Chapter 6: Murotsu's Story (Cont.) + Vampire
Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire. I twisted the author's storyline into my own imagination.
"I couldn't return to my father's castle because my uncle and the Masked King overran it with a battalion of goblins, gremlins, and ghouls," he continued. "Gyokuro, the Masked King, and my uncle are planning to revive Soku by destroying the keystones created by the four sages. In order to do that, they need vampiric power, dragon magic, and dark monster strength to destroy each individual keystone. The four keystones are the seals that would keep the legendary demon Soku from bringing a world of chaos to both this world and the human world. Once the keystones are destroyed Soku would be free to destroy."
"Who exactly is Soku?" asked Moka.
"Soku is said to be a giant demon lord of the Underworld, a Skorne. He believed himself as rightful ruler of the Youkai world. He is the strongest and most powerful monster known in this world and even stronger than Alucard. Akasha Bloodriver and my father once sealed him away with the help of the Mikogami Tenmei and Fuhai Touhou. My father was one of the lost dark lords because he was in the human world for a while. Though he didn't take part of sealing the monstrous Alucard, he is considered to be the strongest out of all of them. The four dark lords are known as the four sages that sealed Soku one hundred years ago. But now Gyokuro, my uncle, and the Masked King will be on their way to destroy the seals to revive him and he will use his ultimate power to destroy the human world and use the fragments of the earth and his demonic power to combine with the Youkai world to create a demonic world and demons. Soku believes that the REAL demons should exist in our world."
"Gyokuro is still alive? I thought Moka killed her, desu," said Yukari.
"Yes, but she has been brought back to life," Murotsu said.
"How is this possible?" asked Moka.
"I am guessing that Yuroku must be able to revive her with his resurrection spell. He some how got his hands on my fathers secret spell book," he replied.
"So let me get this one straight here. Are you saying the humans were the ones that created us?" asked Kurumu.
"I thought we are demon monsters, desu," said Yukari.
"That's correct, Yukari-chan. We are demon monsters in human fairy tales, mythology, and folklore," said Murotsu. "The humans are the key to our existence and that was why we must coexist with them. It is only natural for the monsters to hold grudges against the humans or even try to eat them."
"Since Nekonome-sensei gave us that topic for the essay, that might be the real answer to her question," said Tsukune, remembering the essay assignment.
"Aside from the Alucard rampage, Soku was probably the reason why my mother and the other dark lords create a barrier on the Youkai academy," said Moka.
"This is really bad," said Tsukune, slowly sipping his tea.
"Indeed," said Nazere.
"Okay so all Tsukune needs to go one on one against Soku and once Tsukune beats him it will be all over. How hard can it be?" asked Ruby.
"This won't be easy. Two of the dark lords are deceased and Gyokuro is bringing the remains of the Alucard to Soku and that would increase his power," replied Nazere.
"I realized that all the dragon mages have been massacred by Yuroku and his monster army of goblins, ghouls, and gremlins. I am the only one left besides him," continued Murotsu, shutting his eyes. "Then Mikogami sent me away from the Youkai academy, notifying me that my uncle was after me and offers me to join him. I refused my uncle's offer and I will never forgive him for taking all the people I loved from me. Mikogami sent me away because my uncle hired a group of monsters known as the Public Safety Commission to capture me and bring me to him. I was about to leave when the Public Safety Commission arrived to the school, terrorizing my classmates, bullying the money out of them, even decimating my Newspaper Club and I don't know what happened to Gin. It was a year later when Hiyata swooped over the school and notified me that the corrupt student police has been banished away. But even though they were gone, three out of the four kings, including Kuyo joined the Fairy Tale organization led by the Masked King. Yuroku and his army already formed an alliance with the Masked King and the Fairy Tale organization to help revive Soku and destroy the human world."
He finished and slammed his fists on the table. Tears were pouring from his eyes. Tsukune and the girls stared at him with concern. Murotsu grabbed a kitchen knife and slit his wrist with it. A streak of blood ran down his bare arm. At that moment, Nazere and Hiyata grabbed him by both arms. Tsukune and the girls stared at him with confusion and shock.
"Hold yourself, Murotsu! It's not your fault!" yelled Hiyata, snatching the kitchen knife away from his hand.
"You shouldn't feel responsible for this," said Nazere, trying to calm him down.
