Training and Dimensional Swords for Dummies
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.
As it turns out, if I plan on getting to the end of this story before the month is out, I better speed up my updates. Well I'm at it, I may as well say a few words. Please, review and favorite/follow this story.
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.
Now that I am done wasting your time with author's notes, let us move on to the main attraction.
Enjoy:
Hanson awoke in a dimly lit dungeon, his head still groggy and unable to recall recent events. Through his fogged up mind, he could sense a presence nearby. He knew this presence, and it had had the good sense of restraining him up with magically enhanced chains as he soon could tell after attempting to pull himself away from the wall he was currently shackled to.
It was at that point that it all came back to him. His encounter with Miyabi, how he had been unmasked, it all came back to him. He wouldn't be able to get out of these as easily as he would have liked. He recognized the symbols on the restraints, he had developed them himself. Another example of a miscalculation coming back to haunt him... First Hokuto, now this. At least he still had Tsukune in one piece and hard at work defeating the HLF.
This raised quite a number of questions. He had been certain that they had sealed him away ages ago, how could he still walk among the... Possessing such clarity was sometimes a curse in his opinion: Whenever such a thing slipped past him, he was always the first one to chastise himself for the oversight. It was so obvious, a clone of his own self. That meant the only thing that could be done was wait for an opening and go back to the Academy as quickly as possible.
Alucard had been waiting patiently for Mikogami's clone to finally come back to consciousness. So long as the original host lived, a clone could not die. Hence, it made sense that he should incarcerate Hanson while he was still recovering from the severe blows he inflicted upon him. Good thing he remembered that slight detail before leaving him for dead. Having him contact his main body would have been disastrous.
He hadn't expected the infiltrator to be a clone, but it made no difference. He couldn't put an end to him while Mikogami himself lived but he could still imprison him in a pocket dimension none would ever be able to find. Himself excluded, naturally.
Since his own main body had been eliminated, Alucard was now susceptible of dying if someone were to strike him even once with a mortal blow. Therefore, he couldn't afford to let any information slip and make its way to that time bomb known as Akasha Bloodriver. Hopefully, Akua would do her job and force the Dark Lords into accelerating their plans. Incidentally, creating an opportunity for his schemes to come to fruition.
Now that his sworn enemy was aware of his surroundings, he could entertain himself a bit. Although Hanson, or Mikogami, couldn't die in his current state, that in no way meant he couldn't have a little fun with him. He had time to spend and a lot of anger to get rid of. So what better way to relieve frustration than to torture a clone of the most cunning of the Three Dark Lords? It would be most cathartic. Besides, he needed a hobby, and badly so.
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"Hello people. Reaper's back in town!" The laughter that followed sounded as mad as it was evil. The ultimate expression of the opposite of everything Tsukune stood for. His traits took on a more ghoulish aspect as he observed the room. A decent size audience, oh what fun! Which trick should he pull first? Go up in a crescendo or skip to the good stuff immediately? How about play a game of "how many can I kill before the Dark Lords stop me"? No, too predictable.
He needed to think outside of the box. Going on a rampage would be in accordance with what every fiber of his being was screaming at him to do but it lacked that special touch that made it fun. He could think a little more on this while asking Akua honey for some info. Namely, questions such as: Why, how, really and, his favorite by far, who should die first.
Nah, keep it simple. It would be wrong to bore these fine people with such amateurish material when it's clear they came to see a professional in action. "Well, aren't we the daring little sociopath today. Tell me something, oh most flat one, who gave the order? It's only fair that I learn the name of my new BFF."
The eyebrow twitching he was seeing made him realize he said something he shouldn't have. What was the big deal? Flat suited her. It was better than hauling around twenty pounds of dead weight like Twin Mountains over there. In any case, it was funny, so laughing was to be his natural reaction after having said something so entertaining.
