A/N: Yeah… I shamelessly stole the name "Guardians of the Veil" for this. It needn't be said, but I have no ownership of the World of Darkness, Campione!, or Negima.
As a side note, I have actually written the first five chapters of this already. All I've been doing is procrastinating and editing.
Anya woke in a hospital. Thomas Kneip and Nekane Springfield were sitting at her bedside.
Kneip spoke first. "Good morning, your highness."
"'Your highness?'" Anya was very confused and quite tired.
"Yes, you've slain Bellona, the goddess of war. You've become a mage queen."
"Mage…queen…?" Anya was still sleepy.
"I'm so sorry, Anya. You'll be in so much danger now…" Nekane looked incredibly sad.
"In…danger?" The young mage tried to sit up, and was surprised at how easy it was. Having been that tired, she expected to feel pain. She rubbed her face tiredly and froze. Her hands. There were burn scars on the palms and sides. It seemed to be from using Mars' Shield and rejecting the goddess's spear. She didn't like the look of the muscles pressing against tight damaged skin. It looked like whatever had caused her to heal wasn't convenient enough to get rid of scars. She needed some gloves to hide the scars. She could already imagine looks of disgust from passersby should she leave them uncovered.
"Your highness, as a mage queen, a Campione, you're bound by fate to fight the gods when they appear." Kneip was speaking humbly, as opposed to the almost grandfatherly tone he'd taken with her previously. It brought her attention from her hands to the situation.
Anya closed her eyes and immediately objects began to flow through her mind. The regalia: Armor, Sword, Torch, and Spear. Connected to each object except the armor was a spell.
The door to the room opened.
Anya's eyes snapped open and she saw the headmaster of the Merdiana Magic Academy, her school. "Hello, Anya. I must congratulate you on your accomplishment. You saved London by defeating that goddess."
"T-Thank you, headmaster."
"I have come to ask you what you wish to do with your continuing education. As a Campione, you will come across different gods and be driven to defeat them, which isn't really conducive to being a fortuneteller. Moreover, it would be best for you to undertake more training to act in this role."
Kneip spoke up. "Well, if you'd like, my organization can train you in combat. It might not be enough to suddenly kill more gods, but it should be enough to defend yourself even without using Authorities."
Nekane looked at him closely. "Your organization?"
The middle-aged mage looked embarrassed at her scrutiny. "Yes, while we aren't magister magi, we work to protect normal people and conceal the existence of magic. We are the Guardians of the Veil, grandiose as it sounds. Our work is mainly covert operations."
The headmaster looked pensive before he spoke. "That may be a good idea. The Authorities wielded by god slayers tend to be difficult to conceal."
Nekane frowned, but didn't say anything.
"If you think that's a good idea, headmaster, I have been looking for a new teacher." At this point Anya was fully awake and found herself surprisingly energetic.
"Well, it seems fine, then." The headmaster smiled.
"Then, if it pleases you, we will begin your training right away," Thomas Kneip was still being deferential.
"U-um, it's fine to call me Anya, Mr. Kneip. Suddenly treating me like royalty is a little much."
"Alright then." The man smiled kindly. "Please call me Tom."
Anya jolted in realization. "Tom, what happened to the boy that got cut open?!"
Nekane and the headmaster looked confused. "Boy?"
"Ah, all of the present agents worked together to heal him and he made it. He'll need a lot of physical therapy, but he should be able to work again." This time Tom's smile was irrepressibly happy.
Anya smiled with relief.
Anya left the hospital with Tom and the headmaster, who went with them just to make sure that Anya would be safe. They went into a large apartment complex, which turned out to have been completely converted into a office building and laboratory. Tom led them down to the basement.
As he opened the door, Tom turned to them. "This is the training floor." The door led to a staircase that went down into a large cavern that was designed like a roman coliseum. He turned to Anya. "This is where you'll be training while you're with us. The rooms are upstairs for boarding, though you can stay in your current lodgings, should you choose to do so."
Anya nodded. "Thank you, but I think I'll stay where I am."
