EDIT: Mariabella Renaldo has been changed to Mariabella Fox. It's slightly less obvious and therefore works a lot better.

Chapter XV

Master of the Clock Tower

"Master," Slogra entered Death's chamber, Gaibon following closely, "We have a report for you."

"Very well, what news do you have for me?"

"That is a very good question because we cannot be sure of our own findings. However, we believe Camilla Fernandez has been killed."

"That is a lie," Death hissed, "For your own sake, Slogra, I truly hope you do not take m for a fool. I can still feel that she is alive, or have you forgotten that I can sense the lives of all creatures that walk this Earth?"

"None of those, my lord," Slogra answered calmly, "But we know that we have found her lifeless body."

"Have you indeed?"

"The reason we cannot be sure is because of a very bizarre phenomenon. She was not breathing, nor did she have a heartbeat, however, she was still bleeding from her last wound. There was far more blood than should have been possible for any single form of life. It was as if her body was still producing blood even though the rest of it no longer functioned. What's more, her blood was as clear as water, instead of the vampiric black or even the red of human blood. We are unsure what to make of this turn of events, my lord."

"Were there any other oddities about her?"

"Her face was contorted into a look of horror beyond anything I've ever seen, however I would expect that of her considering how she believed herself to be invincible."

"Very strange," Death mused, "I am as ignorant of what could have happened as you are."

"My deepest apologies, master, but that sounds very abnormal."

"The abnormality of this situation may not be the worst of it," Death muttered in a very uncharacteristically worried tone, "This disturbing phenomenon requires further investigation, and soon. This could be more dangerous than any of us realize."

The group returned to the ruined gallery, having decided to ascend the tower. Considering what Camilla had said about the gallery being at the base of the tower, Jonathan had decided that the best place to look for the entrance to the many upper levels had to be where they had just arrived.

"So you're sure that the entrance isn't somewhere in the library? Or any area above that?" Loretta asked.

"I'm really not sure," Charlotte confessed. She turned her head to talk to Jonathan "I mean, you may not look it, but I've found that you know what you're doing even when you're in unfamiliar territory. I trust his instincts. Even so that's all he's really got going for him."

"Hey!" Jonathan whined, giving Charlotte his 'kicked puppy look,' "I'm a lot smarter than you give me credit for."

"Come on, Jonathan. You know I'm joking."

"Yes I know, but that doesn't change the fact that it still bothers me," he grumbled before taking a deep breath. He stopped walking for a moment so that he could answer Loretta's question: "I'm not sure that there isn't an entrance to the tower somewhere else, I just feel that it's particularly likely that we'll find an entrance here. All we have to do is find some stairs going up."

"I suppose that's true," Loretta agreed.

"I admit that I could be wrong. I might just lead us into some random nook or cranny in this castle that has something interesting in it but is otherwise a dead end. That's why it's important to explore this place thoroughly. Now, I'll just stop talking and we can be on our way."

"Nope! Not without me!" a voice called out from another hallway.

Jonathan immediately brandished his Undead Killer whip. "Who's there?"

"Relax, it's just me!" came the voice as a familiar winged figure with blood red hair drifted around a nearby corner.

"Oh, its you…uhhh…" Jonathan tried in vain to remember the demon girl's name, but nothing came to mind, "Dang it! And I was just telling them that I'm smarter than they give me credit for!"

"It's Scarlet. Nice to see you again my good buffoon."

Jonathan groaned.

"Oh yeah!" Charlotte cried out as she remembered what Scarlet had been doing while she had been gone, "So, did you find anything about Orlok's whereabouts?"

"Yes, for a matter of fact, I have."

"Then where is he? He has to die! Horribly! In a way completely lacking in general human decency!"

"Eeeehehahahaha!" Scarlet cackled diabolically, noticing Charlotte's expression out of the corner of her eye, "Don't do an evil laugh. You'll suck at it. By the way, your tits aren't perky enough for you to pull off the corset look."

"Jonathan finds it cute," Charlotte hissed in a hushed tone, "That's all that matters."

"He'll chase anything with boobs and a skirt," Scarlet hissed back, "Astarte told me everything."

"Ast—Where is she! I'll slaughter that heathen ancient Egyptian slut!"

"I'd tell you, but we're gossip buddies. We tell each other everything about the guys we've scored."

"She's a soulless whore, and if you're friends with her so are you!"

"Oh, thank you. Haven't gotten a compliment in ages. It's nice to know I'm doing my job right."

