Standing behind one of the many dead trees that sported the academy grounds, Ruby peeked ahead where she saw the suspicious figure make its way towards the girls dormitory. She couldn't tell whether the figure was a boy or girl as the morning was still young and light hadn't made its way past the dormitory building.
"I find your form lacking, Ruby."
The witch's attention turned to the whispering voice of Mizore as she stood behind her, gazing solemnly. The witch could only curl her lips at the unexpected criticism.
"You've had far more experience sneaking around, Mizore," Ruby defended though, she wondered why she was even bothering trying to make excuses to the stalker.
Mizore shrugged, figuring that has to be the case. She then pulled up three ice kunai between her fingers, ready to throw them.
Ruby freaked out and stopped her before she could even take a step. She turned her body away from the walking figure and planted her hands on the ice maiden's shoulders.
"No!" she shouted as quietly as she could, "...we don't want to do that! What if it's just a girl like us who could sleep!"
Mizore hummed and peaked behind the witch's shoulder, then returned her focus to the exasperated young provisional headmaster.
"I doubt that. It's a scent of a nervous male."
There is absolute firmness in her voice and eyes that Ruby almost felt like trusting her judgment. Instead, she closed her eyes and shook her head, feeling silly at the way they were going about it.
"Honestly, we're just going to keep misunderstanding things like this. I'll just talk to the person and confirm their intentions."
Mizore hummed again and eyes flashed. The lollipop in her mouth turned upwards as she smiled.
"...and if it's a perverted assassin, then I'll attack from behind."
Ruby drooped her arms, then turned around and bonked her head onto the tree she was standing near. Mizore raised her eyebrows quizzically.
"I don't think now is the time to display your masochism," Mizore commented.
The witch shivered, nearly wanting to cry; however, she calmed down and then faced the judging girl with a pleading expression.
"Mizore please, let's not be eager to attack so soon. Just wait for me, okay? We may not have to do any attacking at all!"
Mizore did not say anything and watched as the witch regrew her raven wings and flew up to catch up with the figure who had already disappeared further into the woods. She twirled the lollipop stick in her mouth to the side.
'She's probably more stressed than ever with the headmaster gone,' Mizore figured in her mind.
Ruby sighed, yet she could not help but smile a little at Mizore's antics. For the most part, she knew the girl was only teasing and messing around with her. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but get caught up in it. Is she that easy of a target?
'Well...fair is fair.'
When Ruby and Mizore trained together to prepare for the infiltration of Fairy Tale, she had Mizore use a whip against her as part of her "training". Despite a small shame in her own unusual indulgence, even she had brought her friends into her own antics.
Except, her antics were part of an addiction she had no clue where it came from. Certainly, her "pain tolerance" never existed in her childhood. Rather, it's only after the accident that she had developed a sense of pleasure for pain.
Ruby blushed when thinking about it, hugging herself and giggling, but then snapped open her eyes and shook her head.
'No, that's bad! I can't be distracted by these thoughts. Where is this person?'
Focusing on the task again, she sees a shadow slip through some trees, only a few hundred meters away now from the girl's dormitory. Without requiring further observation, she dropped down in front of the figure, producing a strong gust of wind that caused the sneaker to gasp and stumble backwards.
"W-wah!"
The tone of the voice indicated a male. Already, that scored a point towards Mizore's inclination.
"Excuse me, what are you doing out this early?" Ruby asked, trying to sound as polite as possible. She wasn't the kind of girl to throw insults and accusations. Rather, she was usually the one who actually enjoyed being thrown insults and being exposed for who she is.
She perish any imagination of it though because this wasn't about her.
"W-wait, I swear I...I didn't mean anything bad. It's just, I...um..."
Ruby curled her lips, wondering if she had pushed too far. Stepping forward, she received a better look at the male and the first thing she noticed was that it was a student of the academy. Based on the age and emblem on the left side of his chest, he was a freshman at this school.
Aside from his apparent enrollment and that the person was a male, he had a slightly chubby physique with a square head, brown eyes, and dark hair that was cut into a bowl shape. There wasn't the slightest of mischief or harm in his eyes. Rather than that, Ruby saw that he was quite fearful and it didn't seem her appearance was the cause of it.
"Let's calm down first. You're a freshman aren't you? What's your name?"
The boy slowly rose back onto his feet which were quivering. He tried his best to answer.
"K-kazuya M-m-mika...th-that's my name and I-I am a fr-freshman here."
Ruby hummed. "Okay then Kazuya, why are you headed towards the girl's dorm."
Kazuya seemed to fear the question. "I...I have to...m-meet someone, that's all. It's nothing bad, I promise!"
"Meet...who?"
