Hi everyone, hope you're all having a good day. Before we begin, looks like I was right. So long as I focus on one story at a time in between uploads instead of a load, it gets better results… and way fewer headaches. Well, there isn't much to say until the end of the story, other than a big thanks for taking the time to read it and that I'm happy to see that s many people enjoyed it. You're all sound.
Right, let's get into the story, hope you like it.
Ethan felt his legs roaring in pain as he was slowly regaining consciousness. At first, his vision was blurry, but as it slowly returned to normal, he turned his head from side to side, wanting to know where he was. When his vision finally recovered, he widened his eyes after seeing where he was.
"What… the…" Ethan started.
Currently, Ethan was lying in a shallow pool of some kind of liquid, while seeming to be trapped in some kind of chamber with fleshy walls. It didn't help that there was a foul smell coming from all corners.
"What the hell is this place!?" he yelled.
"E… Ethan?"
Ethan's eyes widened at the mention of his name, turning his head to see the semi-conscious form of Ruby resting in the shallow pool as well.
"Ruby!" he exclaimed. He tried to get onto his feet, but as he did, his legs gave way, causing him to collapse back down and roar out in pain. At the sound of his screaming, Ruby had fully woken up and moved quickly up to him.
Ethan grabbed onto one of his legs. As he did, he felt that the area he was holding felt a little… slimy and unpleasant. He looked down and saw that there was a severe, bloody wound in his leg. He looked at the other leg, seeing that there was a similar wound present.
As he saw these wounds the memories of what had happened before returned to him. Trying to fight off the monster that Ruby's master had become, the vines piercing his legs to restrain him and…
"Aw for feck's sake." Ethan instinctively said out loud as he remembered that he and Ruby were eaten alive. He looked over to Ruby. "Tell me this isn't happening."
"I wish I could tell you different." Ruby said, seemingly just as unhappy, but not as expressive, as Ethan. She looked closely at the wound and, after a couple of seconds, nodded her head. "I should be able to heal the wounds. Just stay still for a bit." She said.
While not particularly happy about being told what to do, Ethan nodded in agreement. Ruby joined her two hands together, before muttering a few words to herself. What followed was a large sphere of green light glowing, enveloping the hands. Ruby separated her hands, creating two spheres that were smaller in size compared to the original. Gently, she placed a hand on each leg, ignoring the slight hisses of pain coming from the pyromancer.
"Ow! Could you be a little more gentle?" he asked.
Ruby looked a little hurt after Ethan said that. "I'm sorry."
Ethan was silent for a moment before sighing and said "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be snipping at you, but, it's just bloody sore."
"It's okay." Ruby said. "I understand.
AS Ruby was healing Ethan wounds, she looked up at him, a slight shiver going down her spine as she remembered how severe he was with her in the tent. At this point, she was a little afraid to ask him what was on her mind.
"If you have something to ask, ask it." Ethan stated.
Ruby widened her eyes. Ethan hadn't been looking at her at all, but he was able to tell all the same. Either way, she knew it was best to answer him.
"I… why did you save me?" she asked. "Earlier… you seemed to see me as a threat. Why risk your life to save mine?"
Ethan smirked before answering. "Well… to be honest, I still don't fully trust you." He admitted. "But, Yukari was worried as hell about you, and I knew that she would be crushed if anything happened to you."
Ruby widened her eyes at that comment. She was both amazed and and confused that, despite what she had done, that the little witch was worried for her.
"And not just her." Ethan continued. "The rest of the group, after our first get together in the tent, saw you as a potential friend. Because of that, they were worried for you, since they're the kind of people that always look out for their friends."
"… Would you… consider me a friend?" she asked him.
Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe… in the future. To be honest, Yukari, Kurumu and Mizore all actually tried to cause me, Tsukune and Moka hardship before they became our friends. Moka and Tsukune are a forgiving pair, and I eventually learned to see the good in them too."
He looked over at Ruby and leaned forward. "If you wish to prove yourself a friend, do what you can to prove it. Otherwise, I promise that things won't end well for you." He finished honestly.
