Chapter 12: Rumble on the School Building!
The arrival of Espada, Hoshii, and Kajiru was an unexpected situation that Akaya couldn't have foreseen as he stared them down from across the school building. Celia and Yan Min were immediately on edge while Minerva remained calm but was now frowning in displeasure as their plans for engaging Nagi alone were interrupted.
Akaya produced a wry smile. "What rotten timing. I didn't calculate having to face these girls along with Nagi... wait... perhaps!?" His eyes quickly darted towards the figure of Nagi with a sense of urgency as he pondered a hypothetical scenario. Had Nagi set this scenario up with Espada and the others? What were the chances of them arriving at precisely the same time that Akaya and the Venus girls did? The timing was just too convenient, something had to be up!
To Akaya's astonishment however, his assumption was thrown right out the window when Espada spoke her next choice of words.
"Good evening, Venus Commander Akaya Kyodai. I definitely wasn't expecting to meet you here like this; it is quite a fortunate turn of events... or would be if you were my target. My business isn't with you today unfortunately..." Espada's clear and serene eyes then slowly slid over towards Nagi who was standing idly in the corner "...It's with that strapping young man over there"
"Huh?" Nagi raised his eyebrow, confusion written all over his face. What business did this beautiful young girl have with him?
Akaya was stunned, scanning both Espada and Nagi's facial expressions for any signs of pre planned actions. Judging off of Nagi's reaction earlier, even he didn't expect them to show up which made Akaya's heart relived, but at the same time worried. If they weren't here collaborating together, just what did Espada and the others come here for?
"You said you have beef with me, blondie?" Nagi rudely responded as he threw both of his arms in his pockets. He wasn't even trying to hide the displeasure in his voice and tone at having been interrupted of his night watching. Anyone who knew Nagi well enough, and that was a very small number of people, would know that he didn't appreciate anyone disturbing his peaceful moments. Jack Rakan figured that out the hard way one time as Nagi beat the man senseless when he was star gazing one night.
Espada wasn't bothered by Nagi's rudeness and smiled. "Indeed. Otohime-dono, our mistress wishes to convey a special invitation towards you. An opportunity such as this doesn't happen often, you should feel honored"
"Otohime?" Nagi searched his memory, recalling that Minori had mentioned that name a few times with a grumpy expression. Still, he had no idea what she wanted and shrugged his shoulders. "Never heard of her. What does she want with me that she can't even come here herself?"
Akaya's eyes flickered, as did the rest of the Venus girls when they heard Otohime's name. So Otohime sent them after Nagi! But what interest did she have in him? Did she perhaps discovering something about Nagi that they hadn't?
"Otohime-dono is quite busy attending to important matters so she sent us as messengers. I don't believe there should be a problem as long as you come with us to our hideout, and then you may speak with her yourself. Besides..." Espada's voice trailed off as she seductively licked her lips and ran her hands all over her voluptuous body in a sensual manner, startling everyone present. "Are you really not interested in our invitation?"
In the face of such a attractive beauty, even Akaya wasn't immune to her charms as he swallowed his spit with a blush, immediately coughing afterwards after noticing the blank stares coming from his girls.
Celia, Yan Min, and Minerva were well aware that no matter what kind of "elegant" man Akaya claimed to be on the surface, he was still a man to the core. Yan Min certainly wasn't impressed as she huffed and turned away. Men were all the same, always thinking with their lower halves.
Hoshii sighed in an exasperated manner as she held her forehead, disliking Espada's methods of gaining attention. The thing that pissed her off about it was that she never took advantage of such a gold mine! The amount of men seduced by Espada that would be willing to spend their savings on her would be endless; this dumb girl doesn't know how to profit!
Kajiru didn't say anything as a blush appeared on her face, clearly believing that Espada was too shameless.
After Espada had given Nagi her answer, he blinked for a moment and snorted in amusement, proceeding to turn around while waving his arm. "Your ten years too early to try and seduce me kid. You can tell that Otohime brat that if she has something to say to me, she should stop hiding and say it to my face. What am I, her servant?"
Unbelievable!
A rush of shock enveloped all those present as they were stunned beyond belief at Nagi's immediate refusal towards Espada's invitation. Never had they witnessed a man refuse, let alone ignore Espada and were unable to comprehend Nagi's mind. Even if he had no interest in going with her to meet Otohime, shouldn't he have been at least attracted to Espada?
Espada herself was momentarily stunned at Nagi's decline as her mouth hung slightly open, but that soon passed as a new feeling entered her body. Truthfully, she was desperately trying to restrain herself from engaging in combat with Nagi at this very moment. His calm and composed figure under the moonlight and his disinterest towards her made her body tremble as she wished to confirm if he had the strength to match his attitude. She pleaded in her heart that he would reject the offer and was not disappointed.
She now had free reign to do what he intended to do from the beginning.
"...I don't know what Otohime wants with Nagi... but if they have learned something about him that even Minerva wasn't able to pick up, we can't let them take him!" Akaya thought as he traded looks between his subordinates. Each of them nodded immediately in unison, signifying that they were prepared to mobilize at any given minute.
The atmosphere around the school building took a nose dive as Espada's and the others killing intent could be felt from everywhere and a chilling wind passed by.
Espada chuckled. "Very well, I see you are not like other men that I have encountered before. Unfortunately, Otohime-dono's orders cannot be ignored so I'm afraid I'll have to use my own methods to bring you to her" Her eyes gleamed with ferocity as she swiftly withdrew the rapier strapped to her skirt and took a formal fencing stance with her blade parallel to the ground."Do not hold it against me"
In an instant, Espada's body dashed forward and was headed straight for Nagi, who was still facing the other direction.
"Now!"
Akaya gave the order and Yan Min, along with Celia, moved forward to intercept Espada before her attack could go through. They didn't have the intention of protecting Nagi as they were still cautious and wary of him, but they first needed to deal with Espada's group before confronting him.
"Heh, where do you think you're looking?"
Yan Min and Celia both came to a halt as two shadows slammed in front of them, rumbling the ground underneath their feet. Yan Min grunted in annoyance when Kajiru and Hoshii stood in their way and allowed Espada to make her move.
"Sorry girls, we're being paid to do this so don't think too badly of us" Hoshii pleaded with a sarcastic face as she had dollar signs for eyes, picturing the compensation Otohime would give them later.
"Hoh... you think you can stop us?" Yan Min hummed with interest, taking a martial arts stance and spread both her legs wide. If she was to be honest, her only objective was to fight against Nagi today but her goal had been blocked thanks to the annoying intervention of the two pests standing in front of her. That said, Yan Min wasn't one to turn down a challenge and she would deal with Nagi after having disposed of the runt in her way.