The boy tightened his lips together and backed away, unable to say. He seemed pained that he couldn't respond and Ruby furrowed her eyebrows.
'Something...isn't right with this boy,' she thought. Knowing that there was something else other than a person he had to meet, Ruby pressed further.
"If you won't tell, then I can stand here all morning until you say. Otherwise, we have means to track you and follow you as well."
Ruby didn't mean to threaten the boy, but she had to make him understand that it was futile to keep things from her. For the safety of the school and its students, Ruby knew that she had to keep an eye on any suspicious activity.
"P-please no," the boy begged, now dropping to his knees. Tears began to stream down on his face which surprised the witch. Despair filled his face and at that moment, Ruby knew that this meeting isn't something he wanted either.
"You're...in danger, aren't you?" Ruby questioned, feeling like she has understood something based on his eyes.
"No...no, I...I just have to meet her. If...If I don't, then...then..."
"Who do you have to meet? Is someone bullying you?"
The boy cried out, lowering his head and placing his hands into his face. It felt as if it would be impossible to get any answers out of this boy in his state.
"Kazuya, speak to me! I can help! You've made it clear that you really don't mean any harm, but if you're in danger, tell me!"
"No!" the boy screamed, lifting his head towards the witch, his eyes wide and petrified, "...He...he'll kill me if I don't get to her!"
"H-huh!?"
Ruby couldn't fathom the urgency and the boy didn't waste anymore time as he got onto his feet and tried to pass the witch towards the dorm.
Mizore revealed herself from a tree, having overheard everything. While the boy may be in danger himself, he couldn't be allowed to go near any other student in his state.
Ice froze in a lane before her, reaching Kazuya's feet and entrapping it in ice in mere moments.
Kazuya let out a yelp as he fell, dropping to the dirt in front of him. He began clawing his way out of Mizore's ice, digging his nails deep into the ground and making scratch marks. His desperation was evident, but it simply confused the witch as she watched, wondering who was after this boy's life?
"No, please!" the boy begged as the ice traveled up his leg. His eyes were wide as he stared ahead towards the dormitory that lied ahead.
"...I just need to find her! T-then, this...feeling in me will go away. He promised me that!"
"He might be another assassin, Ruby! We can't let him go!" Mizore shouted, raising her arms and ensuring the ice she controlled buried him further. Although Ruby had asked her to not freeze, it was clear that this wasn't a silly excursion of a boy's hormones.
Ruby bit her lips as she thought, but given the reluctance and panic within the boy, she found no choice but to use her own magic to gain a better understanding of the situation.
"Mizore, it's alright! Let me handle this!" the witch reassured.
Mizore paused for a moment but as soon as she saw the witch pull out a talisman, she let her ice recede and melt.
Kazuya quickly pulled out and was about to run away from the two, but Ruby was quick to slap a talisman onto his forehead. With two fingers on top, she whispered some words.
Kazuya froze in place, his mind growing numb as the witch's spell took effect. Although he wanted to scream, he couldn't. His eyes closed halfway and he stared at the witch, a willingness now entered his mind.
"Now, tell me exactly who did you plan on meeting?" Ruby asked.
There was some hesitancy in answering, but ultimately he couldn't resist the spell.
"Moka...Akashiya," he answered in a strained, crackling voice.
Ruby frowned, but pushed any thought over her vampire friend away. She highly doubted the vampire knew about this boy but would gather his intentions first.
"...and what will happen when you meet her?"
The talisman glowed purple on his forehead. Tears started to stream from his nearly dead eyes. A burning sensation filled his body that made him want to cry out.
"Ga...I...don't know. I..."
Ruby narrowed her eyes, trying to use her abilities to sense anything amiss about the freshman. The more she searched him out with her magic, the more surprised she felt.
'Wait a minute...this feeling. He's...human!' Ruby thought, now coming to a conclusion to what she felt amiss about him.
Usually, it would be quite easy for her to determine whether a person is a Youkai or a human, yet there was something unsettling about him that she couldn't quite pinpoint. It had made it quite non-obvious.
"Kazuya, you're human, aren't you?"
"Y-yes."
The boy answered with less hesitancy on that note, confirming Ruby's detection. Mizore widened her eyes at that answer.
There should have been more of a clamp down on enrollment to ensure people like Hokuto or Tsukune didn't slip in. There was the dream of Mikogami to eventually have a school where both humans and non-humans could learn together and about each other; however, that dream was still far away.
So the question is, how did someone like him manage to enter the Great Barrier? Shouldn't Nurari be the first to notice something human like him? Certainly, he was already aware that Tsukune was human before he even stepped onto the grounds three years ago.