The not so funny thing was that Akua didn't find his comment remotely funny in the least. Nor did she much appreciate him laughing at her so brazenly. He was definitely going to get disciplined after this, schizophrenia or no schizophrenia... Was she really that flat? Her insecurity showed as she took a look at her chest and sighed. All females in attendance temporarily felt sorry for her, and that included her step-mom and sisters.
Luckily, her superior training kept her focused on the mission. If she slipped up, those Huang agents circling around her like vultures would end up catching her off guard. Best answer his question and see where things went from here on out. "The orders came from Miyabi Fujisaki, current leader of Fairy Tale, as I am sure you already guessed. So why ask?"
The answer came in the form of another giggling fit. This was very perplexing. She knew he was insane but what could possibly be so amusing to him? She tried to discern the cause for his apparent amusement. Was it something she said? Did she embarrass herself in front of him yet again? Why did she have to fall for someone like him of all people? Was that part of his charm? She was starting to prefer the more mild version of Tsukune Aono.
Miyabi? This was too good. Oh, he most definitely knew who Miyabi really was, his new identity couldn't fool him. Having the inside track on what was really going on thanks to Alucard's blood was a great advantage. Alucard must have been busy lately. He couldn't have actually believed he was going to forge an alliance. No, he was trying to get under the Three Stooges' skin, he wanted to provoke them. Drive them to attack earlier? So he could join in his forces? A three sided massacre sounded like a good way to exit stage right. Faking our own death, were we? How naughty. Now who was he to ruin such a carefully laid out plan? If Alucard gets called out, who would be left to stand up to the Tragic Trio watching him over there? Letting Miyabi, or Alucard, getting exposed this early in the game was no good.
He calmed himself enough to glance over at the cunning one among the three in the back. Mikogami looked pissed as all heck, he didn't take well to having things diverging from his carefully laid out schemes. The two made eye contact and the yellow glow of his eyes beamed slightly brighter as it met the two slit pupils. Reaper understood the message he was conveying perfectly. He should learn to lighten up a bit. Everything would work out as his most royal pain in the backside intended, so why get worked up in between now and that moment? They made a deal and Reaper was good for it, at least he thought he was.
Then again, blurting it out for everyone to hear would expose some pretty nasty lies. Schemers like himself were always at a disadvantage. They couldn't adapt, they couldn't go with the flow. As far as he was concerned, he would prefer to hold that incredible power he was promised in the palm of his hands but the comedic value this could bring was hard to ignore.
No, he had to focus. Insanity could come later. That power he wanted was his by right, Tsukune had to go to Lilith's Mountain. He didn't do three centuries of torturing boy scout just to mock everything up at the last minute. Such strength would tear everything apart, he could see it from here. If word got out about him getting vampiric abilities, the carnage would be beautiful: The vampires and werewolves would fall from their ivory towers, the monstrels would go rebellious, the other purebred species would panic and fall into the chaos, and best of all, the ruckus would get the humans' attention. The ultimate punchline was within reach, exposing the Exorcist was not his priority.
Sure, he may have to wait for centuries or even thousands of years to see this happen but the reward would be well worth the wait. The Dark Lords banked on the fact that no one would find out the truth about Tsukune Aono's origins, he knew better. Even the best kept secrets eventually came to light. Fairy Tale was so shortsighted. The same went for the HLF, much to his chagrin. His lieutenants shared his vision of a chaotic world yet none had enough conviction to get them there. It all rested on him.
But enough with the plotting. Akua honey was patiently waiting, and it was rude to make a lady have to wait for so long. He turned back to her and made sure to show his most sadistic smile. "Tell the big monster in chief I said hi. What with the close relationship you two have, I'm sure he thinks of you as something akin to... Um... Well... kin."
The response's meaning was veiled to the Dark Lords, they assumed he was just making small talk as he usually did. Akua, on the other hand, knew better. That look he was giving her, that smile. It pointed to one thing: He knew. The realization chilled her to the bone. He knew and he was going to help her escape? What exactly was he aiming for?