"Yes, I should!" Murotsu cried, as he broke free from their grips. He tried to fight his tears but he couldn't. "If I didn't go and stand up against my uncle and the Public Safety Commission, my Newspaper Club would have been alive. My father wouldn't have been slaughtered if I helped him fight my uncle. I have lost so many people in my life when this happened. I lost the dragon mages, I lost many members of my old Newspaper Club, and I lost my beloved father. I failed to protect them!" Murotsu started crying and buried his face in his hands.
"You poor thing," pitied Moka, placing her hand on Murotsu's shoulder. "I know how it feels like to lose friends."
"Murotsu-senpai there is nothing you could have done!" said Nazere.
"It seemed that everything we have been going through was pretty much Yuroku's doings," said Kurumu.
"Soku is able to communicate with Yuroku through his magic. He is the one commanding Yuroku to unleash his army of goblins and other grunts to terrorize the monster homes and somehow the human world," explained Nazere as tried to calm his friend down.
"Yeah. One example is that humans were even framed by the goblins for destroying the witches' homes: the sunflower fields," said Hiyata.
"But I thought humans hate sunflowers," Ruby said, remembering her first encounter with Tsukune.
"Not exactly. Humans love to eat sunflower seeds and some can be used for medicine. Several people kept them in their backyard," explained Nazere.
"Then who was responsible for destroying my home?" asked Ruby in an angry voice.
Hiyata and Nazere looked and each other and then they began to speak.
"Yuroku's goblins disguised as humans destroyed many sunflower fields knowing that the witches live in those areas," he said.
"That way," Hiyata said. "That jerk would be able to frame the humans for destroying their homes and the witches would hold grudges against the humans. Soku believes in the rivalry of both humans and monsters so they can destroy each other."
Hearing this, Ruby was struck with guilt.
"And here I thought the humans were the ones that were trying to destroy my home a long time ago," she cried.
"I'm sorry that happened," said Tsukune.
"It's not your fault, Tsukune," said Ruby. "I had to apologize for being suspicious of you in the first place."
"As a matter of fact, a human like Tsukune somehow has the power to destroy Soku," said Nazere. "The glow on his chest is the mark of the Chosen to save both this world and the human world from his wrath."
Tsukune and Ruby turned to Murotsu who was wiping his tears with his napkin.
"You shouldn't punish yourself like that, Murotsu-senpai," said Moka trying to calm him down. "At least you tried to save these other people from the party that night plus you met up with us."
Tsukune strolled to Murotsu and sat right beside him. He thought about what it was like to get abused and to lose the people he love. Everything bad that happened was mostly he work of his uncle. Tsukune found it hard to understand how he was the Chosen but he knew he had to do something about it. So he stood up from his seat.
"Murotsu-senpai, I will go," said Tsukune boldly. "If I'm the Chosen one I will go and defeat the evil in this world."
Murotsu stopped crying and looked up at Tsukune. "Tsukune..."
"I am willing to unite the monsters and humans and put an end to their rivalry, even though I don't know I am supposed to defeat Soku." Tsukune said.
"Tsukune…" Murotsu sniffled and then he smiled.
"I'm with Tsukune," said Moka, clutching her Rosario. "I will do everything in my power to free my father and sisters and defeat the darkness."
"Me too," Kurumu said, standing from her seat. "I'm in if Tsukune is in!
"Me three, desu," said Yukari in agreement, drawing out her heart-shaped wand.
"You can have my wand," said Ruby drawing out her wand.
"And my ice," whispered Mizore, sharpening her ice claws.
"We will follow you and Tsukune, til the very end," said Murotsu's companions.
"You guys…" sobbed Murotsu happily. "Alright let's do it. It's just that I really care about everyone in both this world and the human world. They mean so much to me. Friends are the source to my happiness. I didn't want lose any more friends. I'm sorry I had been very emotional about it."
"It's alright. I understand how you are feeling," said Tsukune.
"Thanks," said Murotsu.
"I forgot one thing, desu," said Yukari, holding up her wand. "We still have school and I have to write an essay."
"And Gin is waiting for us for a newspaper club meeting," said Mizore.
Murotsu's eyes suddenly widened. "Gin! Is he alive? How is he?"
"Gin's doing fine," answered Moka. "He seems pretty tight on schedule for our newpaper club and is still our club president."
"I'm glad he's okay," said Murotsu, relieved.
"You sound like you are pretty close to Gin," said Tsukune.
"We were best friends ever since freshman year and we did a lot together," replied Murotsu.
