The atmosphere back at their makeshift HQ could be described as 'tense' for the most part. Theseus, Meredith, Mio, Maria, Vali, Kuroh, and Arthur all sat within their living room with steaming hot cups of tea, having been brewed by Kuroh for them.
What, they had grown up in the British lands of the UK, they were going to adopt some traditional British values! Heck, even Mio and Maria who were from Japan had grown to appreciate good ol' British Tea, moreover they appreciated the posh and quality it had.
None of that was important compared to the intense atmosphere around them however.
The thing that caused this tension? Simple, Sir Integra and Walter were there as a hologram, one projected by a Magic Circle for communication purposes on the table's centre. The woman sat cross-legged on her chair in front of her desk, with Walter beside her. Right now, it showed her serious face that usually adorned her features, but just by looking at her eyes one could tell the level of irritation she felt about the latest news she had been told by her subordinates.
"Is this accurate?" she asked Theseus, arms crossed over her chest and a firm tone of voice. She had just been informed by Theseus and Meredith, more the former than the latter due to him being a direct participant to the whole thing, about the failed assassination attempt on Mio's life by the Hero Clan.
Needless to say, she didn't look too happy about it.
The male nodded in grave seriousness with an undertone of fury hidden beneath the surface. It had not even been 5 minutes after everyone had been recalled from their daily activities and duties for this emergency meeting. Their captives, Yuki and the Catachan Devil, lay unconscious deep beneath their HQ in a prison of sorts that the male had erected under Meredith's orders, where they would unknowingly await their judgment. One could guess that this judgment wouldn't be pretty, but he stated the facts as they were. "Yes Sir Integra, it just so happens that the Hero clan stepped out of their boundaries, almost having ruined the entire operation had I not come to Mio's aid."
What Theseus had been referring to, was their operations in keeping Mio under protective custody. Since they now governed the town, the Helsing group had for all intents and purposes been put in charge of the organization's japanese branch. They had been given a hotel to be used as their base of operations, and thus they could conduct their business over in another country, further increasing Hellsing's influence despite still reporting to the Queen of England. The amount of political red tape and bureaucracy that had been dealt with to make this happen would have given professional politicians no small numbers of migraines just from the thought of it.
But because of it, Helsing now had this town within its territory and jurisdiction, meaning any and all supernatural-related matters were to be handled by them, Mio being no different. Because of this, they had to know when supernatural entities were coming in and out of the city, including the Hero Clan who had been granted access to the City by Helsing beforehand under some rules. Those rules essentially boil down not to cause trouble for the people and Helsing themselves, lest they risk action being taken against them, something which Yuki had succeeded in violating in their entirety with her actions against Mio who was within Hellsing custody in all official terms.
These were grounds for immediate action against the Hero Clan.
"Tch, it seems that enemies are starting to get bolder now each day which complicates things now." Sir Integra clicked her tongue in annoyance, gradually losing her calm demeanor despite years of practice with annoying politicians and tedious meetings.
From the side, Walter leaned forwards as he offered her tea which she accepted, the man placing it in front of her. "If I may, Satan was the most diabolical being back in the old years when the supernatural roomed free. His reputation is to be hated, Sir Integra, it won't be easy to keep quiet about the rumors. I daresay even the heavens will come down and smite her."
Mio flinched at what Walter said about her father's reputation, Maria giving her a look of sympathy and comfort to her charge. Nonetheless, those words weren't anything new to her at this point, so they shouldn't have as much of an impact on her as they did, but they did regardless since they reminded her of just who her father truly was. Sometimes, Mio wished she wasn't his spawn, her being the burden of her sperm donor's sin, the world being turned against her, all of that had been due to the actions of a being she had never even met. It proved all the more frustrating when she factored in how she couldn't do a damn thing about it.
However, her depressing and frustrated thoughts didn't last long for a hand was put on her shoulder, knocking them out of her. Glancing backwards, Mio looked to see who it was and saw that it was Theseus as he shook his head at her as if reminding her before she got the memo. She turned her attention to Sir Integra's face as she is shown to have a bit of annoyance there. Walter continues speaking. "If the worst comes to Kuoh city, then we might have to cancel this whole operation and protect our main base."
