A/N - Second to last chapter. We're almost done with this mess of an arc, people, and then we can move on back to the main plot, and god will I be glad to see the end of this. Maybe it's because we've been stuck in Hungary for basically three months, but I am sick to death of it, and I'm sure plenty of you feel the same.

Update on the poll: As of this typing, Alecto has taken the lead with a total of seven votes, with Tempus in second place with five votes, Panthera Leo in third with two votes, and one of the Kishin Eggs in fourth. Nadia still has no votes. Sorry, Nadia. That's what you get for being a minor character that's been out of focus for this long.

A very special thank you to MegglesGG, Keyworks Kid, Sda209, and DemonSessama for leaving lovely reviews! To MegglesGG: Aw, thanks! n_n And yeah, I'll be the first in line to agree with you about this arc dragging. My thought process writing these past few chapters has been, "This is a great idea! I'll be able to practice writing from the point of view of a canon character, and I'll be able to do something with these Kishin Egg ideas of mine!" *nine thousand words later* "This was a terrible idea, what the hell was I on when I came up with all this." I swear there's a payoff at the end of all this. This chapter and the next one are all that's left, and next chapter should be about as long as Chapter 30, so that's a thing.

Keyworks Kid: Oh, man, tell me about it. Like, I know that what I'm feeling is just representative of how I'm growing and changing as a writer, which is good, but on the other hand the pseudo-secondhand embarrassment is strong with this one. Looking back at my first chapters it's like, "Oh, my god, past me, learn to make your narration flow! Learn to write characters consistently! And for god's sake, learn how to outline your story before writing it!" Writing is very much a learning-on-the-go experience, but that's part of what makes it so fun, yeah?

Sda209: Hello, friend! Good to see you again! I'm glad you like the character dynamics, because those are where my writing skills are the strongest. Banter and interactions are a lot easier than high-octane action for me personally, and I envy those who can keep the pace going in a fight scene without skimping out on the details. Speaking of details, I'm well aware that my projected word count's going end up being very… sizable, when all is said and done, especially considering that there's 40 arcs and we're only on arc 11. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is the way I have it all planned out, splitting it into several installments would wreak havoc on the Freytag's Pyramid of it all. (But hey, I know some people, myself included, who are all about super-long reading projects, so there's a bonus! /silver lining)

DemonSessama: Thanks for the lovely review, and thanks for the lovely tea recommendations! (I'm surprised someone noticed that Alecto prefers sweet and fruity teas, since that's not a specific detail I've consciously drawn attention too!) I'm glad you like the story! The library scene was a bit of a whim, but it made for some cute fluff, so hey, yay for the whim! And yeah, Love at First Sight has its places (I actually have another fic in the works that is Infatuation at First Sight), but given Alecto's character and Kid's character, that place is not here. As for the combat advice, I actually do have something kinda sorta similar to that showing up at some point! The next canon arc isn't for a while, though, and anyone who's been paying attention to where we are timeline-wise will have figured out which episode it'll cover. (Hint: It's not an episode with a lot of fighting.)

As for Panthera, well, I can't say anything for sure, but I can say that she definitely has her irons in a few fires here and there, and she's definitely not some one-off witch lady.

As for which canon I'm following, it's going to be the anime one, mostly because A) It's shorter overall and B) this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I actually really prefer the anime's ending to the manga's. You can argue about how the Power of Friendship theme got downgraded in the anime all you want, but I prefer Maka Falcon Punching the Kishin into nonexistence to Crona stunlocking the Kishin on the moon and then the final chapter being some Freudian crap about boobs. Seriously, Ōkuba, "madness of boobs"? "MADNESS OF BOOBS"?!

DISCLAIMER: Soul Eater is the intellectual property Atsushi Ōkubo. I have no intention of monetizing my fanwork, and this is merely an enjoyable passer of time.


Chapter Thirty-Eight - Countess of Blood - The Shinigami's Struggle Against Báthory, Part Four


The Countess of Blood, true to her word, was waiting for Kid in the throne room, staring down at him with a half-lidded gaze from her seat upon the opulent high-backed chair that she had claimed as her throne. Compared to her out in the ground foyer, Báthory was dressed very conservatively indeed, clad in a simple crimson gown with long, billowing sleeves and a wide skirt that flared at the hips but no ostentatious ornamentation. She looked paler than she did painting as well, almost sickly in complexion with dark circles under her eyes and sunken cheekbones. Her expression was identical, though, the same expression of barely-concealed disdain as she glowered down at the young Grim Reaper. Across her lap lay a closed parasol that shone in the dim light of the chandeliers hanging overhead. "Boy," she said flatly.