"Yan-chan, we don't have time to deal with them~!" Celia pouted as she didn't even pay attention to the enormous girl looking down at her.
Yan Min shot Celia an annoyed glance. "Don't be stupid, we have to defeat these bitches first before we can deal with Espada and Nagi" She then grinned in a sadistic manner that sent a shiver down Hoshii's back. "It shouldn't take long"
Celia relented and sighed, accepting her words. "Fine, but if we miss the chance to talk with the hottie because of you, I'm not letting you listen to my CD's anymore~!"
"...Since when did I start listening to them?" Yan Min retorted in her head but ignored the tasteless joke and focused on fighting the enemy in front of her.
Espada, who had been on a straight course towards Nagi, took a second to glance over at her comrades keeping the Venus girls at bay and softly smiled. She really owed them big time for this as now, she could take Nagi on without any worries!
However, Espada wasn't planning on using her Maken, [Furuno]'s true ability right away as she always found more enjoyment in testing her opponents to see what level they were at. With Nagi's mysterious power, she was even more determined to only use her Maken if he proved worthy!
In the short instant that Espada had closed the distance between herself and Nagi, she trusted her blade forward to pierce Nagi's back as he was still turned around. She aimed for the lower part of his waist, clearly not aiming to strike a mortal blow but enough so to take him out of the fight if left unchecked.
"Stop!" Akaya screamed, drawing one of the black pistols loaded from his pocket out and aimed it at the thrusting Espada. His Maken, [Swindle] that took the shape of a gun was definitely a unique Maken but in this scenario, its powers were useless as he wasn't going to make the shot in time! He then directed a hopeful gaze towards Minerva. "Can you stop her?"
Minerva nodded, slowly opening her usually closed eyes in the process as those powerful eyes held a near infinite amount of element floating within them "Of course"
However, that turned out to be completely unnecessary as Nagi's idle figure suddenly vanished the moment Espada's rapier made contact with his cloak.
"...!?"
Espada was stunned as her target had vanished into thin air, without a single trace. She regained her form and darted her piercing eyes all over the school building, ignoring the battle currently going on between the girls and searched for Nagi relentlessly. Where did he go?
"Did you do that?" Akaya hesitantly asked Minerva, who had the same stiffened expression as her captain.
"I didn't..."
They weren't the only ones searching for Nagi as Espada remained on guard and turned in every direction, unable to pick up Nagi's trail. This wasn't making any sense, unless Nagi had some sort of teleportation Maken, his element should still be traceable. Yet, there wasn't a single whiff of it.
Just as Espada pondered what her next move would be, she suddenly felt a strong and firm sensation coming from her butt and swiftly turned around, only to be met with Nagi standing right behind her, looking deep in thought as he had raised her skirt up with one hand while the other had firmly grabbed onto her rear.
"A thong huh... don't you think that its a bit daring for a girl your age?" Nagi's voice held a whimsical tone as he continued to squeeze on Espada's large butt, causing her to blush furiously and retaliate by swinging her sword at him. Nagi ducked his head easily enough to avoid the blow but lost his grip on Espada, who jumped back to gain some distance.
Nagi looked down at the hand he had used to grab onto Espada's butt, slowly opening and closing it as if to remember the sensation. "Hmm...It's not as firm and toned as Arika's but much more plump..."
Espada was simply astonished beyond belief as she tried to grasp the situation, panting slowly with flushed cheeks as she recalled her rear being squeezed. Even though she still didn't understand how Nagi had gotten behind her, the touch of his hand at that spot honestly felt good but she held her pride and showed a face full of disdain towards him. Had he seen through her already?
That seemed to be the case as a innocent grin appeared on Nagi's face. "That moan you made earlier wasn't my imagination, was it?"
"...!"
Espada felt her cheeks redden as she had been seen through by Nagi who was able to see past Espada's elegant and refined nature for what it truly was; a shameless and horny sex addict!
Minerva was cupping her hands in embarrassment as she had looked away, unable to face what Nagi had done to Espada while Akaya coughed in an awkward manner, trying to get the mood back on track.
"The hell's been going on over there-Woah!" Hoshii shouted in frustration as she narrowly dodged a roundhouse kick from Yan Min who was relentlessly attacking her. Even though she wasn't going full out, Yan Min's deadly accuracy and precision was enough to make Hoshii retreat back and unable to counter her.
Kajiru wasn't having much luck either as Celia proved to be a tricky opponent, dodging all of her strikes with minimal effort while continuing to smile. She couldn't tell what she was thinking at all!
"Your not any fun, why don't you just give up? You know you can't win against an idol~!" Celia counter attacked by landing a powerful strike against Kajiru's stomach, sending the enormous woman staggering back a bit. For such a small and fragile young girl, she packed one hell of a punch!
"Kajiru!" Hoshii yelled in worry but that proved to be a mistake as Yan Min took the opportunity to sneak in and deliver a devastating frontal kick against Hoshii's chin, sweeping her to the side where she tumbled on the school building and struggled to get up. A trail of blood fell from her lips as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and clicked her tongue.
"Damn it, this job isn't worth the money! We never agreed to fight these girls, why are we even still here?" She turned around to see Espada hesitating to fight against Nagi and raised her eyebrow. What was she doing?
Nagi slowly walked forward towards the cautious Espada who had gotten up and pointed her rapier towards him once again. She had underestimated Nagi that's for sure, but that was no longer a problem as she decided to use her Maken, [Furuno] to silence him quickly and retreat. The rush of ecstasy filling Espada's heart as she wondered what more tricks Nagi had under his sleeve had to be repressed as the situation required her to wrap things up.
Nagi's eyes befell everyone currently engaged in battle and sighed in disappointment. None of them seemed to even understand that he hadn't actually disappeared; he was just moving so fast around Espada that it looked as if he had vanished. The fact that no one saw through it meant none of the people gathered here were strong enough to prove to be a challenge and Nagi didn't feel he should use any more strength against unworthy enemies.
Still, he wanted to have some fun with the brats who interrupted his peaceful time and flashed a menacing smile across his face. "Don't tell me you plan on leaving already? Where's the fun in that? Show me your best and let me show you it will never be enough"
"...Forgive me, it seems that I have severely underestimated your abilities" Espada took a deep breath as she the activation of her Maken was imminent and she built her resolve. "I won't make that same mistake again!"
Espada dashed forward towards Nagi once again but this time, she used her Maken's special ability to change the friction around her body and lower it dramatically. In doing so, her speed was on an entirely different level than last time as she turned into a blur and circled around Nagi.
Nagi's eyes flinched immediately as he caught Espada's movements but had to try a bit harder to follow them. Clearly, she had done something to alter her basic movement speed but Nagi couldn't figure it out and decided to test out her improved speed.