Despite the threat, Ruby smiled and nodded gratefully at him. "Thank you."
After a few more seconds, the wounds had finally healed. Ruby lowered her hand and rested them on her lap, feeling a little tired out after putting so much effort into healing him. Ethan outstretched his legs to get a better view, greatly impressed to see that his legs looked like that they were never wounded. He stood up and walked over to Ruby. He held out a helping hand to her, to which she happily accepted.
When she was on her feet, Ethan placed both his hands on his hips as he looked around, trying to find a way out of here.
"So, any thoughts on how to get out of here?" Ethan asked.
"Um…" Ruby had one idea. "Well, it's a digestive system, so I think we could-"
Before she could finish, Ethan ignited a fist and held it over her face, causing her to back away. She looked over at Ethan's face, which showed a serious and displeased expression.
"I know where you're going… and, sure as FECK, it is not going to happen." She said, not liking the idea as coming out as a piece of excrement.
The horrific image was taken out of Ethan's mind when he looked back at his fist, surprised to see the flame dying down. He tightened his fist and tried to put as much power into the flame, but it wouldn't respond.
"That's weird. My flame's gotten weaker." He said to Ruby.
Ruby looked a little crestfallen as she had a theory as to what is going on. "I think… that it's because my… my master is using our power to increase hers."
Ethan looked back at Ruby with a look of surprise on his face. "What? How's she doing that, exactly? It's not like we're hooked up to any wires or anything."
Ruby looked down at the shallow pool that they were standing in. Confused, Ethan also looked down, seeing that that around where the water currently met his legs, there was an orange ring present in the water. He looked over at Ruby, seeing that there was a pink ring surrounding Ruby's skirt, what was in the water. Connecting the dots, Ethan frowned.
"Stomach acid that sucks magic instead of digesting food?" he asked, to which Ruby replied. Ethan huffed before saying. "What will they think of next?"
Ruby looked around the massive bag of 'acid', wanting find a way out. she knew that if either of them tried to use their powers, they would only be drained, making them weaker. As she looked around, her eyes spotted something slowly making its way into the stomach.
"Ethan, look." She said, pointing towards what had drawn her attention.
The pyromancer looked up, seeing a stream of red liquid pouring into the stomach. As it landed within the pool, the acid suddenly changed to a strong shade of scarlet, briefly pulsing a bright ink every few seconds. Ruby looked at the acid with slight awe, surprised to see it acting like this.
She looked back up at the red liquid that was pouring down. "What is that…?"
"Blood." Ethan stated, causing Ruby to turn to him. "It's blood. And if I'm right, judging by the power it's giving off…" he pointed towards the pool of scarlet acid as he spoke. "I think it's Moka's."
"Moka? As in… oh god." Ruby said, becoming noticeably pale as she connected the dots.
Ethan shook his head and glared at the stream. "That sorry excuse for a witch is stealing our powers to give herself an edge in the fight." He said. after a couple of seconds of silence, he made a small grin. "I ain't sure whether to be impressed or disappointed, having to go through that effort for us."
"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing." Ruby pointed out. "If we stay here, she'll just become more powerful, but we can't use our powers because it'll spped up the draining."
"You're kind of contradicting yourself there, aren't you?" Ethan pointed out, causing Ruby to blush. Ethan looked back towards the stream of blood.
His face formed a look of malice as he came up with on of the most risky and dangerous plans he ever came up with.
"I'd imagine… despite the fact she's draining us of our power, she has a limit that she can't go beyond, right?"
Ruby looked at Ethan with a confused expression. "Huh? Um… I guess."
"So… all we need do is use so much power that she won't be able to hold it, and we can escape." Ethan continued, his expression becoming darker by the second.
At this point, Ruby was becoming even more confused. "Ethan how are we supposed to build up that much power when we're… wait. Ethan? What are you doing. Ethan… ETHAN STOP!"
….
Tsukune fired the rounds of his firearm at the Elder witch, each time watching as she summoned a barrier to fend off the projectiles.