"Then, let me ask...who sent you, Kazuya and how did you get into this academy?"
This must have been the question he most feared to answer, first only to revealing who he had to find. He grunted, trying to resist the control of Ruby's talisman with more fervor.
"N-no...I...please, I...can't say his name or...else..."
The poison in him grew stronger, burning through his arms and causing sweat to break out in his back. Neither Ruby nor Mizore felt anything though coming from the boy.
"...or else what? Nobody can hurt you and we'll protect you, I promise. Just tell us."
Ruby bent down and placed a hand onto the boy's shoulder, revealing a warm and reassuring smile. The sight honestly surprised the boy, having been around the monster school only a little while.
"If it helps, I'm practically human too! I don't know if you've had trouble so far, but I promise to use my power to make it right. You don't seem that bad of a guy..."
Empathy seemed to have broken down his resistance as the talisman on his forehead pushed him ahead to answer.
"Ki...ria...Yo...no! Get away!"
"Ruby, above you!"
Ruby's eyes slowly widened and before she could think upon such a familiar enemy's name, Mizore's shout alerted her to something that had begun closing in on her.
After Kazuya spoke the perpetrator's name, the burning sensation had completely filled his arm causing it to stretch out and bulk with mass. It turned beet red and shadowed the witch when her guard was down, completely ignoring the talisman's power as if it were something entirely separate.
'What...?'
Ruby's confusion over the sudden transformation of the boy's arm couldn't linger as the massive arm descended, slamming into the witch's side and then shooting her away from Kazuya's view into the trees.
As the witch crashed into a couple trees causing dirt and the sound of crushed bark to echo, Mizore took immediate action. However worried she felt for the witch, she knew that she would be okay given her inhuman pain tolerance and Youkai blood.
Lifting both arms that were covered in ice, she shot out several shards of ice at the boy. Still under the influence of the talisman, he could do nothing, but his irregular arm at his side could.
It twisted behind him with a crack and then blocked the shards on its own accord with its now hardened skin.
"No...no...I didn't mean to...say it. I..."
Mizore stopped herself from sending another bolt of ice as she heard the man weep. His unnatural arm looked odd compared to his rather small chubby body, but that wasn't going to last for long.
Tears formed on his uniform as the rest of his body imitated his arm. Sounds of snapping and bones cracking caused the snow maiden to wince. She had to do something quickly.
Before that, the talisman that had loosely clung to Kazuya's head finally snapped in half, unable to bear the foreign energy that seemed to be filling up the boy. It was no mistake that there hadn't been the slight bit of Youki seeping out of him, but that clearly wasn't the case anymore.
"Oh god! No, I don't want to turn into a monster! Someone, please save me!"
Without the talisman to inhibit his mind, he now became fully aware of his own predicament and wailed, desperation in his voice.
Mizore lunged closer and swiped her arm, now using the most of her Youki to completely incase the freshman in ice.
The air dropped in temperature as she extended her energy out, then she brought her hands, surrounded by ice, together. In one motion, a small blizzard escaped from her body, enshrouding the transforming freshman in a fast building ice prison.
Kazuya screamed louder, not because of the ice but thanks to his own body becoming agitated, unable to control it any longer. His voice was cut off though as soon as his cold encasement was completed.
Mizore dropped her arms and allowed her blizzard to end, waiting for a bit to ensure that the freshman wasn't going to escape. She could only see his back, but seeing how there was little movement after ten or fifteen seconds, she felt it was safe enough to switch attention to the witch. This wasn't over by a long shot, but at least she gave herself time to check on her witch friend.
"Ruby!"
The ice girl ran towards the witch's side who had fallen onto her bottom along with broken trees. She had dirt over her face thanks to the unexpected slap, but other than that, she appeared fine. Being a witch allowed her to heal herself however the shock over how things turned out still caused her to stare wide-eyed towards the now frozen freshman.
"Are you okay?" Mizore asked, even though she knew the answer. She moved to reach over and pulled the witch back onto her feet.
The witch silently accepted her hand, not taking her eyes off of Kazuya. Several questions went through her mind.
"...I...could have sworn he was human. There wasn't an ounce of Youki in him," Ruby stated, her voice filled with disbelief.
The snow maiden hummed and stared back at her own work. The lollipop stick in her mouth turned downward as she expressed he displeasure.
"I didn't feel anything either and he even smelled like a human too, now that I think of it. I heard him say Kiria. Do you think...?"
Ruby nodded, her eyebrows furrowing as she frowned. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure he did something to this boy and somehow got him into this school. However he did it though, this is different from Hokuto. I would have known if he had performed some kind of injection on him."
"I don't like the sound of that. So you think he'll be forcing regular people to become assassins?"