He grinned in delight. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
"Let's see how you handle your friction being increased!"
Espada's Maken activated once again as her rapier began to shine brightly. This time, she had set the target to be the air around Nagi's body as she significantly raised its friction, hoping for it to impair his movement. It would be impossible for him to keep up with her now as she appeared in front of him and thrust her blade towards his abdomen.
Before contact however, Nagi's body moved out of the way in an instant, shocking Espada who didn't believe Nagi's body could move even after having the friction around it nearly doubled! Even more so because she had also increased her own friction! Just what kind of monster was he?
"Heh, not bad. I can see that you did something to my body along with your own but you'll have to do better than that!" Nagi shouted as he retracted his fist and aimed it towards Espada's beautiful face. Even though the friction around his arm had been slowed, it was still a deadly attack as Espada's body was drenched in a cold sweat and she barely dodged the blow.
"Hahhhh!" Espada roared, using a great deal of her arm strength to thrust her blade several hundreds of times towards Nagi. However, each strike was dodged as the two of them moved at lightning fast speed, shocking the spectators who were having trouble keeping up.
"Such mastery of one's body, his close combat skills are praiseworthy!" Yan Min exclaimed n her head. She originally believed Nagi's true strength relied on his overwhelming destructive power, most likely from a Maken but was surprised to see that his physical abilities were nothing short of her own. No, they might even be greater!
"Espada can't hit him? How is that even possible...?" Hoshii gasped as she panted heavily, still feeling the injuries of her duel with Yan Min. Espada was the strongest of the third years and was unmatched in both speed and power in almost all of Tenbi, how could she struggle to hit her target.
As Espada continued to strike at Nagi who was dodging each blow, her interest towards him kept growing more and more. In the short time she had engaged with him, she couldn't believe that the gorgeous man she was fighting was actually able to make her feel so afraid that no one else she had fought before could. It was also even making her excited down there as she licked her lips seductively and continued to thrust forward, wanting to play with him more.
Just as Nagi had dodged another blow, he quickly grabbed onto the blade from the tip and held it with a firm grip. Usually, no one would dare touch a blade from its edge for fear of having their hand chopped off but Nagi ignored that as he coated his hands with magic to nullify the sharpness of the blade.
"That was a fun little trick, is there anything else you have to show me?" His voice was amused to say the least as Espada was far from a satisfying opponent but someone he could praise with decent skills. She was, at the very least, at the same level as old man Takeshi.
Espada chuckled in good humor, not even surprised that he had caught her blade with his hand. "Perhaps. You have certainly proven you are one of a kind, Nagi. Are you sure you aren't interested in coming with me to visit Otohime-dono? A man of your ability and looks will not be treated bad"
That was of course, a lie. Espada had no doubts that the moment Otohime got her hands on Nagi, he would be stripped of his free will and forced to become her slave puppet until he was no longer able to hold her attention. This wasn't new, Otohime had done it many times in the past with several good looking men she encountered. However, Nagi was the first to incite such a passionate reaction out of the young lady and Espada believed Nagi wouldn't be thrown away as quickly as the others, at the very least.
She thought it would also be a terrible shame for someone of Nagi's skill to be wasted like that. The list of men that satisfy Espada so perfectly were practically non existent so to her, meeting Nagi had been like winning the jackpot. Unfortunately, Otohime's orders were absolute and she had to rid herself of her selfish thoughts.
Nagi didn't saying anything in response towards Epsada but moved closer to her, with Espada's rapier still being gripped in his hand. She tried to back away just in case but Nagi forcibly pulled the grip on her blade towards himself, causing the girl to stumble forward rather clumsily. She stopped abruptly when she felt a pair of firm arms catching her by her slim waist as she looked up and flashed with bewilderment when she was face to face with Nagi, so close that she could see deep into his eyes and feel his breath on her face.
"W-What is he doing?"
Espada had numerous interactions with men and woman, leaning on the girl's side, during her stay in both Tenbi and Kamigari. Everyone knew this. In all of those instances, Espada had initiated the contact and easily seduced and played with her targets one by one, her body desiring more and more with each passing day.
However, this was a completely different experience for Espada being faced with a man who showed no lustful desire for her while making such close proximity. She thought she could tell what a man was thinking from a glance but Nagi's eyes and face were filled with mystery and charm that made her veteran mind go numb. Getting a closer look at him, she could understand why Otohime was so taken by Nagi's looks earlier; he was by far the most attractive man she had ever gazed at. Unexpectedly, Espada felt her face redden as her eyes became glued towards Nagi's as they stood like that for what seemed to be an eternity.
"So, what's next?" said Nagi, not caring one bit what kind of situation this was being mistaken for. Truth be told, he just wanted to tease Espada a bit as he saw her elated facial expressions before and was curious about how she would deal with a guy this close to her.
"Eh?" Espada was tongue tied on what to do as she felt her handle on her [Furuno] weaken a bit, but still held onto it and awaited a moment to strike... if she could stop enjoying the proximity between them.
Watching the scene at hand, the girls all had blushes appear on their faces at Nagi's boldness when dealing with Espada, especially Yan Min who couldn't believe what she was seeing. One moment they were fighting and the next they were practically kissing, it was a disgrace to warriors everywhere!
"Is Espada... embarrassed!? T-That's impossible!" Hoshii couldn't believe it, since when did Espada feel embarrassed being that close to a man? She devoured hundreds of them before!
Akaya had no idea what was going on but thought this was a good chance and looked at Minerva. She seemed to pick up what her captain was getting at and nodded, activating her Maken. Minerva's [Aegis] had several unique abilities and the one she was going to use now was the power to create dimensional rifts in a specific area and move whatever she wanted to her own personal storage.
The space around the school building began to twist as Minerva's element leaked all over the surface, creating a force field that blocked out everything within the area. Now, no one could escape her domain as her eyes focused on where Nagi and Espada where.
"Which one?" Minerva asked in a solemn tone.
"You can't exhaust all of your powers, so only store Nagi away. Once we take care of Espada and her bunch, we'll deal with him"
"Understood"
Minerva's eyes flashed with a great surge of element behind them, homing in on Nagi's location as he immediately sensed something. He pushed Espada out of the way and felt his body beginning to change as his physical structure became transparent.
"What the hell? What's going on with my body...?"
His puzzled expression didn't last long as soon, his body vanished completely and Minerva smiled beautifully. "It's complete. Sorry Nagi-san, we'll need you to stay quiet for a bit"
Espada was dumbfounded when Nagi had pushed her out of the way and didn't understand what happened to him but directed her gaze towards the smiling Minerva. She must have had a role to play in this as Espada stood up and grabbed her rapier, a sea of killing intent spreading across her face.