"Báthory," Kid replied.

Báthory lurched forward in her seat, her knuckles turning bone-white as she clutched at the arms of her throne. "I told you, boy," she snarled, baring teeth that were sharp as razors and just as thin. "I told you that I am a Countess, and I will be addressed as such!"

"Not by me, I'm afraid," Kid said, pointing Liz and Patti at Báthory's heart, where her twisted shell of a soul lay. "Elizabeth Báthory, your soul has been corrupted beyond repair, and we have come to claim it in the name of the Death Weapon Meister Academy!"

"'We?'" Báthory parroted, seemingly unconcerned with the twin pistols aimed at her. Understanding flickered across her pallid features. "Oh, yes, your weapons. I saw them transform. Such lovely young ladies, with such potential. I think that I will take their blood as well as their souls, when we are finished here."

Liz let out a faint whimper, recoiling at the thought of the Countess draining the blood from her body and bathing in it, and Kid bristled at the idea of anyone trying to hurt his partners. It was Patti who objected the loudest. "Hey, you! Don't even think about hurtin' my big sis, you big ugly!"

Kid could practically hear the audible snap of her string of thought breaking in two as Báthory froze, an eyebrow twitch betraying the rage that simmered underneath her mask of half-caring. "Ugly?" she said, her voice barely more than a hissing whisper. "Ugly?"

"Oh, now you've gone and done it, Patti," Liz winced.

In one swift movement, Báthory snatched her parasol off her lap and lunged forward towards Kid and the Thompsons, swinging it over her head in a sweeping strike. Kid threw his arms up, crossing Liz and Patti's barrels in an X formation that caught the tip of the parasol with a bizarre clanging sound that couldn't have come from cloth. This umbrella… it's made out of steel? Kid thought, eying the sharpened point of the parasol warily. I'll have to keep my distance, then. He pushed Báthory away and somersaulted out of her range. "You'll need to do better than that," he said, pointing Liz and Patti at her and firing. Now your soul will be mine.

Ptng ptng. Quick as lightning, Báthory had opened up her umbrella and held it out in front of her like a makeshift shield, and the two wavelength projectiles bounds off the curved metal with ease. She managed to block my wavelength that easily? Kid thought. Normally, the compressed wavelengths that her weapons fired in lieu of normal ammunitions did less damage than the latter, but could pass through nearly any sort of armor or shield. No wonder Báthory was using an umbrella to fight; there was clearly something special about it. He checked his Soul Perception, which confirmed his theory; while the parasol wasn't any sort of Demon Weapon, Báthory had still managed to find a way to channel her Kishin Egg wavelength through it, strengthening it further and using it to counter his own wavelength.

Kid could see now why one-star meisters were so expressly prohibited from going on this mission. Damn it. I'll have to outmaneuver her somehow. Luckily, he was faster than most, and he'd be able to use that to his advantage. As Báthory charged once more, swinging her parasol so that the sharpened edge was aimed for Kid's head, he dodged out of the way, weaving behind her and opening fire once more. But once more she blocked it, giving the parasol in her hands a casual little twirl for emphasis as she blocked each and every shot. "IF this is the best that the DWMA has to offer," she said with a dramatic sigh, "then it has really gone downhill." A wicked grin appeared across her face, each and every one of her sharp teeth (which were beginning to remind Kid of the teeth of some sort of messed-up deep-sea creature) glinting menacingly. "Keep fighting like this, and I'll send you back to your father in a tinderbox, boy!"

"Just try it!" Kid snapped, trying to maneuver himself into a position where he could land a hit on her. But Báthory was quick, and every move he made to attack was quickly blocked and parried, with her spinning the umbrella in her hands like a member of a color guard, opening and closing it as often and as quick as necessary. There was no helping it; he'd have to get up closer and take her on in melee, where her parasol would be all but useless.

"You've no chance of winning, boy," Báthory jeered, giving her parasol another twirl. "I'll have your soul, your blood, and the same from your pretty little pistols." She scowled in an almost childlike manner. "Call me ugly, will you…"

"I don't understand," Kid said. "Most Kishin Eggs care only about power. Why do you care so much about beauty? And why do you think that bathing in the blood of others will make you beautiful?"

Báthory let out a harsh and bitter laugh. "Oh, you truly do know nothing, do you, boy?" she said. "Beauty is a power all its own. In a world where people won't look at you twice if you're plain or worse, being able to draw the attention of whoever you wish with your looks alone can give you a rule over others that few can attest to." She snapped the umbrella closed and pointed it at him. "We all seek beauty in our lives, little boy. Even you do."