Ruby lowered her head as she stared at the ground, not liking the possibility of what Mizore was suggesting. This was far worse than just having Youkai monsters hired to kill herself and her friends. It meant that innocent people were getting caught in the crosshair as well.
Mizore placed her icy claws on her hips. "Well anyways, it's a good thing we saw him. If not now, a ruckus would have started in the dormitory."
"Don't say it like it's over," Ruby sighed, deciding that no matter what happened, the safety of the school held importance. She raised her head towards Mizore's prison of ice where cracks began to form.
If anything screamed trouble, it would be someone that could survive Mizore's ice. A foreign Youki was filling the boy and transforming him which could be felt. At least while he was restrained, they had time to make some preparations.
Ruby's Talking Book materialized in front of her, levitating and glowing purple. The book cover opened up and turned several pages, settling on a page filled with magical instructions.
Ruby already knew it, but the words on the book itself were important as ten of her talismans faded in and were inscribing itself.
With a wave of her arm, the talismans spread out, disappearing about a hundred meters into the forest, then slapping itself to the trunk. The air above them blurred as a circular barrier activated. With this, the noise and presence within the barrier would not be heard from the outside.
"There, this should be good enough," Ruby hummed.
Mizore cocked her head. "Shouldn't we alert Tsukune and the others?"
Ruby shook her head. "No, having too many people come would make it harder."
"Harder?"
Ruby hummed, explaining her intentions. "I want to see if we can try to reverse his transformation to understand why someone seemingly human could turn out this way. I'd rather not risk getting him killed if possible."
"Ah, I see," Mizore nodded, crossing her arms. If there was anyone who could provide insight to Youkai phenomenon, it was the witch.
"Them, I'm guessing you need me to slow him down then?" Mizore questioned.
Ruby gave a apologetic smile, knowing that she'd be relying on her friend to help her out. She never expected it to develop into this sort of situation.
"Yes, thanks."
Bigger cracks began to form as Kazuya's body continued to bulge out and redden, ignoring the freezing temperatures that surrounded him. A low growl broke out from the ice and a few seconds after, his surroundings crumbled.
Small shards of ice broke out, flying towards the girls. Being that it was ice of her own making, Mizore swiped her arm and caused the ice flown at to melt before it could even attempt to scratch.
Ruby unleashed her raven wings which caused dirt to flow around them. She flexed them closer to her front as a defense. The black feathers on her wings shined with luster, seemingly more metal than organic. The fact is, she had made her wings more denser in order to provide a better defense. It may as well be steel at its current state.
A roar broke out from the red bulking human who now stood around seven or eight feet tall. His eyes were white with no indication of Kazuya's consciousness. It would be fair to say that this person was unrelated to Kazuya at this point and more of a beast.
Despite that, Ruby couldn't help but call out to him.
"Kazuya! If you're in there, try to remain calm. Don't let the-"
The beast roared and started charging towards the witch. Figuring words would be futile, the witch clicked her tongue and prepared herself.
Mizore waved out an arm and sent shards of ice into the ground within the red beast's path. They quickly grew like plants and created a sharp spiky wall six feet tall.
The beast howled, not stopping in its momentum. As it got closer to the ice that should've pierced him, it brought its shoulder in and smashed through Mizore's defenses.
This surprised the Yuki-Onna, hoping it would have at least slowed the beast down. She couldn't help but call out to her friend in worry.
"Ruby!"
"I've got this!" the witch yelled, her eyes narrowing.
Feet of collision, the red beast roared and twisted its body, sending a massive fist at Ruby's wings.
With her wings receiving the blunt of the impact, her body rang and she clenched her teeth as she was pushed back. Her foot skidded against the dirt but she largely was able to resist the force of the beast's fist. Of course, she didn't plan to take on a physical attack without a counter. She largely wanted to feel how much strength the red monster had.
Now that she knew, she swiped out a talisman and then began activating it with instructions. Meanwhile, the beast threw his other fist, trying to get past the witch's defenses.
Ruby stepped aside, expanding her wings out and throwing the beast's center of mass off. With its bulky body, it largely couldn't react to the swiftness of Ruby's movements. It was also clear that the beast had limited intelligence now given it didn't withdraw its previous fist from her wings.
With its main body exposed behind its gigantic arms, Ruby moved in and slapped a talisman on the red chest. She held her palm on the talisman and then finished the talisman with one word.
"Set!"
Producing a gust of wind that caused Mizore to backstep a little, the beast was pushed away from the witch with near sonic force. It could do little to nothing as it slammed slammed into several trees, disappearing into the dead forest with a rumble.
Mizore's surprise in her eyes was quickly dampened as she twirled the lollipop in her mouth.