"What did you do with him?"
"Hm? Whatever do you mean, Espada-san?" Minerva played dumb as she didn't feel intimidated by Espada's glare in the least.
Espada gritted her teeth. "I said what the hell did you do to him, you bitch!"
This outburst caused a shock among everyone present as they stared at Espada with baffled expressions. Just where did that come from?
Espada herself seemed to realize what she had just said and covered her mouth, not even understanding why she had gotten so angry. Nagi's actions of pushing her out of the way replayed in her mind but she shook her head to deny the thought, she didn't believe he did it to save her. Still, the act seemed to cause a reaction in her heart and when she saw him disappear like that, she had gotten angry for some reason. How did that make any sense?
"Espada-san, you need not worry. I have not harmed Nagi-san, I have simply taken him out of the battle"
"Worried? Who said I was worried about him? That man is still my target and as such, I must capture him. Don't get in my way!"
Espada was done playing games as she branded her rapier once more and activated its full capabilities. Manipulating friction was more than simply increasing or decreasing a person's movement speed, it could also be used to in combination with weapons! She swung her sword forward, increasing the friction of her blade substantially and as a result, a sharp and thin blade of air was projected towards Minerva and Akaya.
Akaya clicked his tongue in annoyance. "So she used the friction against her blade to create a blade of air? She's more skilled with one of the original eight Maken than I thought, but that doesn't matter!"
Cocking his pistol, Akaya loaded a special bullet and fired it towards the projectile of air. The collision between the two forces caused a huge explosion to occur on the school building, but that was quickly subdued by Minerva's dimensional barrier that hid most of the aftermath of the explosion.
After the smoke had cleared, Hoshii and Kajiru had regrouped with Espada on one side while Yan Min and Celia jumped backwards and regrouped with Akaya and Minerva. The battle had been heavy but it seemed to be tilting in Venus' side as they had secured Nagi and dealt damage to Espada's forces.
"Shit, those bitches aren't a joke. I thought I was going to die..." Hoshii complained as she was covered in light wounds all over the place and short a breath. That Yan Min was a serious monster!
Kajiru wasn't faring any better as she was helpless against Celia's overwhelming ability to dodge and attack, along with the girl's troublesome [Inverse] Maken that reversed practically anything in her sights. "They're tough..."
"Yes, and they're quite annoying" Espada grimaced as she tried to assess the situation. With both Kajiru and Hoshii injured and Nagi out of reach, it was the worst possible outcome she could have hoped for. Her orders were to secure Nagi at all costs and while she desperately wanted to do so for her own personal reasons, it was almost impossible now.
"Looks like the tables have turned, haven't they?" Akaya claimed as he posed elegantly in front of his squad, not a scratch on him. His side had attained victory without a single member being injured, who wouldn't feel proud after that?
Yan Min huffed as she wiped a few specs of dirt off her clothes. "You didn't even do anything special"
Celia nodded. "Yup, the captain was useless this time~"
Minerva also agreed. "Captain needs to start fighting on the front lines more often"
"You guys..." Akaya felt dejected at hearing his team diss him and slumped. Why couldn't he have been put in charge of another group beside these ungrateful brats?
Hoshii slowly moved closer to Espada and whispered in her ear "Now what? We can't even grab that Nagi guy anymore, why are we even still here?"
Espada couldn't refute her friend's words as she nodded. "...We don't have a choice. Otohime-dono will understand if we explain that Venus' strange abilities hampered our objective. Now, we need to focus on escaping..."
Though she said that, it wouldn't be that easy for them. At the moment, they were trapped in Minerva's dimension and unless they defeated her, they wouldn't get out anytime soon.
At that exact moment, a ripple in the air could be felt by all those standing inside Minerva's dimension as they looked puzzled. What was going on?
Minerva was easily the most curious as her dimensional barriers were unbreakable! Aside from a monster like Minori who broke through her barrier once before through nothing but sheer willpower, no one else should have the capability to do so! If that wasn't the case, what else could explain the distortion of her barrier?
The barrier continued to distort and in a moment, the entire school seemed to tremble as a crack was formed in between the two groups. Everyone looked closely at that crack before a terrifying amount of pressure was released from the crack, causing everyone present to hold their breaths as they dropped to their knees. It was mind boggling, the strength emitting from inside the crack made everyone, even Yan Min who wasn't shown to be afraid of anything, start sweating as she struggled to stand to her feet. No one knew what was going on but whatever was inside that crack was beyond terrifying!
Not a moment later, a man stepped out from the crack with his dashing brown cloak and crimson hair blowing with the wind. Everyone immediately recognized him but paled when they saw the murderous look on his face, clearly not the same laid back and carefree Nagi they were used too.
"N-N-Nagi!?" Akaya was stunned, unable to think straight. Last time he checked, Nagi was supposed to be trapped inside one of Minerva's dimensions. So how did he escape? And why did he look like so pissed off? It didn't make any sense!
A deep sigh escaped Nagi's mouth as he rolled his neck around and stretched his arms. "Finally got out of that annoying place. It was the worst"
Nagi's memories of the dimension he was stuck in plagued his mind as he never wanted to recall it again. Floating in a space of nothingness, it was torture! Nothing to do except think and float around, Nagi's anger and boredom accumulated when he couldn't remember a good spell to use to free himself and he managed to escape simply by releasing his magic energy outwards to cover his body, shattering the barrier.
"Looks like I've made quite the discovery, if I coat my body in magic then it seems that I can't be affected by the properties of a Maken"
His eyes then turned towards Espada and her girls who were now beginning to get back up after the frightening pressure coming from Nagi had disappeared "What, you guys are still here? You still haven't finished the battle?"
Time flowed differently between the normal world and a dimension. Generally, speaking, it was much slower for those in the dimension as their sense of time was diminished and what felt like hours would only amount to a few minutes in real time.
"H-How did you escape!? It's impossible!" Minerva felt as if she was losing her common sense at having her barriers broken twice, first by Minori and now Nagi. When she sensed that black substance within him before, she had a feeling he wasn't ordinary and now she understood why. He was a freak of the same nature as Minori!
Instead of getting an explanation, Minerva received a fierce glare from the ticked off Nagi and shrank backwards towards seeing Nagi in such a manner. Did she perhaps go too far?
"Be quiet, I'll deal with you in a minute"
"...Yes sir"
Akaya and the rest of the Venus squad were shocked beyond belief. Minerva listened to Nagi's harsh scolding and kept her mouth shut! This cunning girl that regularly disrespected her captain obeyed Nagi in an instant, who could have seen that coming?
Nagi's eyes then turned to the figures of Espada, Kajiru, and Hoshii who flinched when their gazes met his. Those powerful eyes that made them fear what Nagi might do them caused them all look away and pretend they didn't make eye contact with him.