"Of course I do," Kid retorted, rushing forward and aiming an underhanded strike at Báthory with Liz. She barely managed to block in time. He brought Patti around in a sweeping arc and managed to knock Báthory off-balance a bit, causing her to stumble a couple feet back. "I seek symmetry in all things, an aesthetic balance between left and right. Symmetry is the most important thing in this world, but I wouldn't devour the souls of the innocent to achieve it!"

"I don't mean that sort of beauty. That is a concept, little more," Bathory snapped, and Kid bristled at the way she brushed him off. "I mean the beauty of a person. Do you only think in such abstracts, boy? Is there no one who has caught your eye, no one who your can say has attained beauty in the way that I mean it?"

Soft carnation curls fell across her shoulders and back, her even bangs obscuring her eye when she stared down at the floor in her periodic fits of shyness. Her eyes were soft as well, soft and round and the color of charcoal dust. Everything about her was soft, but there was a strength to it all, too, a desperate pride in her stance as she moved. He admired her steadfastness, in a way, her devotion to her ideals when it came to a meister's duty.

Kid didn't answer Báthory. Instead, he ducked low and aims a sweeping kick at her legs, hoping to catch her off-guard enough to break through her defensive and get the upper hand he was really beginning to need at this point. Her response was to step back and swiftly close her umbrella, flipping it around in her hands so she was holding the tip instead of the hooked handle. She caught Kid's outstretched leg with the hook and, using her newfound leverage, threw him into the air.

Kid wasn't about to let Báthory gain the tactical edge that easily, however. Summoning Beelzebub, he twisted around in the air and planted his feet against the board and leaned back so he was nearly-upside down in the air. He pointed Liz and Patti and fired, and for once Báthory with her back turned wasn't expecting him to attack when he did. The wavelength projectives hit her square in the center of her back, and she let out a yelp of surprise as she pivoted around to face him. Kid banished Beelzebub and dropped down, somersaulting in his air and readying himself to land a kick on Báthory's head.

Clang. Instead, the heel of his shoe collided squarely against her once again open parasol, and once more she knocked him away, sending him to the floor and skidding back several feet. "You fascinate me, boy," Báthory said, gazing at him with a curious expression. "You claim to love symmetry above all else, that it is the aesthetic you wish to bring upon on their world. But you do not even bring it upon yourself. After all… look at those bizarre little stripes in your hair."

Snap,

"Uh-oh," Patti said.

"Shit," Liz muttered under her breath before speaking up. "Kid, don't listen to her, she's just trying to mess with you!"

"Kid?"

She was right.

Kid sank to his hands and knees with hollow eyes, despair engulfing him. Damn it all, the Countess was right. What business did he have going around and championing symmetry when here he was with his hideous stripes, making a mockery of the very idea of left-right balance by simply existing? What right did he have to talk, to even think about symmetry? He was lopsided, hideous, all mixed up and wrong because of those damn stripes.

He could hear Liz's voice echoing in the back of his mind, even through the pea-soup fog of misery and self-hatred that had settled in his brain. "Kid, snap out of it!" she was shouting. "Now's really not the time to have a breakdown, you can wait until after we beat this woman!"

But the stripes weren't going to wait until later. The stripes were there now, mocking him with their existence, making it so that his ideals of true beauty were just out of his reach, dancing along a string and baiting him like a kitty toy.

Báthory stepped forward, the delicately tapered heels of her shoes making a faint clack-clack-clack sound against the stone floors. "How easily children fall," she said. "For the son of Lord Death, you really didn't pose that big of a threat. The villagers beneath my heels are more troublesome than you." She let out a faintly disappointed sigh, closing her umbrella and twirling it around in her hand until she held it poised over Kid's head like a dagger, the sharpened tip positively gleaming. "Well, regardless, I'm sure your soul will do me a great deal of good. Perhaps with the strength of a reaper I will be able to expand my influence beyond this petty settlement. Make peace with your fate, boy, because you shall receive none other."

She brought the umbrella down.

Bang!

Clng!

Báthory stumbled back with wide eyes, stunned by the shot that had hit her umbrella just as she was about to drive it through the back of Kid's neck. She stared at the scene before her. Patti had changed into human form and planted herself firmly between her meister and the Countess, gripping Liz tightly in her hands. Her expression was no longer the bubbly grin she usually maintained, but a wide, borderline maniacal grin with a ferocity in her eyes that rivaled that of angry lions. This wasn't the cheerful, giraffe-loving student of the DWMA. This was one of the infamous Devils of Brooklyn, ready and eager to fight back. "Die, crazy Countess lady!"