"You've been practicing with your talismans, I see."
Ruby let out an embarrassed laugh, completely erasing the focused expression on her face. She tipped her head a little.
"Ah ha...it's only a little whenever I have the time."
Mizore didn't know if the witch was only being modest, but then again, she was a fast learner. She could remember how quickly the witch was able to learn Iron Maiden with the help of Touhou Fuhai. Her unbelievable pain tolerance also helped with that.
The snow maiden couldn't help but be a little envious of her. She could spend some time improving her own control of ice, but then she'd lose out on time with Tsukune.
Seeing Ruby made her rethink her own priorities. She showed a difficult expression on her face but wasn't able to contemplate it through as another roar broke through.
Mizore turned towards the direction of the beast, raising her ice claws in defense.
"You could have at least knocked him out," Mizore muttered, wondering how long this would go out.
"If you're worried about being late to class, I can vouch for you, I promise," Ruby reassured.
Mizore frowned seeing how Ruby was misunderstanding her intentions. If she missed the morning commute with Tsukune, she'd miss out her usual greeting with him! No way would she lose out the morning to Kurumu and Moka!
"Just how are you going to calm him down or even turn him back without knowing what happened to him?" Mizore asked, only hoping that the witch had a clear plan since they weren't trying to kill. She wanted to get this over with fast.
Ruby narrowed her eyes and curled her lips. "I might have to perform a seal on him. The problem is that...well, I've never done anything like it."
Mizore raised her eyebrows. "So...is that going to be a problem?"
Ruby looked embarrassed as she fidgeted. "Well, truthfully I was hoping that talisman I activated on him would knock him out, but it looks like whatever Kiria did to him made him quite tough. Without dragging this out or trying a more fatal move, this is the only thing I can try. You'll have to slow him down in the meantime."
Mizore frown deepened. "...and your seal fails?"
Ruby hummed sadly. "He'll die, but...there's not much choice in the matter here."
It seemed there wasn't much wiggle room in this regard if they wanted to have the chance to figure out what happened to this boy, so Mizore simply nodded in agreement.
While Ruby began flipping through some pages on some known seals that may help, Mizore prepared herself. She created a ice wall in defense and some shard artifacts.
The rumbling and growling grew louder behind the wall. Fortunately, the beast was slow and not the brightest based on what she had seen but the snow maiden wouldn't dare want to get hit by it.
Without stopping, the beast crashed into the wall, entering the visible range of her vision. Not letting it continue with its momentum as it had done with Ruby before, she transformed the ice wall.
The ice wall collapsed and clumped together, growing out. Thanks to the beast's slow speed, her ice had caught it's hand before it could leave her outreach. She then began to envelop him from there.
The beast roared out and used force to punch the ice open, clearing his hand but now that he had stopped moving his feet, Mizore made sure to trap him there too.
Annoyed, the beast began to break the ice apart on the ground, pounding it away like a child on a tantrum. Mizore kept herself focused on controlling what was essentially part of her.
The beast roared as it found it was just being trapped in other areas as soon as it broke free. It then huddled itself by crouching down.
Steam began pouring out of the beast as it's body only became redder. This new behavior didn't go unnoticed by Mizore and Ruby.
"Great...he heats up," Mizore grumbled, the lollipop stick turning downward in annoyance. She now understood how the beast was able to remain conscious within her ice as it transformed. Apparently, it wasn't just thanks to its growing strength.
"Just hang on there, Mizore!" Ruby yelled, her eyes scanning the pages of her book with great speed, "...I think we can get this over with pretty quickly!"
Mizore hoped so as she glanced at the rising brightness in the sky. She wasn't sure how much time had past, but she was sure that her friends were getting up.
She was brought back to the foe she had to deal with as it finally melted and broke away from her ice clumps that surrounded him. Greatly annoyed by the snow maiden with its sharp teeth bearing at her, it stomped its way over to her.
Mizore hopped back a few feet to draw away from the witch and then raised her claws.
Nearing her with heat waves surrounding him, Mizore ignored the uncomfortable temperatures and dodged a fist to her right. She brought her claws together and aimed at the same spot Ruby sent him flying with her talisman.
"Hah!"
Mizore let out a cry as she sent a flurry of ice shards point blank at the beast's front like a railgun. Her attack also let out a gust of freezing wind to counter the beast's heat. Given the fact that the beast was able to breeze through her ice, she figured shards of ice wouldn't penetrate him.
Indeed, the shards completely broke down or melted upon impact on its skin, but the force of Mizore's shards along with the previous impact of Ruby's talisman force was enough for the beast to groan in pain, now stumbling back.