The silent query sent his way amused him greatly. How cute, she wanted to understand his motives. For someone who thrived on killing and murdering, perhaps she deserved to gain a little insight into his motivation. The glimpse she was going to get wouldn't be pretty but who cared? He discreetly mouthed off the word fun. She still looked perplexed by the answer. However, now that her curiosity had been sated, she would be on her way back to Fairy Tale HQ any second.
As she turned to run out of the well guarded complex, the Huang agents felt like they should act before she was given a chance to get away. They ran at her, only to be met with the smiling demon that had just been freed moments ago. "Akua Shuzen is a very busy woman, you know. Taking up anymore of her time would simply be improper. I'm just as good looking, so how about we have some fun?"
The guards were nowhere near being S-class monsters, that made facing a vampire ghoul and a psychotic vampire a much more daunting task. The others didn't have the time to act in time. Thus, one of the guards ended up being decapitated by a dimensional sword while another was taken hostage by Reaper. He used his meat shield to hide from the gun fire that came his way, Akua merely fazed through the shots and watched as Reaper fired off a few well placed blood bullets at the agents having gathered in front of the crowd. Their position kept the more powerful monsters from moving into the fight. Hence, Reaper had enough time to fire at his heart's content. Explosion after explosion rocked the mansion with a demonic laughter that persisted during the mass execution.
No one other than the agents being aimed at had been injured. Still, the explosions caused by the blood bullets created a pretty big smoke screen. It was at that moment, while everyone was distracted with moving the injured and dead out of the way, that Reaper urged Akua to get out while the going was still good.
She turned on her heels and ran for the exit. She glanced back to see a smiling ghoul laughing and firing blindly into the smoke. "Fore! Ha ha ha ha!" It was then that she remembered why she fell in love with this part of his personality. With renewed passion, she escaped thanks to the cover her beloved had provided for her. Maybe Tsukune Aono wasn't that far from joining Fairy Tale, after all. She also appreciated that he made sure to aim away from the Mokas. He may be clinically insane but he knew better than to do such a horrid thing.
By the time the smoke had dissipated, Akua was gone and Reaper had his hands on his head and was laughing as he got on the ground. The laughter kept on going as Akasha swooped in and attached the seal Mikogami had had the Vatican bless to the boy's forearm. As he was being sealed away, the crazed laughter became more and more distant until all that was left in it's wake was a newly and somewhat sane Tsukune who looked out at the carnage with great sorrow and shame. He bowed his head and cried silently as the agents he killed and injured were carried away.
The crowd had dispersed, leaving only the Dark Lords and the Mokas to see the tears streaming down Tsukune's bowed face. The seal glistened on his right wrist as the magic took hold. This had been the first time Reaper had been allowed to exit the confines of Tsukune's mind in a long while. And he made sure to cause as much harm as possible. To others as well as to his lighter self.
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For the next few days, the improvised army was hard at work training for what was to be a very challenging fight. At the same time, they slowly came to grips that their appointed commander had just committed mass murder right in front of them. Monster society was more inclined to accept violence but the scale on which it was dealt was comparable to monster genocide. It took some explanation and a lot of reassurance on the Chairman's part to keep the people he had so carefully lured into joining from deserting on the spot. The leaders of the races themselves were still willing to participate. Ageha was a little more apprehensive about it but Kurumu somehow managed to keep her mother from withdrawing, citing that their was a strong chance that, despite his insanity, there was a strong chance that Tsukune Aono might be the one. Far be it from her to discourage her daughter from searching for her mate of Fate. Therefore, the Succubi and Incubi were still official allied in the fight.
As for the Snow People, their Priestess' words and prophecies were enough to stomp out any doubt among her ranks. They knew this side of the ghoul quite well already so it came as no great surprise to any of them. Plus, Mizore took this as a sign that her presence was required more so now than ever. If not for her, Reaper would never have come to exist. So it was her duty to stay on course and see this through to the end. If not for herself, then for her people.