Maria paled immediately at Walters' speech about the group returning to their main base in London. She did NOT want to go anywhere near that place, for she knew what lay within the heart of London city: the feared king of vampires, Alucard. Through her connections, Maria had heard many horrifying stories about the Vampire King and his exploits, these stories being enough to scar her for life. They had painted the being in a light which made her never want to be anywhere close to for as long as she lived, for fear she would end up the same as his countless victims over the centuries.
She immediately jumped from her seat and waved her hands and head comically. "Nononono! There's no need to go to Hellsings base! We're fine here in Japan and there isn't much attention now, so there is no need to go to London right? Right?" She desperately questioned, trying to convince the rest of the group with a scared shitless smile on her face. All the while, she looked to be sweating a lot from her entire body, making her look like a proper wimp… though given the context of her fear this reaction wasn't an illogical one.
Everyone looked at her nervous face including Sir Integra and Walter as they had their eyebrows raised in confusion before Alucard's master nodded her head.
"I suppose you are correct in that succubus. I'll take your word for granted." Maria sighed in relief that she wasn't going to meet Theseus' mentor, but she then turned stiff when Sir Integra continued her speech. "But if it turns out to be false, then you'll be first in line to meet with our trump card." She said with a daring smile which made Maria turn white before fainting. Sir Integra always knew that people don't want to meet with her in person because of Alucard.
His reputation always got to them.
"Lady Integra, if I may…" Meredith then interrupted, bringing all gazes back to her. She placed her hands on her lap after placing her cup of tea on the table, one leg crossed over the other. "This incident has led me to conclude that our current security measures are not enough to guarantee the public's safety. I'd like to request to put up stronger detection and repelling barriers around the city, key areas where Mio usually visits like the University, our HQ, and any possible Sacred Gear holders we may encounter in the future. The ones I was able to erect shortly after our arrival here are no longer sufficient for our purposes, as evident by the rate of enemy encounters since we took Mio into our protective custody. Furthermore, permission to have a tighter security detail in the form of familiars would also be ideal."
"Permission granted Meredith. It seems the devils weren't keen on protecting their territories, Japan has become a magnet of attention." Sir Integra said as she gave her student permission to do so while complaining a bit of how Japan is becoming the center of attention. It makes her wonder how supernatural like their culture was.
(Darklord331: does the plot really have to be in Japan for every manga?)
(Hunterxkiller87: Well, anime and manga ARE japanese animations)
(Darklord331: if that's the case then how about some from other countries?)
(HunterxKiller87: possible, possible…)
"Regardless, the point is the Hero Clan has become repulsive now. They think they are Heroes which gives them the right to come to our territory and do whatever they please without fear of retribution. Time to show those idiots just how wrong they really are." Sir Integra hardened her gaze at the Hellsing group, whose faces were hidden by shadows.
"Bring her to us and we'll send her to her hero clan tribe. If they try to flaunt their reputation and power to you, then you are to search and destroy them, search and destroy! Do you understand?"
Mio shuddered on her seat, intimidated by Sir Integras speech and domination issued by her aura and words alone. The sheer magnitude and presence that Integra had in the room despite being a hologram was astounding to her, to the point where even she felt affected by it. Glancing off to the side at her unconscious succubus friend, Mio had no doubts that she could affect her as well.
"We understand Sir Integra." Meredith answered as her eyes glowed in the dark as she was leaning to the side with her hand on her head as support.
Mio thought in surprise when she saw everyone's being submitted by her dominance. 'Wow, she really puts them in their place! No wonder why everyone speaks about her in respect, it was as if she was born as a leader.' she exclaimed mentally. If there was one thing she could take about that woman, it was that she knew how to inspire people, and she used that to great effect. Perhaps that was why she was able to command the respect of her more monstrous subordinates like Theseus and the Vampire King.