Mizore stopped her flurry, not wanting to use up her energy. She let out a cool breath and used the opportunity as the beast clutched its abdomen in pain.
"Just...stay down!"
Mizore dashed towards the beast with her ice claws growing in mass. Closing in, she provided her own form of fist as she slammed her claws against the beast's side.
The beast howled in pain as it was sent sideways into more trees, creating debris of bark around them. With this and the pain Ruby helped inflict, it would give them a little more time before the beast started to charge them again like a berserker.
Mizore let out another breath and turned to the witch, growing a little impatient.
"Are you done?"
"Yes, I'm done!" Ruby pulled her head away from the book and swiped five talismans into her hands, "...If this doesn't work, then we don't need to hold back, I'm promise!"
"Even if you say that, I think he may be internally damaged after what you and I did to him," Mizore pointed towards the beast who was only a few meters from their position. The beast was now propping itself onto his feet but with a clear pain on its red face. That pain would translate into more anger as the beast roared into the sky.
"Well, hopefully I'll be able to heal him," Ruby curled her lips, figuring it couldn't be helped.
"Hopefully?"
Ruby didn't think about whether she could save this boy or not. She only needed to focus on what she could do at the present.
"To set up the spell, I'll need to put a talisman on each of his limbs and then his torso. That will force the youki in him to spill out. During that phase, I will puncture him at several points to accelerate the process until he dries out."
Mizore widened her eyes. "This seems like a rather painful process."
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "Yes and for that reason, he'll probably try to struggle with all his might. I'll need you to help me with holding him down."
The beast roared again, an indication that they would be charged again. Before that, it was better to go on the offensive given the plan.
Without further details, Ruby flung two of the talismans towards Mizore. She caught them and stared, noticing a glowing red kanji symbol on it. She figured that Ruby wanted her help attaching these talismans.
"So where should I stick these?"
"You do the legs and I'll complete with the arms and torso," the witch instructed.
Mizore nodded, then took off. The witch followed a few meters behind with her wings extended at the back.
The change in formation didn't register with the beast who only saw two people it needed to kill. Seeing how it wouldn't need to wait long to attack though, it started raising a fist at Mizore first given its immediate anger towards her.
Mizore ejected some ice shards at the beast's face. That alone caused the beast to shut its eyes and stop, protecting its face instinctively.
Thanks to that, Mizore was able to get close to its legs; however, the beast recovered quickly and its white eyes focused on the snow maiden's position, raising its foot to stomp on her.
Not letting that happen, Ruby extended her wings, producing two sharp metal blades that extended out. They punctured the beast below its collar bone on each side of its chest.
The beast growled in pain, unable to complete its stomp as Mizore swiftly slapped the talisman on the crus of each one of its legs. As an added bonus, the snow maiden froze the ground beneath it, then slid away to the side.
This allowed Ruby to push the beast down from the force of her bladed wings. Pushing in deeper, the beast tried to grab onto each of the blades to pull them out, but it lost balance.
Slipping and falling onto the ground, crushing any remaining bark from its previous crash, Ruby quickly flung herself on top of the beast.
Ruby slapped the remaining three talismans on each arm and one in the torso while holding the beast's upper body down. Her wings expanded, revealing more blades to extend.
"Mizore!"
To aid Ruby in restricting the beast, the snow maiden touched the ground near the its arm and then spread more ice around, entrapping its back.
Of course, the beast continued to produce heat from its body so the ice melted quickly, but Mizore just used the water to build up more ice. In the end, it was a matter of which temperature prevailed and it was clear Mizore had the strongest control of temperature.
The ice smoothed upon the melting and refreezing, making it much harder for the beast to escape. The witch waited patiently for the beast's struggles to minimize. If she wasn't careful, she may accidentally puncture at a vital area.
It wasn't long before the beast struggles started to decrease as more ice built up. Then, Ruby let four more blades descend from her wings, puncturing the arms and legs of the beast, right next to where the talisman was placed.
The beast howled and Ruby could hear a tiny bit of Kazuya's pain escaping from its mouth.
Ruby curled her lips, raising her right hand toward the beast with her spellbook in her left. She could have been thrown off balance with the current effort of the beast, but she had her winged blades propping herself up like meat stakes.
"Whatever happens...I'm sorry."
With those apologetic words, Ruby activated the spell. The talismans all were enveloped in a purple flame and so was the Talking Book. Each of them then emitted a purple line of energy that met at the center talisman, then extended upward to the witch's hands.
Ruby closed her eyes as she concentrated. "Release."
At that moment, the beast's pained howls stopped and its heart beat harder than it should have. It stopped struggling and laid limp, staring at the witch with hazy plain eyes. A barely audible voice could be heard from it's mouth.
