No Pain, No Gain
Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario Vampire or any part of its franchise. I would also like to thank lord of the land of fire for giving me permission to write this.
This is a sequel to The Unsealed Vampire story by lord of the land of fire and The Unsealed Vampire: Tsukune's Revenge by yours truly.
Another Moka centered chapter for you all. It has been a while and I apologize for that. I don't very much to say at this point, I supposed I'm just too tired to comment extensively.
Okay, maybe I did want to make a quick comment about something after all. I would like to thank you for sticking it out this far despite the Dark Lord issue. I hope that the explanation that comes up will be a suitable one. If it isn't, I suppose I overstepped my boundaries when I gave that to Moka and I am quite sorry about that.
Furthermore, I do realize this is not one of my most stunning chapters, I think I messed up at times but i cannot tell where.
Now that I am done wasting your time with author's notes, let us move on to the main attraction.
Enjoy:
The animals cowered away as they sensed three dangerous predators battling it out in the middle of one of the many forests that littered Paradise's endless landscape of wild habitat and dangerous locations. All of these beasts that now scurried away as far as possible from the carnage belonged to some of the most vicious species of animals known to monsters, yet they acted as no more than harmless prey running from one who had decided to make them their meal. What prompted their instincts to force them to flee in such an undignified fashion was a battle between monsters that these animals had learned to fear, vampires were fighting each other and anything that was somewhat intelligent hurried to make sure it was not caught in the crossfire.
Shock waves could be felt every so often, no doubt the product of a collision between the creatures. Even normal vampires could not be so destructive with their powers. Truth be told, the inhabitants of Paradise would have been unable to distinguish a normal vampire from this lot seeing as how both outmatched them beyond what their primitive senses could discern. However, the difference could be seen in the way their destructive abilities made the confrontation area into something more akin to a war zone than anything else.
Craters and fallen trees laid about, clearings were being created every time the vampires were able to land a punch or kick on their adversary. The resulting blow back from each hit literally blasted away chunks of the now dwindling forest they had decided to use as their battleground. If any human were present at the event, they would have sworn that they could hear a sound much alike mortar fire erupt every time that happened.
Despite what it might sound like, Akasha was merely using her hands and legs to properly train her daughters, no weapons other than fists and feet were being used. They had resisted pretty well so far, an astounding 10 minutes had passed and they were still standing. She was only using a portion of her powers, that is true, but they had come a long way since they began only a few weeks ago. At the beginning, they could hardly stand on their feet after the first minute. Now, they managed to dodge some of her less precise attacks which in and of itself was an accomplishment worthy of many praises.
Not to mention the fortitude living in the wild had given them, they could handle punishment few others could apart from the most well trained among their own kind and some quite powerful individuals from other species as well. They weren't quite able to properly control and exploit their Shinso powers at will but that would come with time and practice. The only way for their powers to mature was to put them through intensive training.
So no praise could be delivered just yet, suffice it they be able to tell the difference for now and not expect congratulations before this whole ordeal was over and done with. She was proud of both her daughters at this point, Omote had had a bit of a tougher start at this seeing as how she had never had the chance nor the will to use her power up until now. In theory, a small portion of her powers could have been used while her seal locked away most of her aura, she would have only been able to maybe push enemies a fair distance away or possibly inflict a moderate blow to a foe and both of those acts would have necessitated a tremendous amount of passion for something or someone to occur but Akasha was quite confident that it would have happened if Moka had kept the seal on when she had met Tsukune. How did she know? She had a hunch, and those hunches were usually right. So as it turns out, a seal cannot completely suppress a vampire's power. In any case, she caught up and gained a fiery passion to boot when it came to training.
Ura was probably to thank for that fighting spirit her alter ego turned sister had developed. Her pushing, teasing and constant reminder that this would make her a better mate for Tsukune really brought out the vampire in her. While she was sealed, her demeanor and attitude mirrored her own to a tee. Unsealed, she kept that sweet demeanor but something about her shifted, it seemed a bit more primal, less restricted, much like Ura. It was no wonder though, give her the same abilities her Inner persona possesses and she is bound to resemble her in her mannerisms, she was Moka after all.
