WolfGear Presents: Negima? The mage and the Gunslinger
Pairings: Negi X ku-Fei Kaede X OC
Chapter 43: Hardcore training and Eva's bonus Chapter
I don't own Negima!
It was cold, really cold; it was colder than anything that Jack had experienced before. The cold made everything fill numb even with his fire magic cranked up to maximum! Perfect, it was exactly what he wanted a place where his powers would be pushed to their limits, and beyond! A place where could achieve absolute mastery over the flames that rage beneath his fresh. Now there was only one other thing to do.
On the ground beneath his feet lied a very special ritual spell the inner self divider. Its original purpose was to separate the light and darkness inside monks in training so they could pure of heart. This one however was modified to separate Jack's transformations; Musashi Jack, demon jack, and Magia Erebea Jack.
This is it. Now he will be whole. "Alright listen up you basterds! I'm tired of my power being divided, so I'll be taking you all inside me permanently." Jack challenged his alter egos. They didn't seem too impressed with their originals claim.
Musashi Jack stepped forward. "You think you can take all of us? And at once no less, your arrogance is a pitiful site."
Jack grins. "Oh it's not arrogance its confidence, but I wonder what the rest of you have to say."
"I have no problem with this the winner is the one who get control of the body and power. In a sense they would become the Jack McCoy. I will not miss this opportunity." Demon Jack said.
Magia Erebea Jack though had a different idea. "We will crash you and after that I will finish off the others and take my place as king of the flames. Don't worry though I'll take good care of Kaede."
This made Jack grit his teeth in anger. Though the words sound harmless he knew that Magia Erebea Jack would bring harm to his beloved ninja. "Oh and I hope you remember that the cold of these mountains will severely weaken your fire magic." Magia Erebea Jack taunted.
"Yeah I know," Jack said with silent rage building inside him as he reached for his pistols. "That's why I brought these!"
Time seemed to slow as the first bullet cut through the chilling air. All three alter egos easily dodged the bullet and surrounded the original, but Jack was prepared turning an a heel he rammed the barrel of his gun into Demon Jack's belly and fired spraying his guts all over the white snow. Sadly his left his back exposed to the other two, and the feeling of cold steel cutting into his back took him it was Musashi Jack.
Jack grunted and fired his second pistol into the samurai. "Not good enough!" He yelled and with his first gun blasted a hole into Demon Jack and kicked him down the mountain. Not wasting anytime he turned around and fired two rounds into Musashi Jack's knees and pistol whipped him in the face sending the samurai flying.
He stared at Magia Erebea Jack who stood at least ten feet away. Raising his pistol Jack prepared to fire when he felt the piercing sting of two blades thrusting into his flesh from behind and run him through just below his heart and lungs.
"You didn't think it would be that easy would it?" Musashi Jack asked. Just behind him was Demon Jack fully healed and ready for another round. Which was more than Jack could say considering his current condition. Well no one ever said it would be easy.
Meanwhile in another chamber Fuuka, Fumika, and Sayo were undergoing their own hardcore training under Rubi, and there was no more rigorous teacher than her. Already she had the girls pushed to their limits practicing advance acrobatics and gymnastics, by sliding a dozen feet on rocky gravel, scaling ninety degree surfaces, and performing death defying leaps between pull up bar over twenty feet in the air! Did I forget to mention they had to shoot at targets at the same time?
Yes while doing these dangerous and possibly fatal acts they were also shooting live ammo at little circle targets that would spring up anywhere and everywhere, all while being timed. It was a grueling experience and the hundred degrees temperate and desert landscape did little to comfort them.
Rubi looked on from her front porch, which was a wooden deck attached to a crashed B-52 airplane with a beer in hand. She was rather impressed with the girls' progress. It had only been a week since they been in here. The first week Rubi had them practice their shooting and familiarizing themselves with their gun of choice. That was the easy part. Now they had to learn how to run and shoot, jump, leap, slide and build endurance and strength. She figured it would take about half the time for them to reach the intermittent level, and after that they could start the magic and technique training.
"Hurry up girls five more laps!" Rubi yelled and took a swig of her beer, ah this reminded her of the time she spent training Jack. Yes it was good to be the teacher.
Konoka and Setsuna were busy doing their own training, though not quite as extreme as their friends training. Right now, Setsuna was launching her most powerful attacks at Konoka's barrier spells to test their strength.
The first few times they did this the shield broke easily as if they weren't even there, but after about twenty times it started to take at least three hits for the shields to break, and now after a weeks of this Konoka's shields were nearly impenetrable! That is to physical attacks. Now they had to test magical and Ki attacks.
"Very good Miss Konoka, soon your barriers will be about to block even the strongest attacks!" Setsuna congratulated the healer, though Konoka was sporting a rather large frown. "Is something wrong Miss?"
Konoka sighed her friend could be such a block head. "Yes, your still calling me miss, and I'm starting to get annoyed." Why couldn't Setsuna just be like they were when they were little? It's not like she cared about all this class stuff! This wasn't the sengoku era!
"Oh sorry Mi- I mean Konoka its habit I guess."
