most of them would end in 'How do I get out of here'?" Nelius remained standing in his current spot.
"I'd be more than willing to divulge such information... if you come over here and take a seat." He just sighed and sat down next to her, defeated. Almost instantly, she scooted closer to him. "It's been a long time since I had company."
"What about Agni..."
"Never really says anything."
"Rudra..."
"Never looks at my face, if you get the meaning."
"...Setsuka?"
"Too uptight. Kid probably doesn't even know how to loosen up any." She sighed this time, leaning her head on Nelius' shoulder.
'What the... what's she up to?'
"You know, I'm rather envious of you. You have a large world outside of this gauntlet to explore, while I'm stuck here."
"I could only wish it was as glorious as you make it sound. I just found out that my former boss placed a mana seal on my body, stealing my own power and adding it to her own. It's only a matter of time before she'd find out I'm gone, and then she'd try to recapture me and reinforce the seal."
"Didn't you get rid of the seal?"
"I did, but it extended deep into my body, and there's a few fragments left. If Sirea manages to reform those fragments, the seal would be reinforced, and I'd end up back at square one all over again."
"Well, I think there's a way to nullify and remove the fragments from your body. I remember your father talking about it sometime ago. He said there was a mana type that held a dominance over other elemental mana, even those of light and darkness, the two toughest elements to control."
"Well, what is this type of mana, and where would I be able to find it?"
"The name escapes me, but the mana itself is in this room. Most of it's inside you--" She lifted her head off of his shoulder, and pointed to herself. "-- and inside me as well. Unfortunately, your mana store is blocked off by those fragments."
"Okay, so how do we remove the fragments blocking my mana energy?"
"The only way we can; use a stronger source to break the fragmented remains of the seal." Willing up her store of mana, she placed one hand behind his head and, bringing herself closer, placed a mana-charged kiss on his lips.
MAKAI!
A twinge ran through the fused Neko-Succubus. Turning to the door, she marched down the hall toward the bridge. After literally throwing Tikal out of the navigator's seat, she took control of the ship, making it pull a complete 180 degree turn, and punched the engines into overdrive, speeding back to Laharl's Netherworld with such a ferocity that made most warp speeds look incredibly slow.
Needless to say, Tikal was shocked, HellStar, who witnessed everything, was probably wondering what the heck just happened, and Brad was still comatose from Juno's treatment, if you could call it that.
MAKAI!
Nelius was in quite a daze.
"Oh my, I think I overloaded his mind." She just giggled. "Well, I wasn't called Nevan the Breaker for nothing." Her body then began to feel weighed down. "Used a lot of mana to finish getting rid of all of those fragments."
"Whoah.." Nelius finally snapped out of his daze to see Nevan breathing rather heavily. "You all right?"
"Just exhausted. Well, my role here is finished. Now, it's time for you to meet someone."
"Who?"
"I can't say, but he's been waiting a long time to finally meet you. When you leave this room, there will be an elevator that'll take you down to where he resides. He can answer everything you've wanted to know."
With one last flash, Nelius was back in the central area, and he could feel something within himself had changed. Just as Nevan had said, there was a raised platform in the middle of the area to act as the elevator. Wasting no time, he stepped onto the platform, and it began to descend. When it finally stopped, he took a look at the area, then remembering the weird dream he had back on Brad's Netherworld.
'It's that freaky temple I saw.' Stepping inside, he saw the damage prevalent on the walls, floor, celing, and most of the stone pillars that helped to hold the immense structure up. 'Looks like a small scale war happened in here. What could've happened?' At the end of the hall stood a stone mural with the engravings he'd seen in that dream. This time, however, the wings of the flying figure had changed to a demonic type, and the one who held the spheres was being protected by some kind of spell.
"You've finally come at last." A voice rang out.
"Who the... who's there?" Nelius was on guard. At that moment, the hatch on his gauntlet opened up, revealing the two orbs that brought him into this in the first place. They hovered up, fitting themselves into the mural on the wall. Immediately, powerful mana energy began crawling over the mural, until it dissolved, revealing a room beyond.
"Finally, after those years of imprisonment by that woman, I'm finally able to get out and stretch." The sound of many joints popping echoed through the hall. "Ahh, that's better. Of course, I have you to thank as well, Nelius."
"How did you know who I am?"
"Step into this room, if you're so anxious to find out." Taking the challenge, he stepped into the room, which was covered in total darkness. "I've awaited this moment for a long time. Vengeance will become mine, but I have one final detail to work out." The room became alight, forcing Nelius to shield his eyes until they adjusted. When they did so, he looked toward the center of the room, where his eyes came across a nearly impossible sight.
Standing there, was himself. A pair of orange-red eyes met Nelius' golden yellow ones.
"It's been such a long time, other self. Now, we finally meet."
MAKAI!
The next chapter will be the last one written for this story, and then the crossover fic will take place. Will anyone be able to guess where it'll take place before the last chapter is posted here?
Until the final chapter,
Cornell Valentine Gainsborough