"Sorry about before, that idiot over there did something stupid that ruined our fight" Nagi claimed as he pointed a finger at Minerva who remained quiet and had a stream of nervous sweat running down her face. "Do you want to pick up where we left off?"
"Huh? W-Well..." Espada stammered for a minute as she looked at her team mates who were not too thrilled about the idea. They had just gotten out of a tough fight against the Venus girls and now they were supposed to fight against that behemoth over there who had that terrifying aura from before? Screw that!
Espada shook her head in disappointment and decided to throw in the towel; the battle was already lost.
"I apologize but we'll have to decline; it seems we've met our match here. Even though I personally wouldn't mind, my comrades are at their limits so fighting against so many enemies wouldn't be wise"
Though she said that, Espada had no intentions of leaving just like this and had a backup plan just in case to swipe Nagi and escape away from Venus thanks to the hole made by Nagi.
Minerva sensed something amiss and shouted. "Watch out, she's up to something!"
"Too late!" Espada yelled, swiping her rapier with all of her strength in front of her. The friction that she created in doing so was incomparable to before as an enormous blade of air flew towards Nagi and the Venus group.
Akaya paled as he saw the size of the blade, realizing that if they didn't stop it, the explosion it would cause could destroy the entire building they were standing on! He turned to Minerva with hope in his eyes but she shook her head.
"There's not enough time for me to stop it!"
This was bad! Just as the Venus squad began to panic, Nagi stepped forward to intercept the large blade of air and held his hand out. Lightning sparks began to form onto it as a sea of electricity surrounded his entire body, even radically sprouting from his legs outwards as the energy from his magic couldn't be contained.
Yan Min's eyes opened wide in surprise. Thanks to her Maken, she was able to utilize electricity to a certain degree but what Nagi was doing was something she wasn't familiar with. Instead of electricity, this was lightning! Everyone knew that electricity was merely a man made generation of lightning, the latter of which was one of the forces of Mother Nature!
Espada didn't know what was going on with Nagi's body but she wasn't worried. With the size of that blade, there wasn't a possibility of anyone stopping it without creating an explosion big enough to give them time to escape. In that moment, she was going to secure Nagi and make a break for it!
When the blade of air was about to hit Nagi, a confident smrik graced his lips as he activated the spell. "Burst Lightning"
In a flash, the lightning gathered around Nagi had condensed itself into a creature of lightning that took the form of a large dragon with deep red eyes and large fangs. The dragon erupted from Nagi's palm outwards towards the blade of air which collided with it, the two opposing forces struggling to gain a lead on one another. However, that didn't last very long as the blade of air was consumed by the dragon of lightning that gobbled it up as if it was a restaurant delicacy.
"N-No way!" Espada was stunned into disbelief as her mind stopped working. Her blade of air was... eaten!?"
"Kyaa! W-What is that!?" Celia screamed in terror, though she still sounded rather charming while doing so as the dragon of lightning was something she never saw before.
"It's a dragon made of lightning but... how was he able to summon it?" Akaya questioned but even to him, what Nagi had just did passed the realm of basic element manipulation.
A sense of terror came over the third years as they stood across the snarling dragon of thunder that looked ready to devour them in one big gulp as it swirled around Nagi's body. Just what kind of Maken was Nagi using to perform such amazing feats that he could not only escape from a dimensional barrier but also summon some sort of lightning monster? No, a better question would be just what kind of being was he?
Seeing their frightened expressions, Nagi felt prideful that his tactic of scaring them had worked. "What's wrong ladies? Your the ones that started this game after confronting me, and now that you've seen what I can do, you don't want to play anymore?"
"W-We were only following orders from our boss to come and get you! If we knew what kind of power you had, we wouldn't have bothered you!" Hoshii tried to reason, hoping to talk her way out of this. At this point, it was either they try to negotiate with him or try make a break for it when he let his guard down.
Unfortunately for her, Nagi didn't care at all for their reasons and merely raised his index finger at the startled trio who had a bad feeling of what was about to happen. A mischevious smirk appeared on Nagi's face as he gave his conjured dragon one simple command.
"Eat up"
"Grrrrrr!"
The dragon's snarling got the attention of Espada and the others as they hurriedly tried to escape from the dragon's wrath. They were fighting an uphill battle as the lightning dragon was far too fast to lose out in speed to a group of mere humans and opened its mouth wide to consume them. Espada, Hoshii, and Kajiru could immediately feel the unimaginable power radiating from the beast and were now sweating in fear as they realized their lives were about to end. No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't escape from the lightning dragon.
Seeing no other option and extremely desperate, Espada gritted her teeth as she reached into her buxom and pulled out a small capsule with a dim light flashing inside. She immediately crushed it in her hands and threw it forward, the capsule then expanding outward into a small circle with numerous symbols on it. Resigning to her fate, Espada then turned around and branded her sword to face the monster in front of her as Hoshii along with Kajiru kept running forward, checking back only to be stunned by Espada's actions.
"Espada! What the hell are you doing? Come with us!" Hoshii yelled, her voice wrought with worry and panic.
Kajiru nodded. "Follow us!"
Espada shook her head. "Otohime-dono gave us that teleportation portal as a last resort and it'll take a few seconds to use. That dragon will crush us before the portal can activate so I'll buy some time for you two. It's the least I can do as the commander of this failed mission"
Hearing that, Hoshii and Kajiru didn't know what to say as they themselves had never seen Espada act in such a noble and selfless manner. Even though she she was selfish and was only cooperating with Kamigari and Otohime due to the brainwashing along with the poison, Espada still held her pride and valor as a senior student that wanted to protect those that looked up to her.
"Now go!" Espada yelled as she futilely tried to block the lightning dragon's path by creating a wall of friction. It was a hopeless endeavor as the dragon was only momentarily delayed, bulldozing its way through and opened its mouth wide to swallow her.
"Espada!" Hoshii and Kajiru were almost close to tears and not a moment later, their bodies were then transported away from the school building.
A grateful smile came onto Espada's face as she saw her companions leave in good health, now turning to face the monstrosity in front of her. There was no trace fear on her face anymore, only an acceptance of her doomed fate along with a sense of regret as she just wished she could have played with more cute girls before her unexpected demise. It was truly a pity.
The dragon made contact with Espada's body and the entire dimension was filled with the sound of electricity, traces of light covering the entire zone. Akaya and the rest of the squad were forced to cover their eyes and wait for the light to subside as the monstrous energy that they felt from Nagi began to die down.
Not long after that, the lights had soon vanished and to everyone's surprise, the school building hadn't suffered much damage at all as Akaya scanned the area. Aside from a few cracked tiles that were created by the fighting and the sizzling sound of lightning, everything was fine.