"Goddamn demon…"

"And with a seat reserved in hell. Anyway, I can't get back to doing that job unless I take you to find Orlok, so let's go."

"…Fine," Charlotte conceded.

"Okay, anyway, the buffoon ("Hey!") actually happens to be right. The door leading to the tower actually is up here. Orlok's quarters are on the other side of the tower though, and to get to them you'll need to scale it. I also noticed that there were signs of a demon living in the chamber behind the clock, so you'll want to be prepared once we reach the top."

"I think we can cross that bridge when we come to it," Jonathan assured, "Let's get moving."

They all moved to continue on their way. Alucard on the other hand didn't budge. "I do not cooperate with succubi."

"And why would that be, pretty boy?" Scarlet asked, doing her best to be seductive, ultimately failing when she wretched at the sight of Orlok's face projected on Alucard's body, "Stupid curse… actually, don't tell me, I should know this…"

Scarlet was silent for a few minutes as they stood there, waiting for Alucard to follow. Suddenly, the succubus snapped her fingers above her head triumphantly, "I got it! It's actually family history. My aunt Felicia supposedly disappeared without a trace a little over a hundred years ago. We found out what happened when we read through her personal diary. Her last entry stated that she planned on trying to turn the Dark Lord's son back to the darkness by impersonating his mother and trying to warp his memory of her final moments. Since they never found her body, I take it that she tried the twisted dream approach and was killed there?"

Alucard eyed Scarlet warily, "That is correct. She deserved much worse."

"She wasn't the brightest bulb, I've been told that much, but she was actually dumb enough to risk provoking the son of Dracula? That's just something that should be in a comedy sketch."

Alucard seemed to bristle like an angry cat, though he kept his voice icily calm.

"You think desecrating the last memory of my mother is amusing?"

"No! Not at all! That'd be like signing a death contract. I like desecrating things, but I'm smarter than that. I can see why you look up to her, although if I spent any extended period of time around her, I'm sure that I'd end up killing myself. From what I've been told of Dracula's wife, she was said to have been unparalleled in her kindness and understanding. I'd probably suffocate. Too many positive emotions and all that."

"I would recommend that you cease your insolent chatter before I remove the head that it comes from," Alucard warned, his features darkening.

"I do have to respect her for one thing though: She was utterly fearless. Even as she was looking death in the face she was able to stay calm enough to talk to you. And what she said was so sweet that it's nauseating. 'Don't blame my killers?' It's like she was an angel. I'll stop now."

"A wise choice," the dhampir hissed venomously.

"Look, she was a great person from a human standing point, it's just that she represents almost everything demons like me stand against. Don't make me apologize. My sisters would never let me hear the end of it."

Alucard was silent for a moment.

"Fine," he spat, "I'll follow you. If you try anything, your head will be mounted on a pike outside my tomb."

"I know that you want to discourage visitors anyway, so I'll never let that happen."

She wasn't given the dignity of a response.

"Okay, okay! Let's just go already!"

A few minutes later, they had found the tower entrance and were all making the arduous climb towards its pinnacle.

Maria seemed to have gained new instincts along with her predecessor's memories. She nearly slipped off of several moving platforms, but each time she managed to catch herself before she fell. Jonathan was fairly impressed by her abilities, though for the sake of his pride he stayed silent: She was two levels above him after all. Though he may have been impressed, she on the other hand was growing annoyed and sweaty. Why did there have to be such little room between gears? If the spaces were wider, she'd be able to carry everyone to the top in minutes on her dragon. Instead she was stuck scrambling on gears—and so were the rest of them, but that seemed more of an afterthought.

Scarlet was keeping her wings tucked close to her back for the most part. She seemed very frightened of getting them damaged and was therefore choosing not to fly. One of them happened to brush against one of the gears protruding from the wall and she shrieked in terror, earning several annoyed glances, as well as causing Jonathan to stumble and fall flat on his face on a horizontal gear that was slowly but steadily rotating in the middle of the room.

"I'm okay! He called up dizzily. His vision was rotating quickly to the right while the gear was slowly turning left. This only made him nauseous in addition to his dizziness. He decided it would be safer for him if he just lay there for a bit, Charlotte climbed down to check on him and moved his arm so that he could grasp the gear's axle when he was ready to get up.

Alucard was just below them and seemed to be having difficulty. In truth, he just wanted to distance himself from Scarlet. He was forced to pick up the pace when someone realized that he was faking.