She opened fire, releasing a hail of ammunition upon the Countess. Báthory flinched and raised her parasol, ducking behind her makeshift shield. "What the hell is this?" she exclaimed. "You're a girl who turns into a weapon, yet you wield a weapon yourself? This makes no sense!"

"Sure it does!" Patti exclaimed, jumping right back to her cheerful and bubbly behavior. "Me and big sis used to use each other to fight all the time before we met Kid!"

"Is that so?" Báthory growled. "Well, you won't be doing much of that anymore, I'm sorry to say." She shut her parasol and shifted into a finestra stance, holding the steel umbrella so that it was parallel to the floor and grazing her face. With an angry cry, she charged forward, stabbing the parasol outward.

Patti had just enough time to clumsily dodge, stumbling out of Báthory's immediate range before shouting, "Sis!"

"Right!" Patti shifted into her weapon form in tandem with Liz's transformation into human form. The elder Thompson landed on the ground and caught her younger sister, turning to face their noble assailant. She practically clung to Patti, the hint of nervousness in her expression masked by determination. "Kid, now would be a really good time to snap out of it!"

Kid didn't respond. Trash, I'm trash, take me down to the city dump and leave me to rot.

"Your precious Grim Reaper can't hear you now, I'm afraid," Báthory jeered, taking a swing at Liz, who yelped and ducked down with one hand on her hat to keep it in place.

"Don't worry, though. When I kill him, I'll be sure to let him know how concerned you were. You know, since you won't be around to tell him for yourself."

Liz fought the urge to tell this lady where she could stick her patronizing false reassurances, instead taking a few shots at her with Patti. "Come on, Kid!" she snapped, still trying to get through to her unresponsive meister. "What happened to protecting the people here and restoring balance? Isn't that what you came here to do? What about that girl back in the village? She expects you to save her, and you're gonna let her down just sitting here like this!"

Nothing. Liz swore vigorously under her breath. "Patti," she said, firing a few more predictably-parried shots at the Countess. "You gotta keep her distracted so I can get Kid up on his feet, all right? I don't think we'll be able to take her out on our own."

"Okie dokie!"

"Right. Switch!" The Thompsons switched forms once more, Patti in human form landing behind Báthory with Liz in hand. " Hey, you!" she shouted. The Countess whirled around, and Patti took aim. "Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, ugly!" The Countess let out a scream of rage at the insult, and very soon they were locked in a game of "Dodge the Incredibly Deadly Metal Parasol."

"P-Patti, be careful, you didn't need to distract her that much!"

Patti has long since stopped listening, and his now giggling way too gleefully for someone who is regularly coming within inches of being stabbed by a nutjob wielding rainy day tool. Liz sighed and turned her attention to Kid. "Look, you can't listen to what the Countess said!" she said. "She only said that because she wanted you to stop fighting!"

That didn't make her any less right, did it? His stripes were there, mocking him with their existence, regardless of the reasons Báthory had pointed them out.

"Kid, I know what you're thinking, and you're not trash!" Liz encouraged. "You're a Grim Reaper, and a great meister to boot! You can totally beat this weirdo, you've just gotta put your own weirdness on the back burner for a few seconds, 'kay?"

Easy for her to say.

"Kid, for the love of… you're being ridiculous, you're the most symmetrical person we know!"

That finally got Kid's attention. His gaze snapped upwards, eyes widened as a look of surprise crossed his pale face. "You mean that?" he whispered. Him, the most symmetrical person they knew? That couldn't be right. There were so many others that were more symmetrical. Maka, Alecto, most of dad's Death Scythes… hell even their own personal appearances were more symmetrical than him and his stripes, even if their symmetry in tandem with each other left something to be desired.

"Yeah!" Patti said, dodging another strike from Báthory. "You spend a lot of time making everything super symmetrical! No one does that!"

She… had a point, but still.

"I mean, seriously Kid," Liz said. "Do any of our friends look like they spend twenty minutes making sure their suspenders are symmetrical? Those three little stripes don't matter, really!"

Kid wasn't sure that any of their friends wore suspenders, but he was beginning to see where she was coming from. As far as he knew, no one else paid so much attention to symmetry, and their casual disregard for it showed in their day-today life. Soul and Black Star's hair, as well as the former's chaotic mess of a headband, Tsubaki's one stocking and the star patch on one side of her dress but not the other, Alecto's ribbon (that ribbon was especially troublesome, he was starting to suspect she kept it askew on purpose just to mess with him). He seemed to be the only one who really paid attention to symmetry, the only one who gave it the focus it deserved.