As of now, Ethan was terrified. His best friend was eaten alive, and the woman he cared for was being drained dry of her blood. All he was able to do at the moment was try to fend off the beast, hoping that he could save her.
Eventually, he saw that the bullets were doing nothing against the witch. He cursed himself as he thought about what to do next.
"What do I do? I can't hurt Ruby's master, she keeps making shields. I could try and shoot Moka down, but what if I hit her instead. I can't believe this is happening. What do I do!?"
"You put up a fair effort, lad."
Tsukune was brought out of his thoughts upon hearing the voice. He turned to see what it was, but was instead met with the sight of several waves of black energy flying past him. Tsukune turned back to see one of the waves slicing through the vines that held Moka, while the rest were aimed at the Elder witch. Seeing this, she formed more barriers, hoping that it would defend her from the attack.
However, the first of these waves shattered the barrier. The rest each managed to strike the Elder witch. Seemingly, there was no physical damage, but from the way that she was screaming, those attacks had been more than effective.
"What… what is this?" the Elder with asked in surprise.
As if to answer the question, Mathias appeared, warping beside Tsukune as he held his improved scythe in his hand, a cocky smile forming on his face.
"Well, simply put, when a Shinigami becomes powerful enough, they can aim their attacks at the most valuable part of a living thing." Mathias started.
He then warped up to the left of the creature, grinning as he swung his scythe. As he did, the eyes of the skull glowed crimsom, followed by the blade becoming coated with dark energy. When Mathias fully swung the weapon, the energy was sent flying towards the monster. However, the attack only phased through the beast, making its way towards the Elder witch, striking her in the shoulder, resulting in an ear piercing scream.
"Geez." Mathias said as he rubbed his ear. "She's got some lungs on her, hasn't she?"
Tsukune looked at the reaper in confusion. "Mathias, what are you talking about? What's the valuable target you're talking about?"
Mathias grinned wickedly before answering. "The soul."
"… What?" Tsukune asked weakly.
The eyes in the skull glowed again, before Mathias was soon surrounded by the dark energy lie an aura. "The body is more resilient than one thinks. Give it time, and they will heal…. However…" Mathias spun the scythe around and rested the bone-handle on his shoulder. "The soul can ever heal. Hence, it's the best target to go for."
The Elder witch roared again before firing a blast of energy at the reaper. To counter, Mathias spun the weapon around and lunged at her like he was holding a sword. As he did, the spine that connected the handle to the skull bent backwards, pointing the scythe blade up, forming it into an over-sized lance. Mathias struck the center of the beam, causing it to disperse, saving him and Tsukune from the attack.
Mathias then back-stepped, getting some distance between him and the Elder witch. Holding the weapon like a baseball bat, he swung it again. Only this time, the spine expanded, growing in length, allowing Mathias a greater range of attack with the weapon.
He had aimed for the witch, but instead the creature rose and arm up in defense, blocking the attack. As the Blade remained trapped behind the creature's arm, the Elder witch smiled cruelly at the reaper.
"Such foolishness. Not willing to use all the power you unlocked."
In response, Mathias offered a dark, toothy smile. He then twisted the handle and, with all his might and as much dark energy as he could muster, he pulled the weapon back. The blade sliced right through the monster's arm like butter, causing the Elder witch to cry out in pain once more.
"What's foolish is believing that power is the only weapon to use in a fight." Mathias said back to her.
Mathias was about to make another move, this time wanting to test out a specific move on her. However, he was interrupted when ice suddenly started to emerge from the soil, encasing the lower half of the monster.
"Huh?" Mathias said in confusion.
Tsukune beamed as he realized what was going on. "MIZORE!" he yelled with enthusiasm.
"Yes, love?"
Tsukune jumped a foot into the air from the sudden surprise. He turned to see the snow woman, slightly bruised, but nevertheless, safe and sound.
"Thank goodness you're alright." Tsukune said after calming down.
At that, the snow woman blushed, her heart doing back-flips as she saw how concerned for her he was. "Thank you… but, we're not safe yet."