"Hey! Alucard! What are you doing all the way down there?" Maria shouted down several levels, "I think I only know this from my 'other' memories, but if her thoughts are anything to go by, you should be leaving us in the dust, I've seen you jump into the second story window of a tall manor house from the ground!"

He sighed inaudibly and resigned himself to the necessity of keeping up with the rest of the group. Following Stella and Loretta, who had been making a team effort to ascend the tower, and had just passed Jonathan's temporarily prone form.

They had all made it into another chamber when the things they were all expecting decided to show up. They let out a collective groan.

"I hate medusa heads," Jonathan growled, staring hatefully at the disembodied-head-monsters.

"And I hate clock towers," Charlotte followed up.

"I hate your wholesomeness, but we'll all just have to move on, so please stop complaining!" Scarlet, who had ignored the creatures and had been in the process of pulling herself up onto a small ledge, had barely finished voicing her grievance when a medusa head flew into her, smacking her in the face and turning her to stone. She toppled noisily to the floor, landing on her back in an awkward position.

"Mrr tmmph rmmm!" she began before breaking out of her stone prison and continuing as though she hadn't even been incomprehensible moments earlier, "to mess with a succubus!" Scarlet leaped into the air and drew her wings around her body, hovering in the air for a moment before spreading them out dramatically, arms raised at her sides.

"Bloodstorm!"

The unfamiliar spell's effect was exactly what they were all expecting and fearing it to be, blood raining down in unspeakable torrents. The hunters immediately sought shelter under a rotating gear. Alucard on the other hand seemed to disappear into the bloody mist being sprayed up as the sheets of blood hit the floor.

The group was rather apprehensive about the obviously vampiric magic, but they noticed to their immense relief—or in Stella and Jonathan's cases, slightly maniacal joy—that the medusa heads were dying en mass, falling to the floor and turning to small piles of dust that were immediately saturated with blood.

As the bloody downpour stopped Scarlet ushered them forward towards on of the ledges.

"Hurry, those creepers could be back any second! Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!"

"We're moving, sheesh! Seriously, chill out, hot stuff," Jonathan chuckled at his own joke, and much to his surprise, was joined by Stella, Maria and most shockingly, Charlotte. "I am just on a roll today, aren't I?" he said as a very smug look plastered itself to his face. It had no intention of coming off for the next twelve hours, which unfortunately, was reduced by two units of time measurement and then divided by four:

Three seconds later, Scarlet responded.

"I'd cool off," she began in a very arousing sultry tone, "but there's just no way that a eunuch like you could ever hope to heat me back up again."

"Wow…I know some really clever scumbags, but none of them has ever made a comeback that even comes close to that!" Stella remarked, "Can I use that the next time a persistent jerk hits on me?"

"Go ahead. It's yours," Scarlet winked, hopping onto another ledge, "I, Scarlet, hereby bestow this bountiful snarky remark to thee, Stella Lecarde, that you might use it to tear through the self respect of insecure men more effectively than a Jewish mother and destroy their confidence more quickly than a beating from a girl. Use it without discretion and without restraint."

Stella smirked up at the succubus, "I'm not going to lie; that sounded like what I imagine an unholy knighting ceremony would sound like. Also why did you use my last name but not yours?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know what my last name is. You'd end up spending over an hour coming to grips with how blatantly sexual it sounds. That's an hour that we just don't have. Naturally, I treasure every one of its four syllables."

Through this whole exchange Jonathan began to worry that his right eye might have developed a very unattractive twitch. He was quite relieved when it stopped, albeit a whole minute-and-a-half later.

They had already managed to climb to the highest point in the chamber by the time the medusa heads returned. A few of them tried to follow them into the next room and were greeted by a heavy door being swung closed just in time for them to be sent flying like a round of baseballs during batting practice.

Charlotte and Jonathan looked up at the room in relief, but their shared feeling of respite died only moments after it was born to be replaced by overwhelming bewilderment.

"Woah," Jonathan gasped as he stared up at a room that had to be alive, based solely on the fact that there was nothing in the room that wasn't moving. Gears turned in place everywhere, pulleys raised and lowered maintenance platforms and turned conveyer belts, even the walls were changing position, moving outwards to push any thing that might get jammed between gear teeth.

"How are we supposed to get up to the top?" Maria asked, her mouth agape.

"It's actually easier than it looks." Scarlet replied. You just have to look around and find the route that allows passage to the top. I didn't fly through this place, as you already know, so if I can do it while trying to avoid letting my wings touch anything mechanical, you guys shouldn't have a problem."