Konoka smiled at her friend. "By the time we're done training you're going to break that habit or I'll remove all your video camera from my room."
Setsuna was shell shocked! She knew about the cameras? How she hid them so well! "So you know about that?"
"I do now."
Negi stood atop a mountain, thunder and lightning crashed and danced around him, his hair was the color of snow. He had done it he had finally completed Magica Erebea Darkness absorbing flame and lightning-absorbing thunder mode, as well as Raiten Taisou and Raiten Taisou II, and the Thousand Bolts spell in just 100 days!
Not that it was too difficult he already knew the spells and the techniques, but he need to train his body to handle them. After that it was a simple matter of mastering them, though it did take longer than he had hoped. Like Rakan said to gain true power takes a long time.
Even though his power wasn't at the exact same level from with his fight with fate it was close, and the lack of corruption to his soul was nice. But now it was time to experiment with his wind magic, he had been so focus on being like his father; he forgot that his primary element was wind. Now he was older and wiser and he knew that combining his wind magic with Magica Erebea would result in some devastating attacks, perhaps he could mix in some Ki attacks to.
Now well Negi was being his true inner devious self. Kaede and Ku-Fei where busy studying magic under Evangeline which to say the least could be going better, buts it's not. The first few weeks the two did nothing but train till they reached the advanced level of their martial arts and Ki techniques as far as ninja's and martial artist are concerned they're at the top. In the mage they were near the bottom.
Though Ku-Fei had shown some skill in drawing ruin circles, and enhancement spells, she had yet to summon a single attack spell. Kaede sadly wasn't much better she was able to enhance her shuriken with magic elements like flame or lightning, but spells like arrows of magic or heavy hitter magic was beyond her.
"Woo! Negi and Jack make this look so easily!" Ku yelled discouraged.
"Calm yourself Ku or you'll never get it." Kaede said reassuringly, but inside she was just as frustrated. Amused laughter filled the air sitting on a nearby rock Evangeline watched the two girls struggle over the simplest attack spells that a five year old could do in their sleep.
"You two will never get if you keep comparing yourselves to those to freaks. They'll hardly the normal standard for magic users. One's the son of the thousand Master, and the other is descendant of him." Evangeline bit her tongue she couldn't believe she just made slip up like that!
Kaede tilted her head. "I know Negi's the son of the thousand Master, but who is this him you mentioned?"
Evangeline sighed. She knew these pesky girls would never leave her alone if she didn't tell them. Uh the things she puts up with! "I'm referring to is Jake McCoy Jack's Grandfather; he's infamous for starting the war in the magic world, and a true elemental eater.
"Why did he do that?" Ku-Fei asked. She always thought that because Jack was so nice it meant that he come from a kind hearted bloodline.
Eva smiled evilly. "Do you really what to know why?"
"Yes," they both answered.
"You sure?"
"Yes!"
"Fine, I was there so I'll be able to give you the full unedited side of the story." The vampire said. "Let's begin from the beginning."
Flashback Eva's Bonus Chapter The legend of the Dark King and Queen
November 11, 1940 Stonehenge England
Jake McCoy born Jan 1, 1914 was about to embark on an epic adventure to the magic world. He had been stationed with the 101 airborne due to the draft, but he was a freeman and the petty matters of humans were no concern of him. Some of his squad mates tried to stop him, but they met a most gory end, having their stomachs ripped out and thrust into their chest cavity made sure no one else wanted to be the Boy Scout.
Now as he approached the gaint columns of stone, he started to take a closer look at his travel companions. Most of them were mages who didn't want to be used as weapons in the human war, but a number of them were Nuns and priests from the church who wanted to escape the bloodshed.
He laughed, fools as if going to the magic world would be any different. What he wanted was to find a worthy opponent to fight against and with all the mages hiding their true power, so not to expose the existence of magic to the Nazis or the allies it made finding a good opponent very difficult, and slaughtering humans wasn't very enjoyable, because of their lack of strength.
"It frightening isn't leaving your home." A voice said. Jake looked to his right and saw one of the nuns walking alongside him, and man was she pretty! Dark red hair, blue eyes, and soft pink lips and don't ask how he knew but she also had quite the body hidden under those heavy black robes.
"Only if you believe your frightened Sister," Jake said taking another eyeful. "But what's more frightening is a nice looking woman like you crushing the dreams of man by being a woman of the cloth, no offense."
The nun blushed this was the first time she had been exposed to another man other than a priest. He was quite charming with his rugged looks, wild black hair, and cowboy attire. "Yes well I'm afraid I'll have to crush your dreams Mr…"
"McCoy, Jake McCoy and you are?"
The nun blushed again. How could she forget to introduce herself! "Sister Ester pleased to meet your acquaintance Mr. McCoy."
"The pleasure is all mine," Jake said smoothly kissing her hand. They were soft, but he could feel they were no stranger to work. Another thing he like in his women.
Shyly Ester pulled back her hand; this was the first time she had ever been kissed! Even if it was just on the hand it still sent butterflies flying in her stomach. "So where are you from originally Mr. McCoy?"