"Alright, shall we start your training tomorrow?"
Anya nodded.
Tom handed her a set of keys. "Please feel free to enter our facility at any time."
Anya was still energetic from not doing much during the day and spent the evening studying Bellona, the goddess that she'd killed. It felt necessary, if only because the goddess seemed to be the type to reappear somehow and want a rematch. It was odd, how alright she was with having killed her.
The god slayer returned to the Guardians of the Veil the next morning and went to the training floor. On her way down, she ran into Tom.
The middle-aged man nodded at her. "I take it you're ready to start training?"
Anya nodded. "Yes."
The two mages reached the actual training floor and stood apart.
"So," Tom spoke to the younger mage, "Can you tell me about your Authorities?"
Anya opened her mouth to speak.
"Oh. Don't tell me about their conditions or weaknesses, but just what they are. It wouldn't be good if someone were able to use my knowledge against you."
The eighth Campione nodded. "Okay. My Authority is the [Regalia of the War Goddess]. I have the sword, armor, spear, and torch."
"Th-that many Authorities?"
"Oh, no. It's all one authority. I can use any of those objects that belong to Bellona. Actually, it would be better to call it a set of spells."
"I see." Tom was calm once again. "I should probably tell you about the basic abilities of the Campione, since you haven't had the chance to learn of them."
Anya was focused on learning at this point and merely nodded.
"Alright. Those who kill gods usurp their powers. They have unparalleled magic capacity and resistance. Any spell that is lower than on the level of the gods, or world transfer won't really affect you. You also probably got stronger and faster after that as well. Lastly, your fighting instincts should have improved as well."
"All of that? So that's why I didn't feel tired after the fight. Anyway, can you tell me about Bellona? Why was she in London? Why did she have Mars' shield?"
He looked a bit pensive. "The Roman goddess of war was a heretic goddess. Heretic gods are deities that have stepped out of the realm of myths for some purpose. Most mages aren't taught of them until they've finished basic training and therefore aren't taught of the Campione. That aside, she wanted to continue the work of her people and conquer and devour the rest of the gods. To do that, she took in the shield of Mars to absorb his power. However, because the Guardians of the Veil had a fragment of the shield, she was greatly damaged by trying to use the only part of it. She then found you after I accidentally left the fragment with you, for which I have no excuse." After saying all of this Thomas Kneip looked her in the eyes apologetically. "I even asked you to make use of the shield, which tore apart your body from the inside. If you hadn't become a Campione, then you would have died. For all of this, I apologize." He lowered his head.
Anya frowned for a bit before smiling confidently. "It's fine! Anyway, what're we doing for training?"
"I'll summon sylphs into the arena and you just need to defeat them. They won't be able to damage you, but you should get the hang of using your power, hopefully."
"Okay."
"Ultima Ratio Regum. I summon 34 sylphs, swordswomen of wind." A strong wind blew around the two mages and 34 spectral women appeared, wielding broad swords. "Defeat the enemy before you." The spirits rushed forward.
Seized by strong instinct, Anya dodged the blows of the spirits with surprising ease. After the fifth spirit's attack, Anya threw a punch, which exploded violently, sending the spirit flying. She felt one of the blades press against her skin, but was surprised when it slid across her skin without causing any damage. So, this was the magic resistance of a Campione.
There were enemies before her, so she activated her Authority, [Regalia of the War Goddess]. She already knew that she could only draw the weapons and tools within it through their spell words. She drew the sword. "I follow the divine rule of just war and revel in it. In this sign I fight!" A bronze gladius appeared in her right hand.
The next spirit charged, swinging her blade. To Anya it seemed to be moving slowly enough that she blocked the strike and cut off her arms. The next swing of the goddess's blade cut the spirit in half. The sword's nature was such that it was a divine weapon made of massive magic power. It could cut through most things, even the flesh of the gods.