"You're kidding right?" Charlotte demanded incredulously, "This room cannot be scaled! It's a physical impossibility!"

"That's right, that much is obvious," Scarlet grinned, "and speaking of obvious, can you see that window up there? Its right by that small stationary area near the ceiling."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well," the succubus drawled, the corners of her mouth tilting up mischievously, "You see that other window? The one a few feet away from us to your left with the balcony?"

Any remaining pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in Charlotte's mind, and judging by the facial expressions of her companions, they had figured out what Scarlet's plan was too.

"Please, tell me you're joking," Loretta gasped, "That's insanity!"

"Sure it is," Scarlet replied, "because there are totally no hidden staircases on the outside of the tower that are almost completely safe to walk on and have only a few steps missing."

"Okay, let me see!" Stella demanded, pushing the others out of her way as she stormed over to the window.

"Who was stopping her?" Maria said sarcastically, quickly regaining her balance after being shoved aside.

"Wow; there really is a secret staircase! Go figure."

"You should really see a psychiatrist about your temper," Maria grumbled.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Stella hissed icily.

"Suit yourself."

They all approached the window and one by one set out up the tower stairs. There was no railing and as Scarlet had observed, there were a couple of steps missing, but they weren't particularly narrow either. All in all, they appeared to be relatively safe. That thought had just crossed Stella's mind when she heard a sound like crunching gravel a few feet behind her. She leaped up the next several stairs before whirling around to see what was happening. It seemed like the rest of them had taken similar courses of action, but other than that, their situation wasn't looking any different. And then the stairs beneath Alucard and Jonathan as well as all the ones behind them crumbled.

Charlotte and Maria both shrieked and would have succumbed to panic if Alucard hadn't reacted as quickly as he was able. Jonathan was in freefall, but the dhampir seemed to be in complete control of the situation. Alucard observed how fortunate it was that they had climbed such a good distance or he would only have been able to save himself. Transforming into his giant bat form, he tucked his wings close to his body and dived, managing to get beneath Jonathan in a matter of seconds. He regretted this unfortunate turn of events considering he'd be feeling the impact on his back for several hours, but was pleased that Jonathan was no longer tumbling to a very sticky demise splattered on a roof of his father's castle. He did his best to ascend quickly with the extra weight on his back, and Jonathan wasn't helping too much either by scrambling to get a grip on his fur, but he managed to reach the stairs before Jonathan accidentally fell off.

"You're more slippery than an oily weasel, Morris," Alucard said scornfully as he morphed back into his 'human' form, "You're lucky I managed to keep from dropping you with all of your struggling."

"Well I apologize for panicking when the situation called for it," Jonathan grumbled sarcastically, if not very shakily.

"I do not blame you for panicking. It is a base human instinct; I simply believe you could have tried harder to regain control once I had caught you."

"Well, thanks anyway," Jonathan mumbled, "If it weren't for your quick thinking, I'd probably look like one of the victims of my fly swatter back home–when did we climb so high? I've only counted, like, two or three rooms so far."

"Well, they were very tall rooms," Loretta observed, climbing through the upper window after her sister.

"Yeah, but I'm st—err—whatever, I must not have been paying much attention to the distance considering how much focus it took just to keep my bearings with all the gears and moving platforms."

"There's only one more area to traverse before we get to the top of the tower," Scarlet warned, "be sure you're ready. Don't forget; there's something living up there."

"We've got it," Charlotte assured her.

"Wasn't asking for your opinion, miss ironing board."

"If you just implied that I'm flat, I swear you've got ten seconds to fly away before I burn you to a crisp."

"Good luck with that, and that's for trying to insult my gossip buddy. I'll see you later."

Scarlet hopped out the window and flew towards another tower in the castle. Unfortunately for her, Charlotte could still see her by the time ten seconds was up.

"Explosion!"

"Aiiiiieee!" came a cry from outside the tower, "That's cheating!"

"Nope! You just underestimated me!"

"I'll screw you over one of these days! Ow!" Scarlet shouted back as she slammed into the roofs below.

"Maybe, but round one goes to Charlotte!" the young witch shouted from her perch on the balcony, watching with amusement as Scarlet painfully stood back up.

"I challenge you…to a duel!…" she stumbled, shaking ashes off of her wings, "Just as soon…as I…peel off all the dead skin!"

"I look forward to winning!" Charlotte didn't wait for the succubus to respond before climbing through the window.