The creature shattered the ice that was trapping it. The Elder focused her sight on the three individuals standing before her. Channelling her new strength, she imbued some of it into the remaining arm of the creature. The creature raised its fist, ready to crush the teens. However, before it got the chance, a volley of iron Tarot Cards flew down, embedding themselves into the creature. With the sudden distraction, the Elder witch didn't notice the figure flying by, slicing several pieces off the monster she controlled.
Kurumu flew back to Mizore, Tsukune and Mathias, with Yukari appearing right beside the reaper. The Succubus and the witch both leapt at Tsukune, hugging him as tightly as possible.
"Oh, Tsukune! We were so worried. I hope you're not hurt, my destined one." Kurumu exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Tsukune. I'm here now, you've nothing to worry about." Yukari said.
At that point, both Kurumu and Yukari glared at each other, both not liking the other trying to get at Tsukune. It was at that point where they all felt the temperature going down a few degrees. They all turned to Mizore, who was holding up both her ice claws, clearly not happy with the attention the two girls were giving Tsukune.
"Tsukune's mine." Mizore said to Kurumu and Yukari.
"Like HELL I'd hand him over to you!" the two yelled simultaneously, followed by them glaring at each other again.
Mathias raised his brow in surprise. He looked over to Tsukune and asked "Does this happen a lot?"
"More than I'd like." Tsukune said as comical tears streamed down his face.
"ENOOOOOUGH!"
Several vines shot out of the ground where the the group stood. The girls managed to avoid them within the split second, while Mathias quickly pulled Tsukune out of the way, saving him from being skewered again. Mathias looked up at the creature, a smirk forming on his face as he came up with an idea.
"Time to test it out." he said out loud. Spinning the scythe a few times, he moved his hand up to the base of the spine, turned the weapon so that the skull would face the creature, and stuck the bottom of the handle into the ground.
With a grin of malice, he chuckled slightly before saying "Subterfuge."
After saying that, the skull's eyes glowed once again. Only this time, the mouth opened, vomiting a pitch black smoke that encased the upper half of the creature. When the smoke had finished dispersing, what had been released soon began to move in an irregular fashion. After a few seconds, the smoke faded, revealing the creature to be unharmed, but for the Elder witch's eyes to have completely changed to the shade of the smoke.
"What… WHAT IS HAPPENING! I'M BLIND!" she screamed in panic.
With that, Mathias readied himself. He focused his attention on the mid-section of the creature, where he assumed that the stomach was. With the witch distracted, he would slice open the creature and pull out Ruby and Ethan as quickly as possible.
"Here we go." Mathias said calmly, albeit with a maniac grin on his face. With that, he lept from the ground, spinning himself around like a buzz-saw, ready to land the attack.
"Hold on guys, help's on the-"
Mathias didn't get the chance to finish. Instead, a sudden blast of silver light burst out from where Mathias was aiming, knocking him away from the beast. He spun around mid-air, regaining his composure, landing on his feet easily. He looked up to see what it was, only to end up gawking at an eruption of silver fire.
"What the heck is that?" Mathias asked out loud.
Unknown to him, Moka had walked up behind him. After she had been cut down, she needed time to rest before getting back into the fight. Having lost a large amount of blood would do that to a vampire. As she looked up at the fire, she herself was confused as to what was going on.
"Its strange." She said, starling Mathias. She ignored him as she continued on. "If this was Ethan, his flames should be orange, not silver."
Mathias looked back at the flames. He was surprised when a large sphere of flames burst out of the creature, causing the Elder witch to howl in agony. The sphere landed not too far away from the monster, coming to a complete halt after hitting the ground.
Within a few seconds, the flames became more volatile, so much so that they dispersed from the level of pressure that was building up. That was when the sight of Ethan, with his hair now a brighter shade of white, stood tall, his head lowered and eyes closed, while Ruby also stood by his side, her wings unleashed and glowing with pink aura.
Tsukune and the rest of the girls all saw the two escapees. Filled with joy, they started to run towards them. However, without looking up, Ethan shot a hand up at them, telling them to stop.
"Don't get any closer." Ethan said.