"S...stop..."
Ruby and Mizore eyes widened to see a bit of Kazuya's conscious finally coming back; however, the witch couldn't heed any words the boy said. If anything, him talking meant that the Youki that filled him up was being dispersed out.
Unfortunately, the witch couldn't properly analyze the energy. It also may be that after draining this foreign Youki, it wouldn't be produced within the boy ever again.
There was no helping it though as his safety was more important, second to the academy. As the youki leaked out of the pierced flesh of his body, Ruby did try to perform some rudimentary check of what she was feeling. Yet, all she could tell is that the Youki had elements of fire energy within. Given his red body and heat he was releasing, anyone would have been able to tell that.
Ruby sighed, seeing how the situation of this student was going to keep nagging at her. She did feel relieved though to feel the body mass of Kazuya slowly shrink underneath her. His skin was beginning to regain it's tan color. Despite this being the first time she's attempted to perform a sealing, it appeared to be working.
...
"S...stop...I don't...want to become...a monster."
After a little while, Ruby could hear Kazuya's voice more clearly. Given his hazy expression, it became clear that before, he wasn't telling her to stop. Rather, the fear of becoming a monster was seemingly all he could think of.
'How could this have happened?' she wondered but knew that she wouldn't get any answers yet. She decided that she'll definitely have a word with Nunari, the academy's "bus driver". It was surprising that he didn't catch someone like Kazuya when he entered. That isn't to say mistakes aren't possible with him, but knowing him, she found that unlikely.
"Are you sure that this is your first time performing the seal? It seems to be working well if this is your first time," Mizore asked, her eyes suspicious.
Ruby curled her lips as the last of the youki spilled. After that, it was a matter of performing the seal phase to prevent any more youki from being produced, if that was even possible. She only wished that Mizore hadn't said anything that could raise flags during such a critical moment.
"Seal."
With that, the energy that was following out of the boy dissipated into the air. He had regained his human form and his voice now faded. Any fears he had were swept away in that moment as he closed his eyes and his mind shut down.
"Is...he?"
Ruby closed her eyes and stepped off the boy, then releasing her wings in a flurry of black feathers. This way, she wouldn't cause further harm to the inflicted wounds by taking out her bladed wings.
Crouching down, her book levitated by her side and flipped to a different page on its own. There, Ruby put out her hand an inch from the bloody opening of the boy's body and then tried to close the wound with healing magic.
A small smile played on the witch's lips as she saw the wounds close up.
"He's alive."
Her magic only accelerated and enhanced the body's healing process, so it wouldn't do anything if a person was already dead. That said, her sealing had reduced the boy to a coma.
'I should have expected this...'
It didn't matter if it were Youki or his own life energy, it would be in a limited state so the body would naturally shut down.
Performing a seal may have been the best choice though without knowing anything about where the mysterious Youki appeared within the boy. At the very least, nothing could invade the boy either.
"So, we're done here?" Mizore cocked her head.
Ruby shook her head. "Well, I can't ask anything more from you, but...this incident. I'm certainly not done here."
Mizore's lollipop turned to the side of her mouth. "Are you sure? I know you'll figure it out, but you can ask any of us if you need help."
Ruby turned her head to the snow maiden and revealed a thankful smile. She knows that Mizore or any of her other friends would come to her aid if she needed it.
"I know, but...you have classes. I can handle it from here."
Ruby stood up and waved her arm, breaking the barrier that surrounded them. Immediately, crowds of students escaping into the path towards the gates traveled to their ears.
Mizore widened her eyes, knowing she had little time now. She dusted her sweater off then waved at the witch before disappearing within the trees towards the sound of the students.
"Then, I'll leave it to you! Let us know about anything!"
Ruby nodded, smiling until the snow maiden was gone. She could hear the faint sounds of Kurumu's 'Yahoo' greeting and the chaos that would soon surround the vampire, Tsukune.
She had more pressing matters on her mind though than to wish she was there to greet him. Her gaze followed Kazuya's weakened state. His freshman clothes were completely tattered and she would have to bring him to the academy's clinic. For now long would he have to remain there? Who knows.
"Kiria...Yoshi. Just...what is he planning?" Ruby asked herself.
She wouldn't get any answers from Kazuya now. The only one she could turn to is the grand manipulator.
Ruby dropped off the freshman boy into the clinic and gave special instructions to the head nurse. For now, he would essentially be on the academy's life support until the seal was removed.
Ruby couldn't risk removing the seal without knowing more on how the boy came to transform like that. Until then, the state of the freshman had to be kept a secret.