Akaya's eyes then swiftly darted over towards where Espada's corpse was and to his surprise, she was laying on the floor upright as her body was lightly scorched from the lightning but looked relatively in good shape. She survived!
"What, how is that possible? She took that lightning monstrosity head on and only suffered that much damage?"
Akaya refused to believe it. If it was anyone else, they surely would have been either killed or heavily wounded from that attack.
"If that dragon carried the same power as it did when it first came out, then you're right. However, I retracted most of its power before it swallowed blondie over there" Nagi stated as he strode forward towards Espada's body.
"Y-You did? W-Why would you do that?" Akaya asked with uncertainty.
Nagi frowned as he looked back at Akaya with a disapproving glance. "Did you really think I was going to murder three students just like that? Am I that heartless to you? I just wanted to give them a scare"
"U-Uh no that's not what I meant. Please pardon how I phrased that..." Even Akaya was quick to apologize and shut up before Nagi who shrugged in response and grabbed Espada's body.
He lifted her off the ground in a bridal style sort of carry and walked towards the Venus group as they gulped internally and remembered the choice of words he used towards them earlier. Especially Minerva, who couldn't calm down as Nagi had succeeded in intimidating her.
"Now then" He stopped short in front of Akaya who flinched when Nagi's gaze penetrated his own. "You have business with me as well?"
Akaya remained silent as he attempted to come to a decision as quickly as possible. Nagi wasn't one known for his patience as he demonstrated today and he feared angering the dangerous fellow more than he did angering Minori.
After giving it some thought, Akaya shook his head. "We'll call it quits for today. We came here to see your objective and determine whether you were an ally or enemy of Tenbi. Though we don't trust you and are suspicious about your origins, we'll back off and see how you continue to work with the school"
Nagi had to give Akaya his credit as his decision making in a situation with as much as pressure as the one he was just in was noteworthy. Well, it wouldn't have mattered to him anyway whether he wanted to fight or not since Nagi had grasped almost all of their abilities back then and was prepared to deal with them on his own.
"Is that so? Guess your not as dumb as you are goofy, later sparkles" He leisurely turned around as he headed back towards his room with Espada still being carried.
Akaya, ignoring the insulting nickname, found the scene of Nagi carrying Espada in that way too strange and spoke up about it. "Excuse me but, what are you planning to do with that girl? She's connected with Kamigari so shouldn't we treat her injuries and attempt to get information out of her?"
Nagi abruptly stopped and turned around with a scrunched face. "And just where the hell do you think I was taking her? What, you thought I was going to bring her to my room to have my way with her? Is that your inner character? You pervert commander"
"Wha...!?" Akaya was flabbergasted at being called another demeaning nickname and turned around to see his subordinates holding their mouths to cover their laughter. Akaya coughed in an attempt to redirect the attention off of himself. "I see, as long as you plan to interrogate her then all is fine"
Nagi snorted and then vanished from Venus' sights as he jumped from the school building.
The atmosphere around the Venus group seemed to ease up with Nagi's disappearance but they weren't happy about that at all as collected sighs could be heard from all of them. In today's battle, many more questions had popped up but the most prominent one was simply, what kind of being was Nagi? His strength was ludicrous, to the point where his aura and energy made them feel pressured.
Just like Minerva had said, there wasn't a single trace of element on him and judging based on earlier, he didn't use a Maken. If that was the case, just what kind of power did he possess?
The mysterious crimson haired magician had left his mark among the members of Venus.
"You useless bunch of garbage!"
A thunderous voice came from inside Kamigari's hidden base as Otohime was sitting on a chair and stared coldly at Kajiru and Hoshii who arrived back without either Espada or Nagi.
They had nothing to say as they relayed the events that had transpired earlier to their master and in response, both of them received a harsh scolding from the enraged Otohime who couldn't believe her ears.
"It's bad enough that you weren't able to bring that man back to me, but now you're telling me that Espada has been killed? I thought I told you that failure wouldn't be tolerated!" Her cold gaze made both Kajiru and Hoshii shudder as they wondered what kind of fate awaited them now that Otohime's mood was ruined.
Hoshii attempted to ease her foul temper. "Please forgive us Otohime-dono, we weren't aware that Venus would ambush us like that. If we had known-
"Silence! I don't want to listen to your poorly made excuses. Those Venus bitches aren't that strong, you shouldn't have had a problem!"
Though she said that, Otohime had already seen the strength that was displayed by Celia of Venus on the summer island so she knew they weren't pushovers. Even still, that shouldn't have mattered as none of them possess any of the original eight Maken so Espada and the others shouldn't have lost.
The real problem came with this man known as Nagi. According to Hoshii, not only did he toy around with Espada even after she had activated her Maken, he summoned some sort of dragon type monster that took Espada's was well beyond her expectations as Otohime chewed on her thumbnails in frustration, trying to think of a countermeasure.
"I've lost a pretty powerful piece in Espada now that she's dead... wait, dead? No, they didn't confirm if she was dead or not. I must first confirm it..."
Otohime snapped her fingers and immediately, an attractive silver haired woman walked into the room wearing a tight silk dress and holding a clipboard. Like many of the girls, she had a voluptuous body and favorable looks as she was designated to be one of Yamato Takeru's concubines.
"You, has there been any change to the life meter regarding the third years?" Otohime didn't even bother to use her name as to her, this woman wasn't worthy of even that.
"Of course Otohime-sama" she then flipped through the clipboard and shook her head. "There hasn't been a report of the life meter to any of the girls. The last report was updated five minutes ago"
"Then that settles it, Espada is still alive" Otohime grimaced, earning shocked reactions from both Kajiru and Hoshii. Espada was still alive? How was that even possible? They surely saw her figure being consumed by that enormous dragon!
Otohime scanned their facial expressions and saw no deceit in them, choosing not to punish them for their false information. Something may have happened after they left so she couldn't hold them at fault for that.
"Now that we know Espada is still alive and in enemy hands, I'm sure your both aware of what I have to do now, right?"
A dark realization hit both of them as they knew exactly what Otohime was referring too. Yumemiya, who was standing in the corner all this time, also seemed to realize this and nervously trembled as she feared for Espada's life.
Reaching into her buxom, Otohime pulled out the small remote she had brought out not too long ago and waved it in her hand. With the simple push of a button, she could end the life of a powerful ability user in a heartbeat.
"Even though I don't want to do this, I'm left with no choice. Those wretched girls will no doubt try to probe information out of Espada and as tough as she is, she might leak some info. That is unacceptable and as a member of the Yamato Family, it is my responsibility to destroy any and all leaks"
"P-Please wait Otohime-boss! There must be another way!" After Espada had sacrificed herself to save both her and Kajiru, Hoshii's sense of guilt had reached its breaking point and she couldn't sit back and let Otohime kill one of her few classmates she didn't mind hanging around.