Meanwhile, Tsukune spent every waking moment he had dedicating himself to training his body for the upcoming battle. He first began to train with the Chairman's assistant, Ruby, in order to learn how to bring out his abilities despite the seal keeping his personality disorder and the majority of what he could do in check. He could release marginally more of his power and keep himself from turning into his evil counterpart. He also came to learn that Ruby did indeed have a darker side to her. The worst part was that he was starting to think she was falling for him. It had to be his imagination, right? Wrong, his intuition was spot on, but she would never bring that out in the open this early in her infatuation with the young ghoul.
Then followed training with Inner Moka. Omote opted to train some more with Akasha during that time because she didn't feel up to putting Tsukune through such a difficult regiment as the one her Inner persona had planned. Ura's training was tougher than any other he had been put through. If he lost focus for a mere split second, he had no doubt he could lose a limb in the process. Vampires may love the one they were training but that didn't mean they would go easy on them. They valued strength and prowess in battle above all else. Better to suffer for a mistake made in combat than stay mediocre and never fully realize your potential.
Most of the time was spent with him getting beat up time after time. Apparently, he was making progress, or so he was told. From his perspective, he just kept getting kicked around time after time. He took her word for it though and pressed on with training. The memory of his alter-ego's most recent committed atrocity was still fresh on his mind and drove him to do his best and try to excel.
Easier said than done. He tried, and he was getting better, but getting bruised time after time usually had a tendency to dampen one's mood. On Ura's end, she did her best to provide a challenge for Tsukune to overcome. She saw him come closer and closer to a respectable level. The magic he developed was useful to be certain. Still, he would need more than that if he hoped to make it as a vampire alter on. She would not let him fall behind, no matter how hard she had to push him.
The energy he used increased exponentially in the short time she had to train him. The full of a vampire was not yet within his grasp, that would come with his turning. Later on, he could strive for greater power by training for the next several years. One day, she knew he would become her equal. It was her sincere hope that he might even become stronger than she was. Her blood mate was more than capable of getting to that point, he had to be driven to do so.
Alas, to one of the three Dark Lords, the abilities Tsukune was demonstrating weren't good enough for his tastes. Akua Shuzen definitely had an interest in the boy, it would be bad to let him go to war without being prepared to fight her on equal footing. The fact that she wielded his very own ability unsettled him greatly.
Touhou Fuhai could tell that Akua was a master when it came to using the dimensional sword. No, master was too light of a word. She had taken what he created and made it her own, she was a veritable genius. A prodigy in the art of fighting. A trained killer with power that might very well be unrivaled. If he weren't prepared, she would make mince meat out of him within seconds after they encountered each other on the battlefield.
It was decided, he would teach the boy to fight with the dimensional sword. Whether or not they were to face each other, his survival could not be left up to chance. If he weren't able to master it, he would at the very least learn how to block her sword, that or he would be doomed to die by her hand. With all that had been invested into him, that could not happen.
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Touhou Fuhai was greatly disappointed with him. Try as he might, the ghoul could not keep up with the master sorcerer. That alone would not have been as disheartening if you didn't consider that he was still in his elder form when they fought. Every attack he initiated ended in failure, his every move and plan could be foreseen and easily dodged. The eldest Shuzen was a genius fighter and tactician. It's not that he wasn't in her league, he wasn't even in the same universe she was. A childhood spent mastering an incredibly difficult technique done by a vampire prodigy versus a once human ghoul who just started doing this yesterday, why did this even surprise him?
He halted the session by jumping over the teen and dodging Tsukune's most recent punch and tapped his back with his cane, forcing Tsukune's body to go flying through the air and landing face first in a vegetable booth replicate found within the alternate version of Hong Kong Touhou Fuhai had created for the sole purpose of training.
While Tsukune was occupied with getting himself out of the booth that had broken his fall, Touhou Fuhai wasted no time in voicing his thoughts. "It's pointless to continue. At this rate, you'll never be able to defend yourself in a fight against her. " They would have to think of something else. Would it be too much to hope that luck would favor them just this one time?