He filled his cup with tea and drank. After drinking, he felt a lot better.
"About school and your homework, Yukari, you don't have to worry about your assignments," He assured them. "I will give a request to the headmaster to excuse you and allow me and my companions to train you before our journey. You might get some time to complete your essay at least you know how to answer the topic. Our journey will begin soon once I get approval from the headmaster."
"What journey?" asked Moka.
"To rescue your father and your two sisters," he answered.
"Really? Thank you so much," she said. She almost began to cry.
"Why do we need to help them when they almost killed us before?" asked Kurumu.
"It's what the headmaster instructed us plus Moka's father is my friend and Nazere's customer. Moka's father may have some intel about Soku since he fought Soku before. His wife Gyokuro is his puppet," said Murotsu.
"Nazere-san's Customer?" asked Moka, puzzled.
"You see. Your father usually buys the potions that Murotsu and I create. It takes science and a bit of magic to create one. He usually buys the water resistant herb because vampires don't do well with water," answered Nazere.
"Before the journey, we will have to prepare you guys by training for combat," said Murotsu.
"Training?" asked Mizore.
"The journey is dangerous so we must train you to prepare for that," said Nazere.
"You can really do that?" asked Tsukune.
"Is it possible that we can skip school and train with you guys?" asked Moka.
"I believe the headmaster would approve since he wants you to stop the rivalry between humans and monsters, Chosen. At this point saving the human and Youkai world from destruction may somewhat be more important than your studies," said Murotsu. "But it's also possible for us to help you with your homework."
"You mean you guys can tutor me in our homework?" asked Kurumu. "I always needed help in my calculus homework."
"Obviously, I was trying to tutor her, desu," said Yukari, in a prideful manner. "But she never listens to my lectures. She even daydreams when I was trying to teach her."
"Hey!"
"Don't worry, Nazere is very intelligent when it comes to science and math," said Hiyata. "He can help all of you understand calculus and knows his science well."
"Yeah, I'd be more than happy to help you," said Nazere.
Nazere and Ruby began to clean the dishes while Tsukune and the rest of the girls began to do their homework. All of them were able to brainstorm and at least write out a rough draft. Murotsu did all the proofreading on their essays and made sure the their thesis statements were good. An hour later, they began to work on their math homework. Nazere was able to tutor them on derivatives, integrals, sequences and much more concepts in Calculus. Kurumu was able to understand the concepts and successfully finished her homework. Night began to fall and they had a fancy dinner. While they were eating, they discussed about their plan for the journey.
"Most likely Mikogami would allow us to go on our journey to rescue Moka's remaining family," said Murotsu.
"When will we do it?" asked Moka, eagerly.
"As soon as possible. Once the headmaster confirms that the Masked King, Gyokuro, and Yuroku had left the keep. That way the keep will be less guarded," he answered.
"That sounded like a good idea," said Tsukune.
"Also," smiled Murotsu. "I will be bringing two other people with us on our training and journey."
"Who are you bringing?" asked Ruby, wanting to know.
"I heard there is a yasha who can summon monsters for battle. He attends the Youkai Academy and owns a panda," he said.
"Are you talking about Fong Fong?" asked Yukari, recognizing whom he is.
"Yes," he answered.
"And who else is coming with us?" asked Mizore in a quiet voice.
"I know just the one," smiled Murotsu. "The pervy wolf boy."
The girls began to giggle for a moment after hearing that name and began to ask each other who he is.
"Um…do you mean Gin-senpai?" asked Kurumu, recognizing by his description.
"Yes," he answered.
"Eh!?" the girls screamed, choking on their tea after they took a sip.
"You can't be serious!" cried Kurumu.
"I'm not going to let that perverted geezer come with us, desu!" shouted Yukari.
"Gin will peek at us when we are changing and would take a photo of us while we spar," complained Moka.
"Calm down everybody. I know that Gin is a pervert but I know he is a fast werewolf whose speed can come in handy during combat," Murotsu said, holding his hands up with an evil grin on his face. "I guess that perv had not changed since I left the academy. I will not let him peek at you. I promise you. He and I will have will have a friendly reunion and a little discussion once I meet him in the Youkai Academy."
The girls had difficulty to let Murotsu bring Gin with them to the journey. But they realized that Murotsu hasn't seen him for a while and didn't have any other choice. Finally, they agreed.
"Then that's settled," concluded Murotsu, tapping the ground with his staff.
To Be Continued…