"Jake will do fine," He said. "I'm originally from Minnesota, but I move to Montana to New Mexico, before settling down in Texas."
Ester was awed. The most she had ever traveled before today was to the nearby town and even that was only an hour's walk. Perhaps she should stay close to Mr. McCoy after they cross over; the head mother is always saying she needs to get out more.
Suddenly a strong grip grabbed hold of Ester's forearm and violently yanked her off her feet! "What are you doing standing next to this lowlife? You are a Nun of the church not a whore!" An angry priest scolded the young nun. He was Brother Cain, and he was secretly in love with Sister Ester, but it was forbidden for Members of the church to marry, so he made it priority to make sure no man would lay hands of Ester. Unfortunately he wasn't in his little community where he had authority; he was in the real world.
Now Jake wasn't the most moral person to walk the earth, but he was taught three things. Never swear in front of lady, never sleep with another man's wife, and most importantly never, ever threaten a lady unless she's trying to kill you. Now it seemed to him that Ester wasn't trying to kill this fool of a priest, so now he was going to execute the other rule he was taught; kill the offenders with swift and brutal judgment!
What happened next happened so fast that even with the hundreds of people standing so close together none could claim to have seen what happened and be telling the truth. Jake grabbed the offending priest by the wrist twisted it behind his back and broke it, and then he threw the man to the ground and drew his revolver and cocked the hammer. He was about to fire when Ester jumped between the two saving Cain's life.
"What are you doing?" Jake asked confused. Never before has someone done such stupid thing, this man had called Ester profane names and dared to touch her as if he owned her, so why save him?
"Stopping you from sinning, taking life is not the answer, and over such a petty matter. Brother Cain was just… worried about me." Ester pleaded. She knew that if Jake really wanted to kill Cain she could do nothing to stop him, but he would have to kill her first before he did.
Jake looked at them curiously. Ester concern for the man's wellbeing was that of a concerned sister or friend, but he could see from her eyes that she had no real feeling for the man except pity. Perhaps they were childhood friends, he thought. The man's eyes though he could tell held lust for the red headed nun's affections.
"Fine," Jake said holstering his gun. "But you shouldn't waste your time pitting this fool. He's not as faithful as you believe." And with that he left the two alone and walked into the portal to the magic world, his hand never leaving the butt of his gun.
A few months later near the city of Atosia
Jake McCoy was on a mission, a mission to find a piece of land to call his own, but most of the land in the magic world was either claimed by the church or one of the surrounding kingdoms all except for here the Dragon's range, which was a 50 mile diameter circle of low mountains guarded by almost every type of dragon known to man. No one even knows what lies beyond its tall peaks for none have ever made it any further then the base. But none of that stopped Jake; he knew that if he wanted to win over the heart of the lovely sister Ester he would need to have a home, not a tent out in the wilderness.
Over the past few months the cowboy visited the church in Atosia to talk with the nun in question. Never being force full or a burden, he would help the out with the chores and watch over the orphans that lived in the church with Sister Ester of course.
Now he stood at the peaks of the mountains, and so far he had yet to see a single dragon. Keeping his guard up he crossed threw a narrow opening and emerged into a marvelous valley filled with trees and rivers that cut the valley into a three pieces.
Jake was so marveled by the sight that he almost didn't hear the flapping of wings, a lot of wings! Looking up he saw the skies where filled with literally hundreds of dragons of all sizes and colors. Brown earth dragons, green wind dragons, blue lightning dragons, silver ice dragons, and red fire dragons, never before had he seen so many different dragons in one place! It was amazing! At least till they all opened fire on him.
Timaius the leader of the dragon clan slowly descended toward the smoldering crater that his brethren had made. Normally they wouldn't waste the effort of attacking together on one intruder, but this human's power was nothing they have ever felt before it even made him sacred. So when the dust cleared and the human remained unharmed it almost gave the old dragon a heart attack!
"Easy there big guy I just want to talk to you." Jake assured them. He came here to find a place to live, not slaughter the dragons that called it home. He had enough of that kind of shit. "Why don't you change into your human form and we have a nice chat?"
This surprised Timaius very few humans still knew that dragon could take on human form, most thought they were simply mindless savage beasts. Knowing that he didn't have the power to refuse this man Timaius shrunk into his human form.
Jake observed the transformed dragon. He was fairly tall about as tall of him making him about 5' 12", strong jawed, well-muscled, boarded shouldered, with red hair and yellow eyes. "Names Jake McCoy I seek to take residence in this valley if you would permit it."
"I am Timaius leader of this clan. You are the first human to ever survive our attacks and talk to our kind. Tell me why do you wish to live here so far away from your own?" Timaius questioned the cowboy. Strangely he like this human he could tell he was an honorable man.
Jake grinned. "That's easy! I can hardly stand other humans, except for this one girl that I'm courting to be my mate. I despise the way the world has become." Timaius could tell that his words were sincere, once his kind walked amongst the human, but then the church took over and the dragon hunts started and they were chased from their home to this valley.