"No." The reply that was given was not the one he expected from the teen. Sure, he knew he wouldn't be pleased with the news but he figured he would accept what he had to say and trust it was the truth. There was nothing that could possibly help him at this point. "There has to be some method, any method, that I can use to block her dimensional sword."
If blocking was the only thing he wished to do, then perhaps he could undergo... No, that was suicide, it would never work. Alas, what other choice did they have? They were in a bind, The elder sorcerer sighed as he contemplated how best to answer Tsukune's questioning. "If all you seek to do is block her dimensional sword, then perhaps there is a procedure that can be done to give you that edge."
The look of excitement that lodged itself onto his face showed that he planned on doing this no matter the Dark Lord said to dissuade him. Warning him would do no good at this point. Well, it would absolve him of all responsibility from now onwards. "But you must know that it is a very dangerous procedure, there is a very good chance you will die during the operation."
The excitement gave way to one of determination. He heard the warning, there was that. "I don't care." So he would go through with this? Tsukune was sure to elaborate before the head of the Huang Family had the time to ask him if he were sure. "For as long as I've been in this, Akua has always been one step ahead of me. I can't let her go on unchecked. If there is anything that I can do to help keep people like Akua from killing innocent people, I will undergo any dangerous operation that is necessary. This isn't about me, this is about peace between monsters and humans."
His heart was in the right place. Nevertheless, he was still a fool in his own right. The creator of the dimensional sword technique sighed as he glanced over at the needles he brought out of his coat. They would see if Tsukune had what it was required to stay alive during the operation. "Very well, but remember, I warned you and gave you the chance to back out. If it seems as though you are about to die, I will stop the procedure."
If things didn't work out, then may luck be on their side for the coming fight. For if it weren't, they would all be dead.
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Akua made it back to HQ at the right time. She overheard that Miyabi had also returned to HQ after dealing with some personal business a few hours prior to her own arrival. She was able to relay the message she had been given by Tsukune to the head of Fairy Tale in person. Oddly enough, he didn't seem displeased in the least with the unfortunate news. Whatever he had planned, it appeared this was working in his favor.
After having delivered her report, she was given leave to do as she pleased until her next orders were issued. It might have been hazardous to allow anyone else with knowledge of his true identity to walk around unchecked, the same did not apply to the last of his kin. In the years he had known her, since that fateful day where she reached out to her and gave her a way to vent her hatred for those who murdered her beloved Jasmine, he came to notice that she would do absolutely anything to make sure Humanity would be destroyed. That excluded hurting Moka, of course. Besides that, there was very that was susceptible of driving Akua from her goal.
Incidentally, it was in her best interest that the source of all opposition to this pitiful dream of cohabitation preached by those three nuisances, himself, continue to operate in the utmost secrecy with no obstacles baring his way. She would never take action to hinder his efforts. Thus, he could afford to give her a little leeway.
That and he was curious what she might do now that she had a small amount of free time. Would she go back to watch that ghoul thief Tsukune Aono? What exactly was her interest in him? If anything, he figured she would have more cause than most to curse his very existence. He wished to unify humans and monsters. And prior to that, he created an organization dedicated to giving humans the edge and murdering monsters much in the same manner they had murdered poor jasmine and strung her up after accusing her of being a vampire.
He supposed it didn't truly matter. Now that all the pawns had been lined up, he could rest comfortably, all the while knowing that the Dark Lords would hurry up and attack the Mountain. His troops would be on standby and move in right during their invasion. The resulting chaos would give him enough room to fake his own death at the hands of the HLF, all the taking precautions to ensure that the Dark Lords never see his face in the middle of the three sided war.
It was a simple approach, granted. Kahlua would end up being, by some miracle, the last executive standing. That, in turn, would force Gyokuro to order her daughter to move in and all would be as it should be. That reminded him, he should get around to promoting her soon. Lest the task be made too daring for Gyokuro to try her coup.