"Hey, Jonathan," she looked up a her fellow hunter shyly, "you don't think I'm flat…do you?"

Jonathan felt his ears burn up and could imagine that he had just developed the complexion of a ripe tomato.

"You can look."

Her permission wasn't helping very much.

"You have a positively voluptuous figure and the corset actually looks really sexy on you," Jonathan stammered, "Uhh, I gotta go," he ran off, red in the face.

She grinned, feeling extremely pleased with herself and just a tiny bit relieved that the demon really was lying. 'He is so cute when he blushes like that,' she thought.

She got a slightly mischievous idea and put it into action before following him along with the rest of the group, making sure to lag behind him just enough for him to notice.

Jonathan was just checking up on her progress when he noticed it. He could see a lot more of her breasts than he could before. Maybe he was imagining it…

Wait…no he wasn't imagining it. He could practically see the parts that were especially taboo, and the uncomfortable bulge in his pants wasn't doing anything to help disprove that.

'Did she undo the top laces on her corset!' he thought, choking a little, 'What the hell is with her lately?'

He hurriedly jumped onto a moving platform and with the images still fresh in his mind, he lost his focus and misjudged the distance between himself and the platform. He ended up crashing into it and having it knock the wind out of him. He fell a few feet before being spun off of a quickly rotating gear, bouncing off a stone wall, and landing hard on the floor.

"Jonathan! Are you alright?" Charlotte called down worriedly, beginning to backtrack.

"No need to come down," he groaned, "I'll be fine."

Slowly he got back up and used a potion on himself, before completing the arduous journey to the pinnacle.

As they entered the clock chamber, everyone in their group felt the presence of something else watching them. It was ominous, though they didn't feel particularly threatened yet.

"Who art thou who wouldst disturb me in my own sanctuary," boomed a dramatic voice, echoing around the chamber.

Jonathan replied intelligently with a similar question: "Who just said that?"

Charlotte dragged a hand over her face.

The air in front of them grew distorted and moments later they all stood in the gaze of a flying armor knight like none they had ever seen. His armor was deep crimson instead of the usual silver, and his cape looked like the night sky itself. He carried two swords, or rather, he had two huge bronze swords floating on either side of him.

I rarely get visitors. It matters not what hath brought thee to this place. All who enter my domain must die in combat against me. You may call me by the name Geist. Remember it well, for it is the last you will ever hear."

"You're pretty confident in your abilities aren't you? What happens if we don't feel like being killed?" Jonathan glared at the floating warrior.

"Should that be the case, thou must fight back. I have not met a worthy opponent in some time, so try to make this last."

"And if we beat you?" Jonathan demanded.

"You needn't ask that question, as there is no chance of victory for any of you. Now die!" that said, Geist crossed his arms over his chest and both of swords shot forward, forcing Stella and Jonathan to dive out of the way to avoid being impaled.

Jonathan smirked, hefting up the Balmung. "You don't even need to make an effort to swing those things around, do you? Well, I guess I'll just have to cut you until you can't even think."

He took a swipe at the demonic fighter with the dragon slaying sword just as Alucard rushed up with Ascalon.

"That shall be enough interference from outsiders, thank you," Geist hissed darkly. Unfolding his arms, he spread them out to his sides and raised them above his head, summoning a barrier separating Jonathan, Stella and Alucard from the rest of their group.

Unfortunately, this also left him open as Alucard brought the heavy blade of the Ascalon down on top of him. He dashed backwards out of the range of the huge sword and brought his swords in, to his sides, spinning them like saw blades. Stella was immediately sent flying before she could so much as land a hit. Jonathan was forced to move into the defensive in order not to get sliced into pieces. He barely avoid being cut in half lengthwise as the two deadly swords stopped spinning and slammed down on top of the space where he had stood moments earlier. Geist continued pursuing him, sending both blades flying horizontally in opposite directions nearly cutting him in half again at the waist.

He was only forced to stop attacking when Stella recovered, approaching him from behind and wielding Kaladbolg in a reverse grip. She spun around and jammed both of her swords into his armor. Kaladbolg went in first and then she followed up by stabbing him with Burtgang. Despite the weight of the armor, she managed to toss Geist into a wall.