Where did the trait itself originate? She blamed Issa's genes for that part, he always did relish a fight more than he really had to. Of course, as luck would have it, they had also inherited their father's strict code of conduct when in public and his unwavering sense of honor, so Akasha conceded that it wasn't all bad. In fact, if that was the tradeoff they had, she didn't mind it at all. Now if only Akua had taken a little more after her father... Oh well, she could sense that beneath all that hatred and loathing for the human race, there was an honorable if not gentler side to her. Evidence could be found in the way Akua had been addressing her since she returned from her deep slumber within Alucard, nothing but the up most respect with a touch of admiration when they spoke. Most of it was no doubt due to how she protected Moka from Alucard's reach but it seemed it had stuck even after all this time. All this time? It had only been a few years, not even a couple decades. No matter, she somewhat looked up to her in some respects, now if she could only spend enough time with her or find someone that would be around her on a daily basis...
Her train of thought was cut short by a bold move on behalf of Ura's part. Noticing that her mother was deep in thought, she took the opportunity to try and strike a blow. It almost reached it target, but unfortunately for Ura's surprise attack, Akasha's reflexes far surpassed her own speed. The result was near instantaneous, Akasha skillfully dodged her daughter's fist and used before grabbing her arm and using to thrust a kick into Ura's abdomen with the full power of her body backing her move. Milliseconds before the hit struck, she had made sure to let go of her arm so as to avoid ripping it off as a result of the strength of the impact.
Ura therefore went flying into a tree that did little to halt her spectacular aerial voyage, it merely went flying with the silver haired vampire as she crashed into several more trees before finally falling to the ground. As for Omote, she was careful to stay in a defensive stance. Though she may have been slightly more aggressive while unsealed, she was still the overly cautious pink haired angel who disliked starting a fight. As a consequence, she had sustained less injuries than Ura this time around and thus far.
That bit did not matter anymore as Akasha's kick signaled the part both her daughters feared in the confrontation: the time when only one of the two was left standing to face Akasha. She hated the fact that she had to inflict so much pain upon her children but it was only through tough encounters that their powers would grow. Keeping that in mind, she always went that much harder when there was one left. If one was left standing, that meant she could take a little more during this session which prompted her to kick it up a notch.
As you would expect, Omote's fate mimicked her ex-other persona's and sent her into a previously untouched part of the forest that was no longer so intact after it witnessed Omote tearing down a number of trees before finally crashing to the ground. Groans of pain escaped both valiant fighters which was just as much of a good sign as their increased resistance to their mother's attacks, they were still conscious unlike the other training sessions they had had.
As usual, that event signaled the end of training and the beginning, once they were able, of the walk back to the castle. Once they had arrived at the imposing domain of the Dark Lords, Both Mokas went to their respective quarters in order to recuperate, nurse their wounds and sleep for a little while. Akasha usually spent her free time contacting Issa and telling him how their daughters were perfecting their skills.
As for Lord Shuzen, he would bring Akasha up to speed about how the various members of the family were faring as well as what they were doing. Gyokuro would be off in one of the many rooms of the castle waiting for either Akua or Kahlua to bring her news of how Fairy Tale was progressing in its plans, it sounded like her mood had considerably improved thanks to Issa's increased time with her and Akasha's departure, it seemed some habits or grudges indeed died hard. A relative or some vampire from another clan would show up to request an audience with him every so often, leading to an incredibly dull and tedious meeting were the new arrival would kiss up and ask for such or such request on behalf of some person or another. It was to be expected, he was the head of one of the most powerful vampire clans, if not the most powerful, on Earth.
As for Kokoa, she was depressed that she no longer had her sister's company but she was starting to get a bit more involved with her school's activities. What she hadn't told her father was that she didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. She ended up joining a journalist club which demonstrated that she had an independent spirit and thirst for finding and exposing the truth, admirable traits to be certain and quite welcomed by the patriarch of the family. Although he had to admit that the description Kokoa had made of her club president did give him somewhat of a pause, that dog had better be careful about his actions in the future or the world would find itself missing a few werewolves. To be precise, the club president's entire pack would end up with a similar fate to Old Yeller's.
Apart from that, there was nothing noteworthy that Akasha was informed of. She did hope that Moka would be able to join the club Kokoa had just integrated so that they could bond a little more after their return from training in Paradise, it would probably do wonders for Kokoa's mood than to be the first one of her sisters to find out about the changes Moka had just gone through. She could picture it now, Kokoa would be ecstatic at seeing the sister she had grown up with free to walk about as she pleased and no longer be hindered by the seal.
Did Akasha regret putting that seal on? It may have been a harsh move for poor Moka at the time but it had kept her safe until the dangers past and had given her a sort of twin sister, something young Moka kept pestering her about when she was a young girl growing up at the family castle. No, she didn't regret that move at all. In fact, she considered it to have been the greatest thing she ever did for her dear beloved daughter. Correction: daughters.