Sir Integra had one thing to say before she left. "About the creature you fought, Theseus. You call them the Catachan Devil, correct?" Theseus nods his head at her. "Then can you explain how it landed on our dimension? Do you or you don't have the answer?"
Theseus hummed as he placed his hand on his jaw for a while as he tried to to think of a theory, but came up with nothing, as there wasn't anything related to dimension as there was only one answer when it comes to dimensions. "While I lack any proper answers on how the Catachan Devil came to our world, I can hazard a guess. I'm thinking it has something to do with the Great red. He must've been doing something through the Dimensional gap." he eventually responded, lowering his hand from his jaw.
Sir Integra put her hand on her chin while thinking about Alucard's student's theory as well since that dragon was indeed the only being residing there. "I see, then if you know about them, then it's your jurisdiction to deal with the Catachan devil. Destroy it, burn it I don't care. Just deal with it."
Theseus bowed a little to Sir Integra for a bit as he understood her order. She then sat straight up and interlocked her fingers. "That will be all for now. If there's anything else you would like to report, do it in the next 30 days. I have a meeting with the other companies soon and remember, search and destroy that damn Hero Clan if they try to step out of their boundaries. Good luck to all of you."
With that said Meredith waved her hand, dispelling the magic circle, cutting off the communication as the atmosphere was no longer tense.
"Now that that's over with, let's get this done quickly." Meredith declared after a moment of silence, rising from her seat and proceeding to head on off to the dungeon where the captive Yuki currently resided, intending on doing what her mentor had instructed. She would send Yuki to Hellsing and they'll send her to the Hero clan. While she didn't know the finer details of how this may pan out, Meredith just knew for a fact that the Hero Clan will most definitely retaliate after this. After all, their main thing was their prideful nature which they had gotten over centuries of protecting humans from the supernatural with whatever means to do so.
Something like this… this wouldn't be the end of it, far from the end in fact.
As the sounds of her heels clicking against the floor faded away, Theseus looked at Mio as he informed her of her training. "Once Meredith is done with her part of her chores, she will teach you how to cast magic spells properly."
Mio nodded in acceptance, knowing that something like this had much greater importance than her training. From what she could tell, it would seem that there would be a lot of bad blood between Hellsing and the Hero Clan thanks to Yuki's actions. But then, she had a question appear in her mind that she soon voiced. "But aren't you good with magic Theseus?" she asked him in confusion.
In response, Theseus shook his head negatively. He put his hand on his chest as if pointing out something. "I'm only good with the control of magic, not with spells. I usually use my energy as a destructive force or control it like this." he explained, waving his hand to make the water from the sink gather up before forming into a ball above it. The ball then floated leisurely to the space above Theseus' hand where it remained in place. "This is control, not spells. I don't use a medium item to help with my magic. You see, I have a certain something that allows me to freely control any element there is in the world." Theseus explained, making an example when he made the floating water ball freeze instantly.
Before Theseus could continue, Vali took his place after sipping some of his tea. It wasn't anything spicy, but it was a close enough alternative, he guessed. "And I doubt that any of us are an expert in magic…..well except for Arthur's sister, was it Le flay?" he asked Arthur as he nodded his head to Vali, he continued his explanation. "Unfortunately, she is at a magician organization called the golden dawn, so we can't really ask her for help. Look, the point is you need to learn what your magic affinity is, and how to defend yourself from enemy forces in case we're not there to save your sorry ass."
THUD!
"OW! The fuck man?!" Vali yelled after uttering a pained yelp when Theseus had thrown the frozen ball straight at the side of Vali's head. As a result, he now had a pulsating yet comical red bump on his head that he currently rubbed with his hand while glaring dangerously at Theseus, looking ready to commit murder at the moment.
Meanwhile, Theseus just ignored him while facing Mio. "You understand what we explained to you?"
Mio nodded her head in agreement, understanding what she was told about the difference between magic and control and how none of them except Meredtih can teach her magic skills. In a way, it made sense since from what she had seen most of the boys in the group were more melee and physical fighters. Theseus felt more like an in-between the two styles given how he could do things with his mind like control elements like the avatar from avatar: the last airbender, but Vali and Kuroh were much more melee focused.