The next sylph leapt down, trying to cut the god slayer in half. Anya realized that her sword was superior and cut through the spirit's sword before following it up with a cut through one shoulder to the opposite hip, making the spirit disappear. Another spirit came up behind her, but Anya felt it coming and kicked backward, letting flames explode, making that spirit vanish as well.
Tom called out over the sound of combat. "You're holding back, are you not? Go ahead and use more magic power."
Anya nodded and let more magic flow into her next punch. A surprised sylph was hit by a burst of flame that covered fifty square feet. The flames swallowed most of the remaining spirits and made an explosion that echoed loudly. The attack left a heat haze and a fast flow of cool air as the atmosphere balanced. Next, she tried to use an actual spell. "Fortis la tius lilith lilioth. Stoke the flames and raise the furnace's output! Flames of Vulcanus burn bright and become my sword! Sword of the Forging God!"
The spirits had been keeping their distance, and it gave the young mage enough time to create a sword of fire magic and wield it in her left hand. Instead of the normal crippling drain of the spell, she felt perfectly fine, as if she hadn't strained herself at all. Maintaining the sword was no issue.
The last of the spirits attacked the newest Campione. There were rapid flashes of crimson flame and metallic bronze. Anya found herself enjoying the combat, every defensive and offensive movement completely absorbing her attention until there were no more opponents. With the lack of enemies, [Regalia of the War Goddess] deactivated, leaving only the Sword of the Forging God spell resting in her left hand. She let that spell vanish and stood on the training floor, surrounded by smoky ground.
Thomas Kneip applauded his new student. "Well done. I am surprised that you only used one of your abilities."
"Well, the others wouldn't make sense down here. The spear would probably wipe out this building."
"Hm, that's the expected level of power for a Campione. At any rate, you could use some improvement in using a sword and moving in a fight."
"O-okay." Anya knew to take his advice seriously. Since the older mage was more experienced in fighting, she thought that she should make as much of the experience as she could.
"First we'll work on hand to hand combat and spell work. Afterwards we'll do some weapons training. Is that alright with you? You'll need to be as skilled as possible if you want to defend yourself from heretic gods."
The mage queen nodded.
The older mage, it seemed focused more on covert spells and fighting than the magic artillery style that he claimed was more the norm. He taught the younger mage proper hand to hand combat:
"This is one of the most important things to know about fighting. Do not directly take an attack."
"What do you mean?"
"If you can dodge or deflect an attack instead of blocking it, you will take less of the force, which lets you fight longer."
Through this lesson, he taught the girl to parry and deflect attacks with her palms, forearms, and legs. He also taught her how to maintain and move with a basic kickboxing stance. Unfortunately, he wasn't any good at using melee weapons and did not teach her about wielding a sword. They were mere basics, but they helped fix the mistakes she made while training herself.
"Alright. We will end today's training with more fighting against the sylphs. This time you cannot use magic.
"Okay." Anya was determined, and it showed in her eyes.
Accepting that determination, Tom once again summoned 34 wind spirits. They swung swords at the young mage.
She focused and put her training to use, surprised that she'd learned the movements well already.
Anya bade her new teacher farewell and decided to visit the petrified villagers from her hometown. The headmaster had them moved to a room in the school, so she wanted to see them all.
The headmaster let her into the room easily, as she had a right to be there.
Anya slowly walked into the silent room. She walked around it quietly, looking at each of the men and women until she came to the one that was most important to her. She couldn't help but feel the tension and pressure from all of the sudden changes leak out as she started cleaning it, wiping off the bit of dust that had settled. "M-Mother, I.." She hugged the woman-turned-statue. "I had a weird few days. I killed a goddess. I should feel bad about killing anyone, but I don't. I don't know why I don't. I've been told that I'm a queen of mages now, but even that doesn't help anyone here. I miss you and I just…"
The headmaster saw the small girl, who had earned the title of queen, silently crying in her mother's arms. It was sad for everyone present: The girl who could only go to a statue for familial affection, the woman who couldn't even be aware of her own child's pain, and himself who didn't know what to do to help.
The eighth Campione didn't return home for some time.