"I will allow you and your mate to make your home in the northeastern part of the valley, if you can defeat the monster that dwells there." In this valley there lived a terrifying monster that even the dragons fear, its hide is immune to magic and physical attacks, and it claws have claimed the lives of many brave dragons, it was called the Beast.
Jake agreed gleefully. At last he could get a real challenge.
It took at least Jake two days to reach the Beast's cave. It would take a normal man a week on foot, and with the all the trees and underbrush and extra three days. Jake cut that time down, by using his wind magic to chop down the trees and his fire magic to burn them into ash in an instant, so he had a nice clear road all the way there.
Standing outside the cave with the piles of bones scattered all over Jake prepared to force the monster that eat other monsters. "Hey big ugly get your ass out here! I don't have all day!" A loud roar echoed from the cave. He guessed he got its attention.
"Who dares disturb my sleep?" The beast growled. Its massive feet shook the earth; its claws were twice the size of the biggest dragons, its long neck and back were covered with a massive shell, and its face long and narrow equipped with rows of razor sharp teeth, and a hairy mane that travel down its neck and to its long whip like tail. Slowly the creature lowered its gaze to Jake's. Black met black as the two stared into the others eyes. "You came to slay me human? Ha how laughable, what could you do that the mightiest of dragon's could not?"
Slowly Jack removed his hat and jacket and placed them in his satchel bag for safe keeping. He didn't want them to get ruined in the fight that was to come. "Simple, you never face a human like me before."
"Oh really," the beast said curiously, he would enjoy eating this one.
"Really." Summoning his magic Jake hurled a massive fireball at the beast that exploded on impact. When the smoke cleared there wasn't even a scratch on the beast! "This should be interesting."
With a mighty roar the beast lashed out with its fangs, Jake just barely managed to avoid being swallowed whole! Too make matters worse the beast swung its claws, but Jake was able to deflect them with overcharged magic punch, and land out of its attack range. Now they stared down again.
Jake grunted it looked like he would have to use some of his more complex moves. Stomping his foot into the ground he popped a large boulder out of the earth and jumped high into the high, where he mixed fire magic in with the boulder making it melt and harden into a black lava stone.
"Take this meteor strike!" Jake chucked the boulder so hard that it literally became a meteor! Down below the beast waited, it didn't even bother moving out of the way taking the full force of the attack head on! A loud crash echoed throughout the valley, but the beast still stood.
The beast laughed. This human's attacks were something, but they were still nothing to worry about. He was so preoccupied with is inner gloating that he didn't notice Jake climb onto his back and deliver a powerful hammer smash into the center of his shell before it already happened. The hit itself did nothing to the beast armor, but the shock waves traveled down his nervous system causing him to fall onto his knees!
"Now then, it appears I brought the great beast to his knees, I wonder what else I can do to it? Hmm I think I'll make it into a new pair of boots." Jake mocked. The beast unhappy at being insulted lashed out with its claws again, but Jake nimbly dodged the attack and landed outside the beast range of attack again.
"You can't move very fast can you?" Jake said. The beast moved its head and his claws, but not once has it moved from its spot since it exited the cave. Its protective shell must be so heavy that it can't move. It just waits for its opponent to wear its self out and then he'll attack at his leisure, which means Jake will have to that technique in order to defeat the beast.
Clapping his hands together as if he was about to pray Jake began to focus his power, and called out to the elements. "Hear me voice of the wind, the breath of the flame, the sting of the cold, the blinding light of thunder, and fist of the earth form together the void that consumes all. Void Stance!"
"Praying to God human? It's too late for that nonsense!" The Beast mocked, but he found his tongue twisted when he met Jake's stare, it was like nothing he ever felt before it was like he was being sucked into an endless void of darkness. For the first time he felt fear.
Calmly Jake approached the beast and when its massive claws came to meet him he simple brushed them away with a flick of his wrist. "Now let me show you one of my original gore techniques. First gore technique Disemboweler." With a quick thrust of his hand Jake pierced the beast unbreakable hide and ripped its guts out! The beast gave a deathly moan, but Jake wasn't done yet. "Second gore technique Decapitation." Another quick motion of his hand and the beast's head was severed from its body, killing it for good.
Jake sat on the dead beast shell and rolled a smoke. He had the land now he just needs to build a house.
Two weeks later Jake returned to town. He had completed his house in no time thanks to the dragons who were glad to help the after he killed the beast for them. Needless to say it was a start to a beautiful friendship. To keep his new home secret Jake left the valley threw the river that flowed under the mountains. Not only was it fun, but it helped keep outsiders from seeing the entrance to the valley.
Wondering the streets of Atosia Jake was itching to have a drink, two weeks away from the bottle really made him grumpy. Wanting to get to the bar quickly Jake took the back alleys, but he wasn't even halfway through the alley when he bumped into a something small and blonde.
Shaking the stars from his eyes he looked to see what he bumped into and to his surprise it was a small blonde girl wearing some sort of ragged cloak. "Hey what were you're going!" The girl whined. Jake shushed her; he heard voices, a lot of voices! He could barely make out what they were saying but he caught the main topic, a vampire.