She wasn't kidding, she had once heard the former proclaim that fighting should be with only 'glorious melee combat!' before getting smacked by the latter.
Sometimes, Mio had to wonder if he would have fit in the era of ancient Rome.
Unaware of these thoughts floating around her noggin, Theseus got up from his seat. "Good, glad you understand. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to deal with the Catachan Devi-"
"Oi, don't ignore me you bastard!" Vali yelled at Theseus, leaping at the shark king and starting a cartoonish dust brawl. The others (Except for Kuroka who, as usual, cheered for Vali) had blank expressions on their faces as if they were used to this, even Arthur who had only joined up with them a while ago.
Off to the side, the sole exception to this known as Mio looked worried as she was about to intervene, had Kuroh not put his hand on her shoulder. "It would be best if you did not interfere with their daily fights, Mio."
Glancing back at him, Mio aimed a concerned and confused look at the samurai, wondering why the heck something like this was allowed to happen as if it were a normal thing. "But aren't they companions Kuroh? Shouldn't they be cooperating instead of beating each other to a pulp?"
"They are cooperating with one another, Mio. This is both bonding and always involves physical confrontation. Trust me, it happens almost everyday so you'll get used to seeing these two buffoons acting like this."
"Oi don't act like your innocent, mr I-have-a-maid-fetish! I bet you hide nude pictures of them in your precious suitcase!" Vali yelled at Kuroh from within the dust cloud.
The blue haired samurai froze for a bit before regaining his stance as he adjusted his collar. "Excuse me for a moment." he said to Mio before joining in the brawl as hands and feets were shown out from the dust brawl.
Arthur looks at them before facing Mio. "See what he meant?" he questioned, but it sounded more like a statement.
To which Mio sweat dropped at this act. "I…..see what you mean, Mr Pendragon." Mio awkwardly replied to Arthur who nodded his head before taking out a literature book, basically ignoring the chaos happening around the house.
Kuroka cheering for Vali, and three idiots beating each other up in a dust brawl.
Yeah, Mio feels like she's gonna get used to this.
"Ugh, damn that Vali…" Theseus muttered, rubbing his jaw with his right hand as he walked down a dark underground corridor. His destination: the cell in which the Catachan Devil resided within. Thanks to the delicacy of the situation revolving around Yuki, the Helsing group had separate cells for them built by the male himself in case the latter tried to attack the former. Of course, it was still bound by Meredith's spell but one could never be too careful these days, especially when it revolved around something that could attack an entire tank regiment and win according to Sigismund's comparison after he had heard of the things from Theseus. "Can't wait to get his daily punches in, can he…?"
He muttered those words without much of a care for if anyone heard him or not, rubbing his jaw with his right hand to soothe the aches that remained after their daily fight. Apparently Vali had gotten better than he'd thought, since he had managed to pull a fast one and thus score a good hit through his defences. Hence why he had this ache in his jaw that he bet would last him a few days, making him mentally formulate a prank to pull on him in vengeance.
But that would be for another time, right now he had a job to do.
Eventually, Theseus stood before a wooden door shaped like a vertical rectangle, one with a square-shaped hole with vertical bars. He peered into the room to see what the situation on the other side was, finding the Catachan Devil to be fast asleep for the moment. 'Hmmm… as expected, this one really is different compared to the others…' the male thought while slowly opening the door and stepping inside.
This act allowed a trail of light to spread across the room's floor, which was made from stone. The same could be said of the rest of the room, making it similar to those dungeons in ancient Victorian castles. All the while, the Catachan Devil remained asleep close to the room's rear, Theseus observed whilst pocketing his hands within his coat.
'Alright, you…' Theseus muttered, stopping a few meters away from the slumbering creature. 'How the hell did you get out of that forest… Sigismund would have never done anything to bring harm to the human world himself, of that I'm certain…' Ever since he had first set foot back into their hideout, Theseus had always been thinking about why this particular creature was here. Catachan Devils were vicious creatures on the battlefield, they had to be if they wanted to survive the horrendous forest environment they were born in, so it was quite fortunate that this one hadn't seemed to have done much damage to the human population in the area.