Otohime coldly stared at Hoshii. "It's far too late. Blame yourselves for not being able to persuade Nagi to our side. It is unfortunate though, as Esapda was one of the few subordinates I did cherish" Otohime's finger then made its way towards the red button slowly as Kajiru and Hoshii attempted to stop her.
Unfortunately, they were halted by numerous Kamigari soldiers restraining them as they struggled relentlessly to prevent Otohime from killing Espada. She wasn't their close friend but Espada was someone they liked, even if she was a sexual predator. They wanted to see her again after she had saved them!
A sneering laugh came from Otohime when she saw their futile efforts. "You were all barely friends back at Tenbi and now your bond is close that you would cry for one another? How odd, I thought we erased such useless feelings during the brainwashing"
With no more hesitation, Otohime pressed the red button on the remote, sneering codly as Kajiru and Hoshii both shed tears and felt helpless at being unable to prevent the death of their former leader and friend.
"Ugh..."
Espada felt her consciousness returning as her body slowly twitched and her eyes began to open. The once blurry and fuzzy image she was seeing became resolute and it occurred to Espada that she was looking at a ceiling in a room, with her body laying on a soft and comfortable bed.
She immediately got up, wincing slightly as the slight pain in her waist felt like a stinging needle. That was the spot that Nagi had pushed her after he held her close and her memories of what occurred on the building came flooding back into her mind.
"Am I... alive? How..."Espada couldn't understand how she had survived that immense attack from Nagi. She felt for sure that at that moment, she was going to die.
Espada looked around the room and saw that she was no longer on the school building and was now in the school's nursery, a place she knew all too well. How many victims had she brought here and seduced when she skipped class to play around?
Ignoring those fond memories, Espada looked at her wounds and noticed she was stitched up already and didn't understand who had not only healed her injuries, but also taken her here. Last time she checked, Nagi had used some sort of powerful attack that she no doubt believed would have taken her life so the only person who could have brought her here would be...
"This isn't making any sense...wait, where's my [Furuno]!?"
Espada frantically searched for her prized Maken but unable to locate it and cursed under her breath. Those from Tenbi must have confiscated it already, in which case more than half of Espada's true strength had been cut down without that weapon. She was still confident she could defeat most ability users without her weapon but if she were to inform Otohime that she had lost one of the original eight Maken to the enemy...
Just then, the sound of the door sliding opened alerted Espada's attention as she saw the beautiful figure of the school's nurse, Aki Nijou step inside wearing her usual white lab coat.
"Oh, I see your awake" Aki smiled sweetly towards Espada who had her suspicions that Aki was the one who stitched her back up but still held her guard. She was after all, in enemy territory.
Taking a seat at her desk, Aki crossed her legs as she flipped a strand of her long cerulean hair out of her eyes and glanced at Espada with a straight face. "Your injuries were fall less than what we expected, you should be grateful to Nagi-san"
Espada's eyes flashed with surprise when she heard that. "Nagi? He helped me?"
Aki nodded. "He informed me that there was a fight on the roof between you guys and Venus and that he risked his life to shield you from Venus. I still couldn't believe he did such a selfless thing, what an amazing young man..." Aki's voice trailed off in admiration as she was unaware of the blank look coming from Espada.
"..."
Silence enveloped the room as Espada's eyebrows twitched in disbelief at what Aki had just told her. Nagi saved her from Venus? Bullshit! He was the one who almost killed her! Where did he get off claiming he had saved her?
When she really thought about it though, wasn't that exactly the case? Intention aside, Espada was still here and breathing, almost no noticeable injuries to speak of. Though she believed that her life had come to an end, here she was laying on a bed in front of the nurse. Wasn't what Aki said the truth? Did Nagi... really save her?
Aki seemed to guess the reluctance in Espada's heart as she smiled in a sympathetic manner. She then reached for the silver counter next to her chair and picked up the clipboard, swiping the page. "I've already run a diagnosis on your body, you'll be fine with a day's worth of rest"
"And what of my Maken? Where did you guys take it?" Espada asked more than demanded as she was aware she neither had the strength nor right to ask for it back.
"Minori confiscated the weapon and has it with her. As for why I'm telling you, you are a former student and were one of my favorites so it's not a problem for me"
Espada was momentarily stunned as she recalled numerous times she visited Aki in the nursery. With Espada's maturity, the two of them spent alot of time together discussing life and other important matters, such as Aki's inability to get a boyfriend and how her mother was always nagging her to bring a man back home. Such... fond memories Espada had.
Just then, Espada felt a throbbing sensation inside her head as she clutched it in agony, unable to comprehend what was going on. Those memories she had never bothered her before but for some reason now, it made her head hurt unimaginably as it seemed her brain was trying to lock up those memories again.
Aki noticed Espada's strange behavior and stood up, rushing to her side. "Are you feeling alright?"
It took some time before Espada responded as she was beginning to calm down and then slowly nodded her head."Y-Yea... I'm fine"
Aki wasn't convinced and frowned but could do nothing as Espada was still technically on the enemies side so she didn't have the incentive to question her further.
"..Thank you"
Aki blinked several times when he heard that and cocked her head to the side. "Excuse me?"
Espada flushed red as she coughed and bowed her head respectfully. "I'm giving you my thanks"
"But why?"
"You treated my wounds even though I am your enemy, for that I am grateful towards you Aki-sensei"
Hearing Espada address her in such a familiar and nostalgic way almost brought a tear to the older woman's eye as she sniffed a bit and crossed her arms, her bountiful breasts bouncing up in the process. "Please do not worry about it"
Espada smiled, content with the atmosphere going on in the room... before a voice completely ruined that.
"Darn, I thought this was a set up for some hot girl on girl action"
Espada and Aki swiftly turned to the window next to the bed and saw none other than Nagi sitting there with his legs dangling inside, a charming smile present on his face.
"N-Nagi-san?" Aki asked skeptically as she wondered what he was doing here.
"...Nagi..." Espada voice trailed off as the figure of her greatest opponent was only a few steps away from her. This was a first for her as her heart felt a bit nervous now that the battle was over and she was reluctant to speak with him so soon.
Hopping inside of the room, Nagi produced a mischievous grin as he saw Espada's current state. "Seems your holding up alright. It's a good thing I came to save you when I did, right?"
"..."
Unable to answer Nagi's persistent claim, Espada didn't say a word as she silently stared at the mysterious man standing before her. She had a million different things but after thinking things through, Nagi did indeed save her life and she wasn't one to neglect her debts.