"Vampire huh," Jake looked at the child before him, and mercilessly pulled her cheeks to reveal two fangs that no normal ten year old girl should have. The child vampire angrily slapped his hands away.
"Do you not know you I am?" She said. Jake shrugged. "I am the great vampire Evangeline A.k McDowell and I refuse to be captured by a lowly human like you!" Evangeline declared a little too loudly.
Suddenly a mob of man appeared at both sides of the alley way with Brother Cain leading them. "Look! There be the monster, and the heathen too!" He shouted pointed at the two. While most of crowd didn't know what he meant by heathen, they were so drunk on the thrill of the hunt it didn't matter. They foolishly attack Jake and Evangeline without a second thought which would prove to be a disastrous mistake on their part.
It didn't take more than ten seconds for the two to completely wipe out the mop, nobody was killed, but they wouldn't be walking for a few days, especially the ones that Evangeline took out. With her short body she only had one place to aim at and that was between the legs.
Cain angrily grinded his teeth together, how dare these… these monsters! These unholy creatures make a fool out of him! "I demand thy lord strike down these heathen swine! Holy thunder!" Thunder rumbled and storm clouds formed, but nothing happened. No lightning struck down the two, no divine justice, no wrath of God, just the howling laughter of Jake and Eva.
"What an idiot!" Evangeline said between laughs, never before had she seen a more pitiful display of spell casting!
Jake agreed. "I know right? I demanded? Fool, you don't use the word demand in a holy spell! Only a complete fool would do that! Are you trying to piss off God? You ask not demand; any real priest would know that." Really all those years training to be a priest and you screw up one of the most basic spells ever? How pathetic can you get?
"Shut up! I will kill you demons!" Cain proclaimed, but all that did was make the two laugh even harder!
"Oh now he's threating to kill us. Are you sure you're a priest?" Eva asked. She's never in all her years all a vampire seen such a pathetic priest.
"Yeah I knew he wasn't that much of a priest, but I never thought that he was this big of a screw up!" Jake commented as Cain's face became red with anger. Things took a turn for the worst though with the appearance of Sister Ester. Cain enraged slapped the nun in the face throwing her to the ground!
Humidified, angry, and filled with jealous rage Cain lashed out on the only person who ever cared for him. "You heathen whore you are the cause of this! You're feelings for this demon has brought me shame!"
Ester was confused, hurt, and afraid. She knew Cain had a temper, but this… this was madness! All she wanted was help him, keep him on the path, which was why she put up with his attitude, till now.
Calmly she stood to her feet, and slapped Cain so hard that his nose began to bleed! "I only see one demon here and it is you Cain. I was going to tell you this later, but I guess now is a good time. I'm leaving the church, Jake asked me to marry him and I said yes. I had hoped that you would be the one to wed us, but I guess that's impossible now." She turned her back to the priest and stood beside Jake and Evangeline. The two smiled at each other happy even Cain's ranting rage could not change their focus.
"MARRIED… MARRIED YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO MARRY ME! NOT THAT HEATHEN SWINE! I AM THE RIGHTOUS ONE NOT HIM!" Cain screamed, but none were listening.
Leaving the alley Jake looked at the small blonde form trailing behind them. "You want to come with us? We have plenty of room." He offered.
Evangeline pondered the offer, she was tired of running away all the time always moving, plus these two humans interested her. "Sure why not." She shrugged and with a little teleportation spell Jake teleported them away to his home in dragon's valley.
November 11, 1945 McCoy ranch in Dragon's valley
Five years have passed since Jake, Ester and Evangeline left the civilized world behind, and many changes had taken place in their sleepy little valley. The dragon's now known as the Dragovians because of their ability to take human shape have built villages in the cliff surrounding the valley and declared themselves an independent nation from the church and other kingdoms. With their already threatening power plus the power of the dark evangel and the terror known as Jake McCoy, no force in the magic world dared to cross them, at least not after the slaughter of 10,000 men.
The Slaughter of ten thousand men was the first and last attempt, by the church and independent kingdoms to take control of this new land. Jake and Evangeline quickly disposed of the fools that dared trust past on their land. Two high powered spells Evangeline's 1000 black thunder bolts and Jake's Void crusher turned the armies into piles of meat for the crows. Since then no kingdom dared to challenge them.
Today was a good day for the residence of Dragon's valley, for today was the day that Jake's first child was to be born. All the Dragovians gathered for this historical event and even Evangeline who had become friends with both the Dragovians and the McCoy's was excited, which was only to be expected, she was the one who marred them after training to become a priestess under the Dragovian religion. It was quite interesting how the dragon's pictured God.
Anyway after hours of labor and one broken hand, Ray Jake McCoy was born into the world on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the same day world war two ended. It was a day of hope, a day of joy, and most importantly a day of love.
May 15, 1950
Another five years have passed. Evangeline had left the valley to explore the world and find her own soul mate, thought she would love to have a certain cowboy, she loved Ester too much to steal him away, so she left that was three years ago.