At first, the group didn't understand what was going on. Then, a silver aura began to build up around Ethan, flickering like fire. The pyromancer slowly lifted his head up in the direction of the Elder witch.
Ethan snapped his eyes open, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes with slitted pupils. He grinned confidently at the Elder witch, revealing a pair of fangs.
Said witch looked at the boy with a mixture of awe and horror. "Impossible… that power… you have the power of a vampire!"
Ethan began to stretch his muscles, calmly preparing himself for a fight. As he did, he said. "Well, considering that vampiric blood was pouring down in front of me, I thought I'd take the opportunity to get a bit of a booster. After all, as the old saying goes…" Ethan outstretched his arms, forming silver flame gauntlets.
"Why not?"
(Music: 'Beast Mode' - Teminite)
The Elder witch was angered by this. She summoned more vines from the creature, this time coating them with a dark aura, then sent them straight for the pyromancer. Ethan, seemingly calm and eager at the woman's attempt, clicked his fingers ad summoned a flame grenade. He casually threw it up into the air, straight up at the vines.
When the grenade was close enough, the grenade split, turning into small spheres of silver flames. A split second later, the spheres exploded, each one causing the same, if not more, level of damage to the incoming vines.
Ethan looked behind him. His eyes caught the sight of various plant monsters charging towards him with intent to kill. Smirking, Ethan dismissed the flame gauntlets. Wanting to test out a new ability, the silver aura began to intensify.
When he was sure he was ready, Ethan spun around and swung his leg at the small army. Much to his surprise, the momentum created a powerful shockwave that obliterated them all. As Ethan looked at the remaining carnage, he couldn't help but release a small giggle from the small surprise.
However, Tsukune and the girls, aside from the silver-haired vampiress, all looked at Ethan wide-eyed and with their jaws to the floor. Mathias grinned widely and was clapping his hands, applauding the power being displayed before him.
Moka, while indeed in awe, was more suspicious at the level of power being displayed. Even when she was younger, only just learning how to use her abilities, even she had difficulty mastering them… not that she'd admit it. And yet, Ethan was using the power of a vampire to fight off the Elder witch and her plant minions with little effort.
If anything, she was both impressed and jealous.
As Ethan thought, a thought occurred to him.
"This power… I got it after drinking Moka's blood. But… despite how tough she is, I never felt this much energy come off of her before… she never held, or maybe just never used, this kind of power." He briefly looked over in the direction of the vampiress. "The vampires may be strong, but you're definitely a whole different ball game, Akashiya."
As Yukari looked on, her peripheral vision caught something. She looked, only to yelp in response and yell "ETHAN! BEHIND YOU!"
The pyromancer heard Yukari's words. He quickly turned to see the creature that housed the Elder witch charging towards him. The creature's remaining arm was raised up as far as it could reach, quickly bringing it down towards the pyromancer.
Ethan raised both his hands into the air, the palms making contact with the giant fist. Upon impact, it created a shockwave that sent everything nearby into the air, aside from the newspaper club and the Shinigami. The Elder witch commanded the creature to push down as hard as it could, wanting it to crush the boy like the insect she believed him to be.
Ethan, while making sure that the creature didn't crush him, quickly scanned the creature over, looking for any weaknesses to exploit. His eyes then caught the interesting sight of the bottom of the creature. At this, Ethan smiled.
"You hitched up your roots to walk?" Ethan asked out loud, seeing the vines, once embedded into the ground, now acting as legs for mobility. However, Ethan only sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "How can a woman as stupid as yourself have been able to train Ruby?"
Offended by the comment, the Elder witch was about to say something. Instead, she received th shock of her life when the creature, and her along with it, were suddenly thrusted up into the air, with Ethan now keeping a firm grasp on the creature's fist.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Kurumu couldn't help but blurt out.
"Whoa." Mizore said.
"Something THAT BIG!?" Tsukune added.
Ethan smirked at the comments. Summoning the new, silver flame once more, it made contact with the creature through the hand that lifted it. The flames quickly travelled all over the creature, as if it had been covered in gasoline before. Within seconds, the beast was coated with fire, burning and scarring both it and the Elder witch.