"...Thank you"
"No problem" Nagi grinned in a friendly manner and then turned to Aki. "You mind keeping an eye on her for the night? I'm exhausted and want to get some rest"
Aki had no qualms with that arrangement and would have done so without his suggestion. "Of course"
Once that was settled, Nagi began to leave the room from the front door but was halted when Espada grabbed onto his brown cloak. Not sure what else she wanted; Nagi turned his head and raised his brow. "What's wrong?"
Espada clenched her grip on Nagi's cloak tighter and looked at him with a gaze that held endless curiosity. "Nagi, just who are-
Before she could finish her sentence, a clicking sound could be heard coming from the black necklace on Espada's neck as she let go of Nagi's cloak and began to hold her throat. She paled as she realized what was about to happen and began coughing up blood as her body tossed and turned on the bed.
"Gahhh!" She screamed in pure agony as the poison had been circulated throughout her lungs and she found it extremely difficult to breathe.
"Espada-san!" Aki screamed in fear as she dashed over immediately to find out what was going on.
Nagi didn't have the foggiest idea on what was going on and joined her by Espada's bed side. "What's happening?"
"I-I don't know!" Aki was filled with anxiety as she saw the area around Espada's neck turn purple and then stared at the black necklace around her neck that was blinking red "It must be because of that necklace!"
Nagi followed Aki's sights to the blinking black necklace and narrowed his eyes. "So that's the problem? No big deal!"
He immediately reached his hand out to grab the necklace and poured his magic power into his fingers. Once that was done, he gripped on the necklace as hard as he could and it was shattered into hundreds of small pieces as they laid on Espada's bed side.
However, that didn't seem to help anything as Espada continued to scream out in agony and was pounding her bed side.
"What was that device?" Nagi shouted in a tone more aggressive than his usual one.
Aki shook her head, unable to answer him. "I have no idea but it seems to have carried something that is spreading through Espada's body. I'm going to run a full diagnostic on her!"
Aki immediately got to work as she activated the power of her Maken, [Valhelm] which gave her the power to almost instantly scan a person's body and figure out what problems were plaguing their system. Her eyes looked at Espada's body from top to bottom and everything seemed alright until she stopped at the neck and her eyes widened in shock.
What she saw was an enormous black patch that was spreading through her larynx and heading downwards into her trachea. Aki now knew what she was dealing with as she turned to Nagi with a fearful expression.
"It's a type of poison! I've never seen this kind before and its slowly moving through her body and will reach her heart not before long!"
Nagi's eyes went wide with surprise as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He then looked at Espada as if she was an idiot. "Why the hell would you carry around a necklace with poison on it?"
Despite the fact that Espada was in tremendous pain, she still had enough strength left to utter out a few words.
"Otohime-dono… gave us all poison… necklaces as insurance… so that we… we wouldn't be able to reveal… Kamigari's secrets…"
When they heard that, both Aki and Nagi were wrought with shock and anger at Kamigari's methods. Just how low where they willing to go just to ensure their secrets were kept? These were people's lives they were playing at!
Nagi especially seemed pissed off as his body trembled and his fists looked ready to punch the next thing that looked at him the wrong way. People like that who would abandon their own comrades when they became useless? Those people were the ones that Nagi hated the most as the idea of throwing away Jack, Alberio, Arika, or even his niece Nekane was completely unthinkable.
Espada was panting heavily and blood began to come from the corner of her mouth as she lay on the bed and awaited her dire fate. "It's okay… I knew this would… happen. I have… no regrets"
Aki shook her head furiously as she grabbed one of Espada's hands. "No! I will never allow something like this to happen to one of my students! You can't die like this, Espada-san! I will… I will save you!"
Espada looked at Aki with a warm gaze and shook her head slowly. "You cannot… the poison… is too strong… it's made from… a source that no one… could cure… Besides… I only have… a minute or so… left"
Aki paled when she heard those words as she scanned Espada's body all over. She wasn't lying; at the rate the poison was spreading, it would reach Espada's heart in less than a minute and her life would come to an end the moment it did. Aki tried to wrap her head around saving her but couldn't come up with any ideas. The only person she could think of that could help was Celia due to [Inverse] Maken, but she wasn't here!
Tears began to flow down her face as she watched helplessly as one of her students was dying right in front of her. How could she call herself a doctor if she couldn't save the life of one dying girl?
Nagi stayed quiet, thinking of his options to save this woman's life. He wasn't close to Espada at all, in fact they were enemies not even an hour ago. However, to let this pitiful girl die just like this when he could have stopped it would probably haunt him forever and he didn't want to live his life with regrets anymore. Still, what could he do? He wasn't a doctor, and there was less than a minute left. In regards to magic, there were healing spells to cure sicknesses but Nagi was a combat mage and so his knowledge of those spells were nonexistent. If it was his master or Alberio, then they could definitely save this girl no problem but Nagi had hit a brick wall. If only he could have used his pactio card to get in contact with his companions… wait, pactio?
Pactio! That was it!
Nagi smiled contently as he glanced towards the trembling Espada with a questioning glance. Before he tried to save this girl, he needed to know one thing.
"Blondie, I might have a method to save your life. However, I need to know what your intentions are after you are healed"
Both Aki and Espada were stunned to hear what Nagi had just proclaimed in front of them, with Espada not buying it as she weakly smiled. If she was going to die anyway, she would play along with him. "If I truly… can be saved… I would fight for Tenbi… and pledge my… allegiance towards the one who saved… my life... I swear it... on my life..."
Espada followed the ways of "knighthood" and honored all of her agreements. If she said she would do something in the name of the knight, she definitely meant it.
"You won't turn on us and fight for those Kamigari guys again?" Nagi asked.
Espada weakly shook her head. "They've already…thrown me away… I have no obligation… towards them… anymore"
Though she said that, Espada's brainwashing seemed to still have lingering effects and in her mind, her loyalty towards Yamato Takeru was still strong enough for her to reconsider betraying them if she was saved.
Aki stood up and wiped her face filled with tears and went by Nagi's side. "Nagi-san, can you truly save her?"
Nagi nodded his head as he cracked his knuckles and heard everything he needed to hear. "You bet, I just needed to know what her intentions would be once I saved her. Now that I know, I can proceed with my plan"
"B-But how? What can you do that can save Espada?"
Nagi grinned once more as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a folded brown scroll that he had stored into his cloak for a time such as this one. The scroll was old and had many inscriptions plastered over its contents.
"I'm going to make a pactio contract with her"
Woah! It looks like Nagi is ready to make Espada into one of his pactio partners? Anyone see that coming? For those who aren't aware of what a Pactio contract is, you can read about it on the Negima Wiki or google it.