Ray now five years old was busy running around and getting into trouble pulling dragon's tails, messing with his father's gun's, and just being a plain pain in the ass, but he was also helpful he never skipped out of his chores or hurt anybody.
Jake now a middle aged man had settled down, become more responsible, and worked hard to keep his family fed and safe. But a single newspaper head line would break the well-earned peace he had built.
Dark Evangel Captured! Execution planned to take place at Saint Abe's cathedral on May 17 at noon.
Worried for his friend's safety Jake prepared to go rescue the vampire, Ester was in full support but worried for her husband's safety. It may have only been five years, but he hadn't fought in five years! This could prove to be more difficult than he was thinking it would be the world has changed and there are new monsters out there.
"Don't worry I'll be there and back before you know it." Jake kissed his wife good bye and walked out the door and summoning some wind magic flew into the air at top speed.
The next day Ester went about her normal routine; cleaning the house, feeding the livestock, and tending to Jake's horses. She loved them the most they were such majestic creatures, they obeyed every commanded given never fussed. They are welled trained animals, but she expected no less from her husband.
Returning to the house Ester stopped on the porch to look out over the ranch. It was such a beautiful place. She would have never been able to seen it if she didn't leave the small box that was the church, plus the rules imposed by the high priest where starting to get ridiculous, he started to demand more tribute to the church when the people were already poor, and all the church crusaders were starting to pillage the villages robbing them of everything in the name of God. Ester knew this wasn't right and left with Jake.
The suddenly appearance of dust cloud caught Ester's attention. There was no word or someone coming over today, and if were the Dragovians they would have flown. A sick feeling filled her gut, her spiritual instincts were acting up, and she could sense the intruders' evil intent.
Quickly she ran to the house the intruders where too close for them to make a getaway, but she could at least make sure they didn't harm Ray. "Oh omnipotens unus , iacio vestri ventus in ut is penuriosus animus. Angelus pennae!" (Translation: Oh almighty one, cast your favor on to this poor soul. Angel's wings.) A winged form appeared over the sleeping child. Ester knew he would be safe. Returning to the front door of the house her eyes caught sight of Jake's double barrel. She grabbed hold of the steel barrel, so it was ready to use if she need it, and opened the door.
Outside members of the crusaders the hit men for the church waited for Ester to come out. They were on a mission to take the former nun hostage, by father Cain, but if she caused a fuss they were to kill her. Why they were sent on just a pointless mission was beyond them, there was many nuns that left the church, but why try to kidnap the one who was married to the slayer of 10,000 men? The leaders stopped his rant when he heard the door swing open and their target appeared.
With authority the leader took his place at the head of the pack. "I'm Sir Jeffery of the Crusaders, we are here for you arrest for crimes against the church, come peacefully and none harm shall come to you."
Ester considered the man's offer. She knew there was no way to get out of this valley without one of the Dragovians seeing them, and the ward prevented outsiders from using teleportation magic, so the best course of action was to go with them and play along for now.
"Fine," She answered releasing her hold on the gun barrel and walked down towards the crusaders. She was almost there when their leader gave the command to burn down the house! One of the soldiers threw a fireball on to the house which caught fire easy.
Spinning on a heel Ester ran back to the house, her spell would protect Ray from harm, but it wouldn't stop the smoke from suffocating him! One of the soldiers ran after her, but Ester had grabbed hold of Jake's double barrel as she ran past the door, she spun on a heel again and fired! Taking the man's leg clean off! She then hit him over the head with the butt of the gun, knocking him unconscious, but still breathing. She heard the sound of his comrades coming to the man's aid, so she wasn't worried about him.
Entering Ray's room which was filled with smoke! Ester got on her knees to avoid suffocation and crawled to her son's side. From there she wrapped him in his bed sheets to protect him from the flames and ran towards the door. Just as she exited the burning house she was knocked of balance by a powerful blow that knocked her to the ground.
"Hello there Ester," a venomous voice said. Ester looked up at the speaker and saw her once good friend Cain standing over her with a dagger. "If I can't have you no one can!" Cain declared stabbing Ester in the chest!
Feeling her life slipping away Ester attempted to escape, but her strength was fading fast, so she reinforce the spell protecting Ray with her remaining life force, Cain would not get her child!
"Oh lookie here you have a son. Let me send him to hell with you!" Madly Cain thrusted at the child but a wall of light stopped him.
Blood dripping from her mouth Ester whispered on last word of warning to her foolish friend. "May God have mercy on your souls for Jake will have none for you when he finds you!" With that Ester McCoy passed away.
The fluttering of wings echoed through the air and Sir Jeffery knew they had to get out of here quick, but Cain was still blindly striking out against the barrier that protected the child. Not one to leave a man behind Jeffery knocked the priest unconscious and carried him away.
"I don't think you'll thank me for this, but I'm starting to wish that we never planned this trap for the hell we have unleashed will surely consume us." The crusader said as storm clouds gathered in the sky as if signaling the pretense of what was to come.