"Why you…" he growled. He quickly put his swords into an orbit around himself and flew forwards, slashing Stella and tossing Alucard aside. Once again however he was left open, this time from above. Jonathan came down fast and struck him downside the head, causing Geist's swords to fall out of their orbit, which in turn gave Alucard the opportunity to hack at him with a combination strike from the Ascalon. Unfortunately, the demonic knight managed to counter the strike more than effectively. Both swords twirled in a deadly upwards spiral, hooking themselves around Ascalon's blades and knocking it out of Alucard's hands. He watched in bewilderment as the great dragon slaying sword was carried out of his hands and thrown through the glass of the clock face. Alucard didn't miss a beat, much to Geist's disappointment, drawing the famous Alucard Sword and leaped backwards.

"Hellfire!" he shouted as he landed. Alucard disappeared in a beam in light. Geist looked around for the powerful son of Dracula, distracted by the name of one of the lord of the castle's more famous abilities.

This proved to be a mistake as both Stella and Jonathan hopped up in front of him and slashed at him with their swords. There was a noise like a thunderclap behind him and he raised his swords in front of him too late to block the three fireballs shooting towards him. Alucard stood behind him, lowering his cape.

"Thou art indeed powerful," Geist bellowed, "However, thou art not nearly prepared for my true abilities."

"Wanna bet?" Stella, grinned confidently, she disappeared momentarily reappearing right in front of him.

"Secret Strike! Furious Wave!"

The slash was followed up by a buffeting gale-force wind that actually knocked the demon through the glass clock.

"I think I've perfected it," Stella chuckled darkly.

"Thou shalt die first!" Geist crossed his arms and put his swords into a furious orbit around himself, his swords spun around him in a terrifying pattern like electrons circling an atom's nucleus. He shot forwards, barreling through Jonathan in the process of going after Stella. However she disappeared from sight before the twirling blades so much as grazed her.

"Secret Strike: Ars Arcanum!"

Stella reappeared beside Geist and slashed at him before seeming to disappear again reappearing on his other side. She kept repeating this process at different angles for a total of thirteen slashes in the course of the same number of seconds.

Geist collapsed, falling to the ground. He had barely managed to get up before both Alucard and Jonathan impaled him on their swords.

There was a sound like someone coughing up blood, though the armor remained unchanged.

"How…how couldst a band of humans and a half-breed…have defeated me?"

"Because we're professionals," Jonathan grinned. He gave Alucard a glance and they both pulled their swords out of the demonic knight's back, pulling Geist's dying body with them ever so slightly.

"Perhaps I was overconfident… Nevertheless…thy victory was fair and just… Thou may passeth beyond this point. Thou were…a most worthy challenge," Geist coughed out. As he spoke, a faint breeze made itself known through the holes in the clock.

"Thanks, I guess, although we weren't really asking your permission to leave," Stella responded."

"Girl… Thou wieldst thine…blades with…a mastery I hath never encountered… Once you pass through this tower…thou shall find a pair of most legendary blades…hidden beyond a wall…emblazoned with a symbol of great fortune… They once belonged to a tempestuous warrior…most like thyself… Take them… They shall turn the winds of luck…in thy favor…"

"Really?" Stella mused. A look of determination came over her and she knelt down to eye level with the fallen warrior. "Well then, thank you Geist. You were a powerful opponent. You fought will honor and passion that I've never seen before either. I hope you find peace someday."

She waited, wondering if the demonic knight would respond. However, the barrier separating them from their friends faded, as did the flying armor lord's life and armor encased body. Even as she stood back up to greet her companions, she could have sworn that she heard a voice upon the wind.

"Farewell…"

Author's Note: I liked the Flying Armor boss at the beginning of Dawn of Sorrow, so I decided I'd need to have one in my story. Anyway, this was originally going to be two chapters, but I felt that they would be too short on their own, and considering how long I made you wait for Chapter 14, that just wouldn't be right. In any case, I really hope that this lived up to your standards. I also hope that I can get a new keyboard soon, considering that my 'E' key has broken and every time I need to use an 'e,' it bugs up and I need to press it several times. As fellow writers, you must realize that it is the single most frequently used letter in the English language, even more than 'S.' It's been a real pain. But enough about my problems. By now you've probably noticed that I've been borrowing attacks from other games. Is this irritating anyone? Because if it is, I'm all for going back and changing stuff. However, despite Ars Arcanum being from Kingdom Hearts, there is a reason that I used it: Ars Arcanum loosely translates into 'secret strike,' which as you know by now, is one of Stella's attacks from Portrait of Ruin. Thank you Sound Test for revealing her attack names. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you for reading. Please review, and have a nice day/evening.