As she howled in agony, she also screamed "YOU BASTARD! YOU GOD FORSAKEN CURSE! I WILL KILL YOU!"
Ethan rolled his eyes. "If I had a Yen for every time I heard that." he said out loud. After taking in a deep breath, he pulled down on the fist, and he slammed the creature into the ground. With the vampiric strength added with his own, he was able to leave a deep imprint into the soil.
Soon after, Ethan grabbed the very top of the creature, coating his hand with more fire as he did so. He pulled the creature out, just enough to expose the mouth that swallowed both him and Ruby up. Using the fire, he seared through the creature's flesh. The idea was to make it feel enough pain to get it to open its mouth. Luckily, the creature did, indeed, open it's mouth, bellowing in pain.
Taking the opportunity, Ethan pointed his free hand directly at the exposed area.
"Bon appetite."
With that, Ethan fired a pillar of flame directly into the creature. It didn't penetrate through the other side, but instead the flames travelled through the creature, burning it alive from the inside. The flames also traveled into Ruby's former master; having been dealt so many attacks already, instead of feeling pain, she instead felt rage for every time she got hit.
Despite her rage increasing, her body was weakening. She was close to her limit, ans she knew that she would lose if she didn't do something soon. Eventually, deciding that it was the only option, she closed her eyes and concentrated, her tome glowing once more.
"It seems I have no choice. If I cannot stop the humans… I will kill them all with me." She looked over at the pyromancer. "Even with your power, you cannot hope to defeat me. After so many years, the humans will finally-"
Before she could finish, streams of red mist were firing out of Ethan. As they did, his hair and eyes reverted to their original forms, and the fire went back to its original orange. Ethan smirked. He saw the confused looked on the Elder witch's face, surprised, shocked…
Distracted.
"You're move Ruby!" Ethan yelled.
The Elder witch didn't get a chance to react to what Ethan said. Instead, she heard the sound of something slicing through the air. She looked at her body, afraid that she was struck. She found herself unharmed. She looked around, seeing the creature unharmed. She looked back at Ethan, who wore a cocky smile and seemed to be pointing towards something.
Following the direction of the finger, she looked down and saw, much to her bone-chilling horror, saw large, sharp raven feathers embedded into her tome.
(Music End)
"…What… what is this?" the Elder witch asked. Seeming to have difficulty processing what was happening.
Ruby appeared over Ethan, using her wings to hover over him. "I aimed for your tome. By destroying your tome, you wouldn't be able to use your magic." She explained. Her face turned to one of remorse before speaking on. "It was the only way to stop you."
After a brief moment of silence, the Elder witch gritted her teeth and roared "RUBY! WHAT HAVE TO DONE!?"
Ethan was about to make a smart comment when the ground suddenly shook. He was able to keep his balance, while the newspaper club lost theirs and fell to the ground from the sudden surprise. Only the inner Moka and Mathias still stood.
Following that, the entire creature began to glow. As the light grew brighter, parts of the creature began to bulge, as if something was about to burst out of it.
"What the feck? What's going on with her?" Ethan asked calmly.
Ruby paled as she realised what was happening. "She had built up a massive amount of power during the fight. The only way she was able to contain it was through her magic. But now, without that…"
Ethan widened his eyes as he also realised what was about to happen. "She's gonna BLOOOW!" he yelled.
At that, Kurumu and Mizore latched onto Tsukune, fearing for their lives, while Tsukune was fearing that the girls would kill him before the explosion. Yukari, on the other hand, having not needed to use her magic, had enough in store to create a barrier. Before she made it, however, she yelled for Ethan and Ruby to come over, as they wouldn't be able to get in once the barrier was formed.
Instantly, Ethan jumped up, grabbed Ruby by the wrist and blasted over to the club. Ruby tried to pull away, wanting to save her master, but Ethan wouldn't listen. He was only concerned with making sure his allies weren't killed in the blast.