May 7th 11:55 Saint Abe's Cathedral
It was easy enough for Jake to sneak into the city, though he had to close the link between him and Ester to make sure no one detected him. It was more challenging to get to the front of the crowd, but he managed, along the way he sensed the hundreds maybe thousands of Crusaders, priests, and soldiers from various countries. That was to be expected though when you have someone like Evangeline prisoner.
Finally he made it to the front, he could clearly see Evangeline in her adult form tied to a stake apparently they were going with the burn the witch thing… classily. Jake also saw that the spell projecting Evangeline's adult image was not her own, it made sense since the majority of people didn't know the dark queen's real from was that of child's.
The bells of the church began to ring the execution was starting! One of the archbishops was carrying a lantern of holy fire to light the bundle of wood below Eva's feet, once it caught fire there would be no way for him to help her! He had to act now!
Everything happened in slow motion Jake jumped from the crowd and on to the burning grounds, but when he started to free his friend he felt a sharp pain in his gut. Looking down he saw that dagger was sticking out of his gut, and the spell that he thought was to hide Eva's real appearance was actually concealing assassin from the church!
"Bravo Mr. McCoy, but I'm afraid you have come all this way not to save you friend but to be killed." The archbishop announced and suddenly Jake felt magical auras around everyone in the city! The whole city was crusaders in disguise! He felt like shooting himself for being so stupid as if these people could capture Evangeline.
Loving the feeling of power he had over the would-be savor, the archbishop decided to rub it in his face. "Now I hope you don't plan to do anything foolish we have you wife as our prisoner if you want to keep her save you will surrender to us now."
His wife! Jake thought franticly as he opened the link again searching for Ester's life force, but there was none, nothing, even if they had her locked in a warded room he would still be able to tell if she was a live, but there was nothing his wife, his love was dead.
Something snapped in him, rage poured from his body as it overflowed with power! The gates of the city welded themselves shut trapping everyone inside. The crowds fell silent as Jake whispered, but to them it was as if he was shouting. "You killed her…. You killed her… I must kill… all must die… all must die!"
Meanwhile Evangeline the real one was busy making her way towards Saint Abe's with a bundle wrapped in her arms. After seeing the headlines, the vampire rushed to the McCoy's home as fast as she could, but she arrived too late. When she arrived she found a distressed Ray desperately trying to shake his mother awake, but to no avail, Ester McCoy had passed on.
Knowing she had to get to Saint Abe's as soon as possible, Evangeline placed a sleeping spell over the child and rushed into the air at full speed, she prayed that she wasn't too late.
Now as she approached the Saint Abe's she was stunned by the state it laid in, it renowned white marble building were clover completely red! The stench of rotting flesh filled the air so much that it made her gag, and the sky was swarming with crows that feasted on the bodies below, the streets were ankle deep with blood, and the most dreadful site of all was of a lone figure sitting atop of a pile of corpses, a figure that Evangeline knew was Jake.
He was in ruff shape, his clothes were torn, wounds covered his body, but yet he stood tall as his regenerative powers worked their magic. Dimly he noticed Evangeline's arrives as if he was coming out of daze. He looked down at his feet and saw that he was standing in blood and bones, yet he felt no remorse.
"Evangeline," He said softy, and for a belief moment a light returned to his eyes, before fading away to darkness. "I will make them pay. I will make them all pay for what they have done. I will make this world experience a war they have never seen before. Will you help me, my friend?"
She didn't know if she should her time with Ester had made her turn over a new leaf, but there was still a side of her that craved to destroy, to ravage the lands, and take whatever she wanted for herself! A small grin and the dark queen was back as if she was never gone.
What happened next was something that was officially lost to history, but not to the ones who were there. Jake and Evangeline returned to the Dragovian valley and left Ray with Timaius and his family to be raised. Next they requested that a hundreds iron wood trees be cut down and made into dolls. This proved the two with the army they need thanks to Evangeline's puppet skills. Iron wood in the magic world was just as it was on earth tough and as hard as its name sake, but it had one other thing, it could be mended very easy with magic making the time it took to build the dolls very quick.
The dolls were shaped after humans and outfitted with Dragovian steel weapons, enchantments, and wards that allowed them to regenerate broken parts by simply absorbing pieces of wood. They also had self-destruct seals, shape shifting, and some basic magic abilities. This was all possible thanks to the soul binding ritual. By using the memories of dead Dragovian soldiers the dolls could learn, and grow, one could almost say they become almost human. What's more each tree was able to make ten full human sized dolls. In one year Jake and Evangeline had 10,000 soldiers that didn't need to eat, sleep, or rest.
Now the two stood at the base of the mountains that surround the valley, and waved good bye to their friends the Dragovian. Jake looked to his friend, her personal doll Chachazero was perched on Eva's shoulder, it was funny looking thing with green hair and Chief's knife for weapon, but he knew it was deadlier then it appeared. In the distance he could see the last of the sun's rays disappear beyond the horizon, it was time to begin, and with a simple wave of his hand the magic war began.