Just after she had finished talking with her beloved husband, she went about exploring the castle. It was odd, it always felt like it was changing or expanding, probably Tenmei's doing, he always did like to keep things interesting and complicated. Even back in the day when they were still unknown to the general public, it truly had been ages since that time. They sure were the improbable little group: a newly wed vampire in a second rate clan bands together with a newly excommunicated priest and a recluse black arts user turned head of a small mafia family. Those were the good old days of getting into all manners of trouble simply because they were the first to be vocal about their dreams for coexistence. It was a little touch and go for a while but they prevailed in spreading their ideas, it might not have been to the extent they would have hoped for a few centuries ago but that's why they needed to invest in the next generation; those who could move with the authority of the Dark Lords yet appeal to the monster community at the same time.
It was an uncomfortable truth but they had to face it: after taking power and being recognized as the supreme monster authority, the average monster felt disconnected from the people that swore to aid them. So much so that they started falling in increasing numbers for more charismatic figures and populist views such as Gyokuro's. The more they tried to press the monsters for coexistence, the more they shunned the idea at their core. The solution? Step into the shadows and work on shaping society from key positions. Tenmei Mikogami created the most well accredited high school in the monster world dedicated to softening the youth's conceptions about humans for close to a century now, he allowed the students to mostly regulate themselves which wasn't ideal but it would at least permit anyone pro-human tendencies that emerged to not be rejected immediately. Touhou Fuhai kept monster incidents to a minimum thanks to his pull in the underworld, cleaning up messes when they had to be cleaned up. Then came Akasha Bloodriver, ex-keeper of Alucard, now turned trainer for her daughters. Though she also was unofficially charged with keeping an eye on Gyokuro and making sure she didn't get a chance to wrestle back control of Fairy Tale from those that had taken it from her.
Once she made it back to the luxurious throne room, she spotted one of her daughters walking about and observing the architecture of said throne room. Pillars of white stone supported a second floor that went around the edges of the gigantic room and gave it a perfect view of the thrones, the gargantuan black oak doors as well as the center of the throne chamber. In lieu of any windows that could have provided lighting to the room, torches and glowing sphere served to illuminate the entirety of the room and bathed it in a supernatural glow that made it feel somewhat comforting to the vampire. On the wall behind the thrones stood a giant red gem that stretched all the way to the top in an oval shape, it emitted a soft glow that was pleasing to the eyes. It was the same shade of crimson as the gem situated at the center of her rosario, it most probably wasn't a coincidence either.
Even if the way the room was set up was somewhat intriguing in how it resembled Shuzen castle's use of white stone for flooring and decorating, she was mostly killing time until her mother arrived. Indeed, Ura Moka had a few questions for her mother, some things weren't adding up about her situation and she did not like being left in the dark. She would have voiced her inquiries earlier had she not been busy motivating her softer pink haired doppleganger into training harder.
She could somewhat understand how they were able to separate both of them. Up until then, the rosario had fulfilled the purpose of seal and container for a second house that had been spawned, simple to understand so far. Once the new, exact replicate of Moka's body was cloned, it was capable of housing one of those souls and thus eliminated the need for the rosario to serve as a sort of synthetic second body.
No, what was really bothering her concerned the other bit of news she had received since being separated from Omote, it was about her becoming a Dark Lord. It simply didn't make sense, from what she had always been told, Dark Lords weren't named in official ceremonies. In fact, it sounded like it was more of a nickname that stuck rather than an actual title that came with authority. Add to that all the implications that such a promotion mean and it sounded way to good for it not to have several highly dangerous implications.
As soon as her mother had appeared, she started assailing her with questions, what was Akasha to do if not answer each and every one of them? You could commend her for her spartan like training regiment all you wanted , in virtually every other domain concerning her daughters, she was the ultimate lightweight. Incapable of refusing to answer almost if not all of their questions was definitely her greatest weakness, it was a sad Achilles heel to have. She truly had a heart of gold, and Ura had no qualms about using it to her advantage. She was much like Omote in that respect: easy to crack as long as the information requested wasn't perceived as being dangerous to anyone she cared about.
Hence, Ura began her interrogation. "Mother, may I ask you a something." It appeared to be a cordial request made on behalf of an extremely well mannered daughter to her mother on the surface but it was in reality much closer to being a prelude to a battle of willpower between the two. And as soon as their eyes met, Akasha knew she had lost it before it even unofficially started. What a shame, losing to your daughters twice did denote a easily exploitable weak point.