She had been incredibly cautious since Akasha forced her to officially stay outside of the conflict. He had to make sure the bait was too great to ignore. If incurring Akasha's wrath was considered an acceptable risk, he knew he could count on her lust for power and her rivalry with the Dark Lord to push her to do what was necessary to gain another foothold within the organization. Her increased carefulness did in no way trump her greedy and power hungry nature that drove her to try and bring the Shuzen patriarch's attention over to her.
Was he the only one with enough philosophy to comprehend that he could not do as he pleased all the time. Of all the selfish motivations for wishing such a noble goal as the destruction of man, why did he have to be surrounded with people only concerned with a loved one? Apparently, they were all alike deep down.
So far, the only one he had heard was motivated for the pure joy of destroying was that schizophrenic thief, or so Akua told him. Ironic, that the seemingly only other competent mastermind, excluding Mikogami, was someone who had consumed his blood. When he thought about it, it should not be that improbable. After all, this was his blood we were talking about.
Of course, Akua had forgotten, or rather chosen to have forgotten, to tell him that the thief knew who he really was. Such an oversight would have been rectified by his death, ad she had grown rather fond of him in the short time she had watched, fought, flirted, maimed and marked him. More likely than not, if Reaper had been so adamant about keeping it a secret for the time being, that meant the Dark Lords would not be finding out about it anytime soon. She trusted him, sort of... He could keep a secret, she prayed... He wouldn't betray her, she begged...
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Tsukune stood int the middle of the specially created force field, his shirt had long since been discarded. His shirtless torso revealed numerous scars, cuts and bruises, his body had received a lot of abuse over the recent months. And as fate would have it, it was about to get a whole lot more abuse in the hopes that it might improve it.
Touhou Fuhai sent the first needle into his shoulder, the previously mentioned part of Tsukune's anatomy disintegrated and reformed itself in accordance to what the needle was supposed to created. The pain was excruciating, but he somehow was able to keep himself from uttering a single sound of protest. It had to be done, he would simply have to endure for the time being.
Needle after dug into him. Each of them tore his body asunder and reformed it to better suit the boy's new needs. Agony swept over him again and again. An endless wave of pain submerged him time and time again. No matter what he had endured at the hands of his evil self, nothing could have prepared him for what was to be felt during this experiment.
He had lost chunks of his body before, but never had he lost this many so rapidly in a rapid succession as projectile after projectile hit him with more power than the last held. His body was being recreated from scratch. Just slowly enough so that he stood a chance of surviving this ordeal. His mind went blank from the pain a few times. It as incredibly difficult to formulate a thought when intense pain assaulted every part of your being and coursed through you as does your own blood.
Then came the time for the last needle, the one intended to reform his very heart and the source of his abilities. The crystal would remain intact and only imbed itself deeper within his newly reformed heart. However, his blood crystal's survival did in no way signify he would make it as it would. He could feel his ghoulish nature attempting to free itself to defend itself from the perceived assault, all in vain.
It may have worked, had he not replaced the old seal. There would have been no guarantee that he would have been able to control himself at that point. But now, the new seal was perfectly up to the task of keeping him from going ghoul out here during the ceremony.
He fought to stay conscious as the last needle dug itself into his heart and exploded. He felt his whole life flash before his eyes as he finally lost his strength and fell, his whole body limp, on the floor.
When he awoke, he came face to face with a very pleased elder version of Touhou Fuhai who regressed to his elder form after the ceremony and quickly explained what Tsukune would be able to do with his new body. He was now capable of performing magic that did not focus around blood. And as a plus, he could easily counter the dimensional sword.
At any other time, that would have been sufficient reason for a celebration, not today. Since he had gone through his preparations for the coming fight, that meant the invasion of Lilith's Mountain would begin the very next day.
He returned to his quarters and made sure to get a good night sleep, he would need it more so than most of the other people coming to fight alongside him. Tomorrow, he would end the HLF. The calm had passed, the storm was approaching.