No, that wasn't right, now that he thought about it Theseus suspected it wasn't interested in anything but him…
And judging by the scars adorning its body his theory was a correct one.
'You…'
"Penny for your thoughts, Theseus?"
All of a sudden, Theseus heard the soft feminine voice that could only belong to one woman. He idly glanced behind him out the corner of his eye to see Meredith leaning beside the door frame, arms folded under her chest whilst regarding him with a critical eye.
Seeing her there told him that Meredith had finished her previous task of sending Yuki to the Hellsing organization. Probably with some magical BS he didn't know about. "This Catachan Devil… this one's much unlike the previous ones I've encountered. These old wounds further prove it.. You could say we had a little bit of a rivalry going on." Theseus answered, prompting her to raise a brow in confusion.
"Rivalry? I would have thought with your powers you would have torn this thing to shreds, it sounds like that would have been the norm back in that accursed place." Meredith remarked, gesturing to the creature. Neither of them seemed fazed by the fact that one of its claws wasn't at the same place it was at before.
Theseus nodded in response. "Yeah, but this one… he's a lot smarter than his brethren. You could say that he was more of an alpha of his species, like there being alpha wolves and such." He explained, remembering the copious amounts of battles the two of them had fought back in the Catachan Forest. "Even in my BOE Form, this thing knew how to potentially ruin my day due to how it usually used its surroundings to its advantage when fighting me. It'd do whatever it took to weaken me, then strike at any vulnerable spots I exposed. A lot of those attempts failed thanks to this psychic prowess I apparently have, but that didn't stop it from trying. Plus Sigismund recommended that I keep sparring with him instead of outright killing him since it was shown that he could take what I dish out, even in that form."
Subtly, both heard the sounds of something shifting, but paid it little mind for the moment.
"I see…" Meredith mused, already having a picture of the bottom line in her head. It would seem that this thing was both an old rival as well as a somewhat close comrade in Theseus's eyes, yet while they still didn't know HOW it had gotten here the fact that it chose to attack him specifically was something they had to count as a blessing in disguise. "In any case, I have an idea for how to deal with him."
"Hm?"
"...We make him your familiar."
"?!"
A shrill gasp escaped him when the woman mentioned this, the male almost doubling back towards their quarry had he not retained the last shred of mental control he had over his legs. After regaining himself, Theseus looked at Meredith like she had grown a second head. "Are you serious, woman? That sounds like something a DEVIL would do!" he exclaimed, growling at the end with barely contained anger.
Something which Meredith could understand and relate to. "I know, but this is something Magicians developed back in the middle ages, seemingly in an attempt to copy what the Devils could do with other beings. This trick was mainly used to ensure Magicians had powerful servants to do menial tasks… all the way to acting as meat shields for their masters." She explained, frowning in distaste for what she had mentioned, not liking it one bit.
"Ugh…" Distaste which was shared by Theseus judging by the revolted expression on his face. "Will he be enslaved to me forever or some shit? Cause if so we need to find another way, cause no matter what I REFUSE to take something's free will away." he declared, narrowing his eyes at her.
Fortunately for him, and the Catachan Devil, Meredith shook her head. "No, the user can break it off with a simple single-word phrase should things get that bad, plus the spell creates a pathway for the familiar to be dismissed back to their birthplace. In this case it's the Catachan Forest, which means when not needed, your rival will be back in his home habitat doing whatever it does best."
"I see…" Theseus muttered, still not liking this but it did beat out complete enslavement. Although he doubted the Catachan Devil would be able to utter the single-word phrase, he mentally vowed not to use it so underhandedly, to treat it more like one of his homeboys than a servant. Plus, at least this way they could send him back to his home and keep him away from those who would dare try to harm him. Glancing behind him, Theseus then made the following statement. "Then let's get his approval."
"?"