It was a three way war. The independent kingdoms took the opportunity to strike against the weakened church, and its followers, after all they did have all their best and most loyal fighters at Saint Abe's cathedral. The church struggled to retain their control of the magic world, but not in faith, no the corrupt high priest wanted to retain their power over the people and with the belief that God was on their side the armies of the church gladly sacrificed themselves for the cause. The third was none other than Jake and Evangeline who would have gained the titles The Dark king and Queen of wrath. Attacking both exhausted armies the alliances dissolved and civil war erupted all over the world.
July 19, 1960 ten years after the start of the war
Ray McCoy now fifteen years old sat contently on the grass outside his home, which he had rebuilt with his own hands two years ago with the help of the Dragovians. He looked out at his home, and noticed the changes that had taken place over the years.
Refuges from every race came to this valley after his father had saved them from the wasteland, he told them it was the least he could do for destroying their homes. Everybody was welcome as long as they were willing to work for their keep, just the other day a fire cat demon with twin four year old daughters moved in next door, and was now working as blacksmith in the nearby town.
It was strange, but even though they had lost their homes none of them cursed his father, for he was the one who started the war with his own personal vendetta, but he could not say much for the memory of his mother's murder still plagued his mind.
Suddenly a noise started to buzz across the valley, listen more closely he realized it was cheering. Standing to his feet Ray squint his eyes till he could make out a familiar blonde head of hair, dressed in a very revealing purple dress, Evangeline A K McDowell had returned, but he saw no sign of his father next to her only three dolls. One was Chachazero, but the other two were just regular one's each carrying a bundle in their arms.
Finally Evangeline came to a stop in front of the young man, who she had come to recognized as the little boy that she saved so many years ago. With a snap of her fingers the two dolls approached Ray and handed him the two bundles and two his surprise he saw that they were children one was at least four years old and the other couldn't be no more than two.
"The bigger one is John and the smaller one is Thomas. Say hello to your half-brothers Ray." Evangeline said with a smirk as the young man's face turned white.
"What… who… how… when?" Ray stammered, he couldn't believe he was an older brother now, well there when his teen years.
Evangeline smirked. "Well I'm sure you know by now where babies come from, but I could give a detailed explanation if you want."
Ray blushed red. "No, no that's not necessary, but who's the mother or God forbid mothers."
"Don't worry they have the same mother, but who that is, is privileged information." Evangeline taunted. "Now if you don't mind I'll be taking my leave."
Ray did a double take. "You're leaving already, but you just got here! At least tell me where pops is he has some explaining to do!"
Evangeline fell silent, "I can't tell you that."
"Why not?"
"Because I have no idea where your father is, he's missing, so I'm going to take a vacation, it's no fun fighting if he isn't there." Eva said disappearing in a cloud of bats. That was the late time anyone had heard of the dark queen.
But even with the disappearance to the Dark King and Dark Queen the war continued, but in 1970 ten years after Jake McCoy's disappearance a new hope arrived in the form of two young groups of mercenaries call the wings of redemption and the crimson wings. The wings of Redemption members were John McCoy age 14, the group's leader, Ray McCoy age 25, the tactical adviser, Thomas McCoy, the sniper, Rubi and Abi Malone, the fire cat twins.
The other group the crimson Wings members Nagi Springfield age 15, the idiotic leader, Jack Rakan age unknown, the muscle headed idiot, Eishun Konoe, Master swordsman, Albireo, perverted, Gateau Kagura Vandenberg, fist master, Takamichi T. Takahata, Aka Triple TTT, Gateau's apprentice, Filius Zect, mysterious kid, Kurt Gödel, future asshole.
Together these two groups put an end to the war in 1983, but not before they butt heads and destroyed a majority of the magic word turning nearly 1/3 of the planet it into a wasteland.
1993 Evangeline's hide away
Evangeline was bored, very bored! After dropping John and Thomas on Ray all those years ago she had done nothing but lunge around. Sometime she would go and try to find clues to Jake's whereabouts, but the trail had gone cold. Till one night she got an unexpected visitor.
It was a woman, a tall woman with red and black hair, a killer body that Eva wished she had and tan skin. A first she thought of just sending the strange woman on her way, but when she pulled out a familiar pistol one that could only belong to Jake she decided to hear the woman out.
The woman told Eva that she had seen Jake on earth in Japan, she then handed Eva the pistol and vanished before the vampires eyes without a trace.
With renewed hope Evangeline hurried to earth, but instead of Jake she found Nagi Springfield, and thinking he knew the whereabouts of her lost friend she chased him restlessly till he sealed her away at Mahora Academy, were she stayed for the next ten years.
End of Flashback
Evangeline finished her tale but Kaede and Ku-Fei were out cold sleeping on the ground. Angry the vampire stomped out of the chamber and into her room located in the castle. Seriously she wasn't their damned babysitter or bedtime reader! Falling on the soft mattress she caught a glimpse of Jake's old revolver and wondered for the millionth time where he was.
"I swear I'll find you, you basterd, and you better have that damned ring too!"
Authors Notes
This was a damn long chapter. So what did you think of the bonus chapter? Really it was just supposed to fill up some pages but I got a little carried away. Next chapter things get a little crazy when everyone finishes their training, and prepare for their departure.
This was WolfGear saying it a little late but happy Fourth of July!