"Of course Moka. What do you want to know?" All that was left was to respond kindly and accept it as fate. Both women were smiling for widely different reasons: Ura Moka couldn't help it, after being beat down so many times, having this sense of victory overwhelm brought out that proud smile she sported so often. Akasha's smile was connoted with an unmistakable twinge of nervousness, she didn't like where this was going. Then again, when did she ever?
"When you came back, you told me that the title of Dark Lord was more of a nickname that was given to you by the people after you defeated Alucard than an actual title. So how can I be named a Dark Lord if it isn't a real title?" The typical expectant expression graced her face as she folded her arms, you could tell she was waiting for a good answer and changing the subject was not a viable option at this point.
Akasha sighed at her daughter's inquiry, she was right on the spot. She supposed explanations were in order. "You're right. The title of Dark Lord was just a nickname." She paused after letting that little confession slip, pondering the best way to explain another one of Mikogami's complicated schemes.
The tapping of her daughter's foot on the stone floor along with the verbal urging for her mother to carry on brought her back to spilling her secrets. "Well?" Impatience was starting to show much more drastically, replacing that look of mild expectation.
"But the power we acquired was real. With time, people started to forget where the name had come from. Now, all they know is the position." Akasha disliked the way she and the other Dark Lords had misled her daughters. In a way, it was a relief to get this out into the open and off her chest. When she thought about it, it would be best if her daughters were informed of this so that they would willingly go along with the plan.
"So you lied to me?" Her anger was starting to flair up, a growl of discontent rose up and her lips receded to reveal her two prominent fangs. Akasha soon started to try and smooth things over, it was what she was known for best apart from her strength.
"No, not really. I wanted to tell you, I did. It's just that..." Now she was breaking fast under the pressure, she was close to crying. An apologetic look met her daughter's face and she admitted to it. "Tenmei thought it would be best to not tell you girls the whole story just yet. The truth is, people don't trust us anymore. Not like they used to." Another sigh escaped the Shuzen clan member as she sat down on her throne and continued her explanation. "Fairy Tale and others have been painting us as out of touch with the monsters of today, that argument gave them considerably more support with the more average monsters. The only way we could counter those claims would be to have someone new hold some of that authority. So I believed you would be the best candidate." That tender look of affection once more reigned supreme on Akasha's features. "You two share my blood, so you could be just as powerful as I am, if not more so. And you're my daughters. I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. Things just sorta happened."
"What about the training?"
"Completely true, your powers need to develop and this is the best way for it to happen."
Something still didn't quite fit in with the lengthy explanation. 'If that were the case, why did you hide it? Why not just tell us straight away?" Her comment was greeted by a sheepish look Ura already had seen on Omote a few times.
"We were afraid you might chicken out." That response actually made Ura make a double take, it was so idiotically simple and insulting to her ego at the same time she felt compared to blurt out something.
"Don't- Don't be ridiculous, mother. You should've known we wouldn't back away." The look of assurance came back and any anger or resentment had been forgotten. Akasha had just subconsciously save herself a death glare from her daughter that most other creatures would have preferred to commit suicide instead of receiving, she was just that intimidating.
A smile and a small nod mixed in with an apology followed soon after Ura's little ego-fixing. Akasha neglected to tell her silver haired offspring that a large part of why they decided to offer them the choice when they did was because they figured they would be so happy about being freed from the seal that they wouldn't ask too many questions. And this was kind of a nice bonding time for her and her kids. In the days of old, when a vampire wanted to bond, they would fight. It was part of their culture, the same reason a marriage proposal and obligation was made in the form of a near fatal confrontation. Akasha and Omote may abhor it all they wanted on the outside, there still was a twinge deep inside of them that made them relish that part just as much as the next vampire.
They spent a few more hours talking and walking around the castle, passing the time in the best way they could think of. Conversations would usually drift off to Tsukune, which was in no way a surprise. What was a surprise was how she often repeated that he reminded her of Issa Shuzen at that age. To tell the truth, they were both quite honorable and they both hated Mikogami with a passion for some reason that was obscure to Akasha. Ura did most of the talking during that little private walk they had, though.
By the time that had ended, Omote was up and about. After a moment to hear her mother's confession, all three left for the forest in the hopes of continuing to train. Sun started to fall as they marched to a previously unscathed region of Paradise. Just as the sun finally disappeared behind a chain of mountains in the Paradise landscape, the sound similar to mortar fire began anew: That part of the forest that was up until then unscathed no longer was and the animals fled the area once again.