Before Meredith could suss out what Theseus meant by that, her answer came in the form of the Catachan Devil's eyes opening up and seemingly boring holes into their skulls. Its claw, which had been positioned in a way for a strike to be launched, hadn't lunged at them yet but one wrong move and both had no doubts that he would try to do so, despite being restrained at the moment.
"He's…!"
"Been awake this whole time, just faking it to try and make us lower our guard." Theseus remarked, shaking his head before glancing at his companion. "Like I said, he's more intelligent than you give him credit for. He has many instruments of destruction and knows how to use them." he explained, before kneeling down before the best like a knight to his king. "Which is why I want to speak with him as an equal, hence could you dispel the binding spell you have on him?"
Meredith gasped at that and would have made to protest against such a decision, but she saw the look in his eyes and knew for a FACT that he wouldn't be backing down on this. Thus, with a heavy sigh and a faint whisper of how 'annoying machismo' was, Meredith flicked her hand and each of the light spikes suddenly shattered like glass mirrors.
This resulted in the Catachan Devil screeching as he struck forth with his claw towards Theseus… though it stopped just seconds away from impaling him in the face. All the while, the male just stared HARD into his eyes, the Catachan Devil responding in kind which led to this intense moment of awkward, yet intense, silence during the staredown between the two. Something Meredith wondered if she would be a third wheel on for the rest of it's duration, much to her chagrin.
Finally, it ended when Theseus uttered the following words without breaking his gaze, never showing weakness due to past experience within the Catachan Forest reminding him of just how that was to be treated. "I'll ask you once: would you like to become my familiar? We'll have our battles, we can fight as much as you want. But you'll be able to show your dominance to the rest of my world, show them just WHY your species has its namesake… and you'll be able to go back home." He questioned, reaching out towards it.
To which…
…
…
…
…
…
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…
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…
…
…
…
…
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…
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… It poked his hand with its claw.
A sign of acceptance from the beast if there ever was one.
After getting the beast's consent, and Meredith completing the spell to make the Catachan Devil into a familiar for Theseus, the said male had sent him back to his homeland after a brief bout to remind them of old times. Something which Theseus found rather pleasant, despite the near-death attacks that thing had nearly landed on him.
Though one thing that Theseus had not expected was for how much of a dick his newfound Familiar was. This came in the form of how, prior to sending him back to the Catachan Forest, the Catachan Devil had decided to take up Theseus' room for residence, making its temporary home there for now. Thus, when he wasn't in his home habitat, the CD would be resting inside Theseus's room like he was staking his claim on it.
As for why Theseus kept referring to his Familiar with male pronouns, he had seen the genitalia that indicated its gender identity.
Once the CD fiasco is done, Meredith decides to teach Mio in her magic skills which leads them to their backyard when they come back to their house.
Meredith began her instruction. "Now normally if you were a normal human, I would have to make you study mathematics, equations and calculations but you're a half-devil which would make this easier."
"Ummmm, why did I need to know those instructions Meredith?" Mio asked her magic teacher, wondering why she would have to learn math before going to magic spells.
"It's rather simple, you see, we magicians use a magic system used to categorize two major types of magic: Western magic and Eastern magic. Demonic power requires the power of using your imagination and the power to create, as well as having a good sense, while magic is just knowledge to control equations, i.e. using your head and making calculations. So while they may seem similar, they are very different from each other." She said as she pointed her head as an example. "It would be something like this, where the user uses the knowledge and calculations to know "If I do this, this will happen". But for a master magician, they would be able to use the calculation in many different ways."
"…. Sometimes I'm glad that I'm a half-devil or demon rather than a normal human." Mio whispered, once again conflicted about her racial identity or else she would have to become a literal nerd to be a master magician. She wasn't the smartest girl around, alright?
"It's a cheat for different races Mio." Meredith replied to Mio who shook her head, before facing her again. "Anyway, to determine your affinity, we'll have to use this." She began, pulling out a piece of yellow squared paper between her hands.
Mio looked confused at this. "What's that piece of paper? How can it determine my affinity for magic?" she questioned, prompting a nod from Meredith.