When he finally arrived, Yukari quickly set up the barrier, a blue, transparent semi-sphere. Now safe, they all watched as the power within was trying to break free from its prison. The Elder witch could feel what was left of her being singed and torn to pieces on the inside.
"No… no, master…" Ruby said under her breath, streams of tears running down her cheeks. Despite what she had done, she was Ruby's remaining family. Seeing the pain that she was going through, Moka placed a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"So this… is how it ends…" the Elder witch said to herself. "At least… the humans will be destroyed. The amount of power within me… should be enough to-"
The Elder witch was interrupted for the final time when the sound of air being sliced sang through the air. After the brief sound, the light faded from the creature, and the swollen pieces of the creature that appeared slowly faded away. Everyone went completely still, unsure of what might happen next.
"… What's… going on?" Ethan asked.
"I don't know." Tsukune commented. "Mathias knows wha… Mathias?"
Tsukune had looked behind him to ask if he knew what had happened just now, only to find that he wasn't behind Tsukune. In fact, he wasn't even in the barrier anymore.
"Where'd he go?" Mizore asked.
Kurumu looked in all directions. She kept doing so until something drew in her gaze back towards the Elder witch.
"Uh…guys?" Kurumu said while pointing up towards the witch.
Everyone looked up to see what was going on. Tsukune and Ethan certainly saw their fair share of abnormalities since being introduced to the monster wrld, present situation included. However, they were still stunned after seeing the Elder witch and the complete form slowly morph into stone. By the time it was finished, she was now just a large, very detailed piece of art.
"This… this is just wrecking my head in." Ethan said, collapsing to the ground and rubbing his forehead.
"Sorry to be causing you headaches."
The rest of the group was now alert. They all looked up to see Mathias sitting up on top of the statue, resting his usual scythe on his shoulder. As he sat there, Ruby looked up at the Shinigami. Part of her was shattered by what had happened to her master, but another was rattled with confusion, overwhelmed. As such, she charged over towards Mathias, only to slam up against the barrier. She tried pushing herself through as she yelled at him.
"What did you do to my master!?" Ruby exclaimed. "What happened to here!?"
Mathias clicked his fingers. In response, a pentagram appeared on the forehead of the creature. It glowed with a pale blue light, radiating with a u usual power that made Yukari and Ruby feel unwell.
"The Shinigami are pretty good at seals." Mathias explained. "At least, this way, the excess power won't destroy half of japan." He jumped off of the statue and landed with a roll. As he got back onto his feet, he looked at Ruby. This time, with an apologetic look, with (what Ethan thought impossible for Mathias to feel) regret.
"For what it's worth, Ruby… I am sorry." He said. He could tell how much she still cared for her master. But, nevertheless, he had to make a choice, and he made it.
It still didn't help Ruby in the slightest. After Mathias finished speaking, Ruby collapsed to the ground, silently weeping as she knew that she wouldn't be seeing her master again.
…
The fight had left all who were involved exhausted.
The bus driver had taken the liberty of calling in someone to move the massive statue so that it wouldn't be discovered by humans. Needless to say, it would raise a lot of questions if the item was found, something that everyone would rather not have to deal with.
Moka had been given back the rosary and had transformed back to her innocent form. However, before she did, she had questioned Ethan on how he had been able to use vampiric power to begin with. He told her that he consumed the blood that had been drained out of her by the Elder witch, hoping it would give him a boost.
When asked if he was a vampire now, he told them that it wasn't the case. He had burnt the blood out of his system the same way with the poison he had been dosed with. While being able to use that much power was an exhilarating experience, Ethan had told them that it just wasn't for him.
The inner Moka had accepted his answer. However, she still gave him a strong kick to the jaw. When the injured Ethan asked why, she stated that it was merciful punishment for those who drank to blood of a vampire without permission. As Ethan had been left groaning in pain, Tsukune couldn't help but laugh, seeing his friend on the other end of the stick.
Finally, as the group had gotten on the bus, Miss Nekonome made a reappearance, apparently carrying a large sack of fish. When she saw the gloomy expressions on the students, she became slightly worried.