'Could there be more students like him?' Ruby questioned and grew slightly fearful. That would not only bad for her friends, but the school. Without anyway of telling if there would be any sudden transformation, her sense of danger would be constantly maintained.
Coming to the tunnels that led in and out of the Great Barrier, Ruby saw the academy's bus stationed between. Behind the bus laid a cliff where one could see a great red ocean reflecting the strange planet above.
Nunari was leaning back against the front of bus with a cigar in his hand. He watched the red ocean to his left without seemingly any care in the world.
"I figured you'd drop by, Ruby," he greeted, letting out smoke from his mouth. His head turned towards the witch and his eyes gleamed from the shadows of his hat. His eerie smile pierced through the witch's attempt to put on a hard stance.
"S-so, you knew?" Ruby asked, stammering a little. She straightened herself a little and frowned.
Nunari pulled the cigar between two of his fingers into his mouth and breathed. He let out a puff of smoke, taking his time despite the gravity of the situation.
"If you are talking about that boy...Kazuya, was his name, right?"
Ruby raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't think you'd remember the names of all the students."
Nunari heckled, causing shivers to travel the witch's spine. He pointed at the witch with his cigar and an even wider grin.
"I have to in order to filter out good from bad," he explained.
Ruby furrowed her eyebrows. "Then why-"
"That boy...I did feel something off from him. I knew he was a human, but there was something around him that felt off. He seemed quite afraid, but despite my own attempts to give him second thoughts, he still wanted to join."
"...and you let him?"
Nunari shrugged as he puffed a circle of smoke. "He had the invitation to the academy...same as Tsukune when he first joined. Whatever the reason, I could only keep an eye on him."
"Keep an...eye on him? He was headed towards the girl's dorm early in the morning! How exactly did you keep an eye on him?"
"I had some of my...associates blend in with some of the students. That's not a matter you need to worry about; however, Kazuya worked diligently like all the rest of the students. Though there was always a sense of stress on him, he kept himself out of the way. Today though clearly was different. Thanks to you and Mizore though, we now understand that there's a new developing threat that's looming."
"A...threat? Do you know exactly?" Ruby stepped forward, eager to know any information that the bus driver held for himself.
"Let me ask you first - what do you know?" he redirected the question.
Ruby lowered her head slightly as she recalled Kazuya's words when he was prominently conscious.
"Kiria Yoshii. I can't help but feel that he was using Kazuya to enter the academy in order to kill Moka. The only problem is that I don't know how that freshman was able to enter the academy and the means that Kiria used to transform him. It was like...a switch."
Nunari hummed, looking to the sky. "This is quite troublesome, wouldn't you say?"
Of course it is! Ruby felt a little upset that the bus driver was taking this so lightly. She held off from saying anything though.
"Has there been anything like this before?"
Nunari gave a surprising answer. "There has."
Lifting himself off his bus, he tapped off the cinders of his cigar and then made his way over the to witch. Reaching into his pocket, Ruby felt anxious over what he would show.
To her surprise, he took out a golden key into his hand. With a final step into the ground, he towered over the witch with an impressive air of darkness. If this were any other human or even Youkai, they would crumble but Ruby remained strong.
"It would be better if you looked into it yourself. To be honest, there couldn't be any better person to look into this than you."
Ruby opened her hands to receive the key and stared at it, narrowing her eyes.
"To...what?"
"That holds the key to Mikogami's office and his personal library. He keeps records of various related incidents that occurred in the human world."
Ruby widened her eyes. "T-this is...n-no! It would be impolite for me to enter his office! I'm not-"
"Are you not the acting headmaster of this academy?" Nunari leaned his head closer. The air around him intensified and Ruby could feel her legs shaking. She quickly nodded, gripping the key tightly in her hands.
Nunari heckled and leaned back, breathing in the cigar and letting out a puff of smoke into the witch's face. She promptly started to shut her eyes and cough, curling back.
"There's another reason though," Nunari began without waiting for the witch to recover, "...Mikogami left a letter in his desk for you. He told me to let you see it when the time is right. I feel that this is the best time given the circumstances."
The bus driver's words don't escape from the witch's ears and she propped herself straight, unable to feel an honor entering her heart.
"For...me? You mean he left a letter for me before he..."
Nunari walked away towards his bus, waving an arm. "Don't let it get to you. You were his personal assistant, right?"
Ruby hummed, calming herself down. Before the grandmaster of the academy could leave though, Ruby stepped forward, clinging the key to her chest.
"Wait! What am I supposed to search for? You said this happened before and I'm the best person to investigate. Why?"
Nunari stopped himself before he could enter the sliding doors of his bus. His head turned, smoke simmering out of his cigar. He took it out for some final words that would answer both of her questions.
"The Tokyo Amusement Park."