"This piece of paper is what will determine your element. It's called chakra paper."
"Chakra paper?" Mio questioned Meredith as she didn't know what that was.
Her magic mentor began to explain. "Yes, to find out what affinity someone has, pieces of paper that are made from a special type of tree that comes from the Shinto faction are used to react to the slightest hint of magic in any number of ways, depending on the nature latent in the person's magic."
"Why is it called chakra paper instead of magic paper?"
"Simple, the yokais were the first to discover this type of tree as their energy was chakra, so in terms the paper was named after their discovery. Magicians usually tend to call it magic because it's also used to determine a person's affinity. Do you understand?"
Mio nodded her head in understanding of why this parchment was called chakra paper. It seemed to have come from mostly Yokai origins, and since she had heard that they use chakra unlike a lot of other races, that was where the name came from. "Good, now as an example..."
The paper suddenly wrinkled as Mio became surprised at this. "What just happened? How did the paper wrinkled all of a sudden?"
"That is because I put in my magic to the chakra paper. My affinity is lightning."
"How can you tell your affinity?"
"Simple, you see the chakra paper responds differently depending on one's affinity. As you just saw, this paper wrinkled up which means that I have the lightning affinity, an element known for quick and precise casting of spells and paralysis-inducing ailments. There's a bunch of elements out there, each with their own pros and cons which don't necessarily make them stronger than others."
Mio's jaw hung open at the explanation, her mind abuzz (no pun intended) with the possibilities that Meredith's power could have. It literally sent a shock through her system (pun INTENDED). "Wow, really? I didn't know how useful lightning can be..."
A small smile formed on Meredith's face at the awe that her student was showing her, before her serious, stern face returned with full force. "Remember what I said before, there are pros and cons to every element. Depending on which element you have, it's your task to familiarize yourself with its strengths and weaknesses for tactical decision-making." she explained.
Another nod came from Mio as she mentally noted to look into the physics behind whatever element she was going to obtain. It would all depend on what she'd obtain for her affinity. "I understand."
"Now remember, there are five main types of elements most people have and they are Fire, wind, lightning, water, and air. I myself can use elements other than lightning, but they're not as strong as lightning thanks to it being my affinity. The difference is that magic is not limited to one type of element, but it won't be as strong as those who possess certain elements."
So if what she was being told was correct, then she could potentially use all elements but the ones she didn't have an affinity for would be weaker than those she did have the affinity for. "So, if I have a water element, I'm strong in that type of affinity, but I'm not as strong as the other elements even if I use them?"
"Correct." Meredith replied with a confirming nod.
Alright, that explained that. Still, part of her couldn't help but wonder about something that, considering the context, seemed kind of absurd to her. "But what about those who possess all the main elements?"
A thoughtful hum escaped the auburn-haired woman's lips at Mio's question as she tried to find the best way to answer it. After all, it WAS possible for one to possess affinities for multiple elements, Vali for example possessed affinities for Fire and Ice thanks to Albion. Though he stuck mainly to melee because it's 'more fun' according to him. "It is possible, yes but only in rare cases of those who possess them, even gods were not born with all types of affinity. There is one person though who possesses all main types of element, at least that I know of: Theseus."
"Him?! Is that how he's strong?" Mio asked in surprise if that was the reason why Theseus was so strong.
But Meredith shook her head in a negative manner. "No, the reason why Theseus possesses all those main elements is thanks to the help of his Sacred Gear, zenith tempest. The second most powerful sacred gear." she remarked, thinking back to when she had first met the guy in question when he had been assigned to hunt her down with Alucard. As much as she felt chills at how she'd come so close to death's door thinking about it, Meredith recalled the shock she had felt at encountering such a powerful tool of destruction.
Mio remembered the topic of Sacred Gears when she was educated in the supernatural with Kuroh, letting her know what types there were and which one they possessed. Theseus had zenith tempest, Vali had divine dividing and her mentor had Alphecca Tyrant. "You mean the one that can control the weather itself?" she questioned, remembering the lessons Kuroh gave her on THAT Sacred Gear in particular.