"Huh? IS everything okay?" she asked.
"… Let's just say a lot happened while you were gone." Moka said.
The crew explained what had happened to them during the night. After Miss Nekonome heard this, she looked lie she was about to have a heart attack. But after she recovered (After Yukari hit her in the head with a water basin), the feline teacher promised the students that she would do what she could to help Ruby.
On the journey back, no one had said a word. The whole thing had been a shock for the majority of them. They didn't think that the divide between the two races could cause such harm. It only goes to show you that if you let your hatred for something fester and grow, you would only become the thing you hate most, the worst part of yourself.
Moka looked over at Ethan, who seemed lost in thought, resting the staff (which Mathias returned to him) on his lap.
"Ethan?" Moka said.
"Hm?" Ethan responded.
"… Why did you choose to help Ruby? I mean… you didn't…"
"Like her?" Ethan finished, to which Moka nodded. "I told her it was because you and the rest of the crew would be pissed with me if I didn't. which would've been true, let's be honest." He started, which made Moak smile slightly. "But… it was mainly because I empathized with her."
Moka didn't say anything at first, as she knew what Ethan was talking about.
"She and I both lost our families when we were small. We both hated the world and wanted the pain to end. I guess… it just made me want to help her."
Moka nodded in understanding. When she was younger she had lost her mother. It pained her that she wouldn't be able to see or speak with her, but what made it worse was that she didn't know how she was lost. It was like the memories had been wiped, but the pain was still embedded within her heart and soul, only making it worse for her.
She looked over towards Tsukune, who was resting his head against the window as he slept peacefully. He had been the first friend she had ever made, and she suspected that he might mean more to her than she can understand. The thought of losing him was something she wouldn't be able to cope with something like that.
"We shouldn't feel too bad though." Ethan said. "Keep in mind, while the Chairman is a sneaky bastard, he does what he can to help those who need it. Ruby'll be fine."
Moka nodded in agreement, knowing that something good would come out of this.
Ethan was nearly fell back into his thoughts when he suddenly remembered something. He turned back to Moka to ask her something, but before he could he hesitated. Quickly thinking it over, he decided against it, thinking now wasn't the time.
"That power wasn't anything like the force the inner Moka used in her fights… or when she kicked me in the face." he thought, remembering the flow of power he felt after drinking Moka's blood. He had a feeling that Moka definitely had something about her that made her different… perhaps more dangerous that any living, breathing monster on the planet. The question was… what is it?
….
Mathias stood in Witch's hill, observing the clear blue sky that beheld itself to the area. Luckily, the field hadn't been damaged, as the remainder of the fight had occurred in a different area (something the Elder witch planned so that the hill wouldn't be damaged).
He still had an uneasy fielding about this place. While the magic was definitely gone from this place, the fact that it drove someone to murderous rage made made it something that Mathias believed wasn't worth existing.
However, in the end it wasn't for him to decide.
Having decided not to go to Yokai Academy with the newspaper club, Mathias took the opportunity to think about what he had seen. What had him most curious was the awing power that Moka displayed after Tsukune was wounded.
"Hmmm." He hummed. "Guess the bloodline didn't die out after all." He looked down towards the ground, bringing his hand into view as he clenched it into a fist.
"Guess it doesn't matter though. I'm sorry guys… but the Shinso must be eliminated."
Alright, we're going to leave it at that for the time being. In case anyone asks, I know that the ending was a little dark, but I wanted to try it out all the same.
And yes, I decided to have Ethan drink Moka's blood to become super powerful. Originally, I planned to have his flames turn scarlet, like in the 'Study Problems' chapter, but I decided to switch it around.
Right, before I sign off, just have one more thing to say.
The next chapter of the story is going to be a filler chapter, a light-hearted one to make up for the dark ending. I already have something in mind, but thought I'd ask if anyone would like to see anything in particular in the chapter. If not, or if you'd rather not, then it's no problem at all, just thought it'd be fun.
Okay, that's all from me for now. Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review or PM for any feedback you might have, and hope you all have a nice day.