Maybe… maybe Liz and Patti were right. Maybe he wasn't complete garbage…

And even if they weren't, he knew that if the Countess of Blood were to allowed to become stronger, she would impose her rule and her twisted, evil idea of beauty onto even more people. He couldn't let that happen. He slowly pushed himself to his feet with a renewed vigor, adjusted the lapels of his jacket. "Elizabeth Báthory," he said, quiet and stern. "As a Kishin Egg, you have committed unforgivable crimes against humankind, and as such your soul is forfeit." He raised his voice. "Liz, Patti."

"All right!" Patti exclaimed, tossing her sister to him and following suit as she shifted to pistol form. He caught them both with ease.

"About time," Liz muttered.

Báthory blinked, appearing a little taken aback at this shift in demeanor. Then her lazy, disdainful smile returned. "Don't think that just because you're on your feet you'll be able to win. I am the ruler of this place, its very lifeblood. I give it strength, stripping away the anarchy and instilling something beautiful: myself. What makes you think that you'll be able to defeat me?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Kid retorted. "Let's go, Soul Resonance!"

His soul wavelength collided and sparked against Liz and Patti's, the resulting amplification of power bouncing between him and his partners, growing stronger with every ripple of their soul. While dark, electricity-esque energy sparked between the spikes forming on his upper arms, a bright energy enveloped the Thompsons, causing them to expand outwards into their Resonance forms. He fell to the ground, the momentum carrying him into a crouching position, and aimed directly at the stunned Báthory. "Execution Mode: Death Cannon."

"Resonance stable," Liz said to his left. "Resonance at zero point three percent."

Patti piped up on his right. "Black needle soul wavelength fully charged!"

Báthory stumbled back a few steps. "W-what sort of power is this?"

"Preparing to fire. Feedback in four seconds. Three."

"Two."

"One."

"Firing now!"

Death Cannon fired.

In the glow of the shot, milliseconds before the impact, Kid could see the look of abject terror on Báthory's face. Then she was engulfed in an explosion large enough to shatter the chandeliers above, sending a rain of glass cascading to the ground amidst the blast. As the fire faded away, leaving only a billowing cloud of opaque smoke, Kid released the Soul Resonance, and Liz and Patti returned to their regular pistol forms. For a few seconds, no one moved, waiting to see the results of their attack.

Then the smoke thinned, and out stepped a figure. Kid's eyes narrowed, and he readied himself for another assault, but then he realized that Báthory wasn't walking into view, she was staggering, limping heavily with blood streaming down her face and a hollow look in her eyes. She was done for, and both she and Kid knew it.

"I… I don't…" Her voice was barely more than a whisper as she toppled forward, exploding into a mass of black ribbons mid-fall and leaving behind only a single, reddened Kishin Egg.

It was almost poetically ironic, Kid thought as he approached the Egg, how someone so obsessed with beauty could leave behind such an ugly soul.

The Thompsons shifted into their human forms, With Patti letting out a huge yawn and Liz stretching her arms over her head. "I am so glad that's over with," Liz declared. "This night feels like it's lasted for months."

Kid shared the sentiment. "I agree," he said. "I think it's about time we went home."


A/N - I suppose you could call Báthory's umbrella a… parry-sol. :D

When I told my sister that pun she hit me on the shoulder with her pre-algebra textbook. Thanks, sis.

Anyways, totally blatant Alecto/Kid (Alekid? Kidlecto? I like Kidlecto, Alekid sounds like a Pokemon) ship tease aside, that scene where Kid breaks because asymmetry and Liz + Patti defending him was basically the sole reason I wrote this arc. The sole reason. I need more Liz and Patti being the super badass ex-Devils of Brooklyn they are, okay? Awesome ladies fuel my life. And yes, Liz counts as a badass, even if she is kind of a super wuss.

Looking back, I really shouldn't have included the three servants. I had some interesting ideas for them (particularly the Cook), but they eventually got scrapped for various reasons, which led to a bunch of minibosses I couldn't do anything with but couldn't quietly scrap because I'd already introduced them via my self-insertion cameo. Once again, I am my own worst enemy. Damn you, Hungarian me!

Once again, no Alecto, no Latin. That'll be the last Alecto-free chapter for a while, though, and the next arc will be especially Latin-heavy because reasons.

Chapter 39 will be up a lot sooner due because it will be shorter and much easier to write. Also because the meantime, feel free to favorite and leave a review!

-Diana "Nocte"