Another nod from Meredith was her answer, her following explanation containing a slightly grave undertone. "Yes, there are some cases of those who can gain the ability to use all main elements, the sacred gear is one, as for the others…. I have no knowledge but my guess is that they would have to be multiple gods, champions of certain elements or breed new generations. Trust me, you do NOT want to end up becoming a breeding girl."
Mio gulped at Meredith's serious words as she wrapped her hands around herself in worry. As if she would let that happen to herself, she didn't want to be someone's sex slave just to gain all element types.
"Anyway his primary element is water, the reason how I know this, it's because I tested his real elements while he mentally focused his Sacred Gear's influence. To that end, it showed his chakra paper becoming wet."
"I see." Mio said in understanding what Theseus's real element was. That explained how most of what Theseus was so good at was mostly water-related. She could imagine that only Theseus and the Helsing group knew of this little titbit about his powers, to Mio it would make sense to keep one's cards tucked in their pockets till the right time.
"Alright enough explaining, let's get to business shall we?" Deciding to cut the chat for the moment, Meredith held out a piece of Chakra paper towards Mio, her intention obvious.
As for Mio, she looked at it for a few seconds before taking it from Meredith's hand, placing both of her own on the paper.
Seeing this, Meredith began to instruct her once more. "Now remember what Theseus had taught you, try to focus on your magic to the chakra paper, let it flow through you on where you want it to be."
Mio closed her eyes as she did what Meredith instructed, making her magic flow through her body, to her arms where the paper is. There were a few moments of silence before Mio opened her eyes and looked at her paper which now had a large indentation in the center, almost as if something had slammed down right into the center of it.
The sight prompted Meredith to whistle to herself, not having expected this development. "Well this is a surprise, you have a sub-element, gravity." She mused, putting a white-gloved hand on her chin.
Several blinks of confusion came from Mio's lashes as she got that proclamation from her instructor. "Gravity? How can I have gravity? How can I not have one of the main elements if it's not related to the main elements Meredith?" She questioned, now more confused than ever. She hadn't known what to expect from this test due to having never really thought about attempting to manipulate elements before.
"Simple, Gravity is a part of the elements. Everyone is not just limited to the main elements, there are also sub-elements that come from the main ones, such as heat, lava, ice, silver, gold, steel, trees, I can list off many elements that come from it. But in some cases, there are those from those categories but have differing properties. Properties such as inverse, gravity, polarity, molecules, and even time itself."
The more that Meredith explained about the world of Magic, the more dumbfounded Mio became as she found this information gradually harder to comprehend. All the manga and anime she had watched growing up had simply shown magic as this simple 'point and cast' system where the spell activates itself. Yet the real thing sounded much more complicated, yet intricate at the same time. "Wow, I'm beginning to understand now. Even some from the periodic table?" She took out a periodic chart and held it out before her mentor.
Said mentor Meredith took a close look at them before nodding. "Yes, even those from the periodic table." She replied much to Mio's awe. However, she soon regained that grave tone of hers from before as Meredith held an index finger up in front of her eye level. "But be careful, each element has its own backlash if you don't practice it well enough. Even the simplest of spells can cause a catastrophic disaster if mishandled. Such as gravity, you're increasing the density of matter itself, even yourself. You would cause many tremors, earthquakes, and even damage the people around you."
Mio shivered at her magic mentor's warning as she took it to the heart when she's practicing gravity magic. She felt like this magic was sometimes a cheat and yet dangerous at the same time. Perhaps it was possible that if she was not careful enough she could end up undoing everything she had striven to achieve, imagining an image of herself in a chibi having a magic circle in front of her before being crushed down to the floor by her own magic. "(SHIVER)! G-got it Meredith! I'll be sure to be careful with gravity magic!"
With the look of sheer terror on her face, Meredith nodded in satisfaction that she had scared the notion of caution into her student. Learning the dangers involved with magic the hard way had been how the woman herself had learned it, though she had gone through a bunch of trial-and-error thanks to being self-taught for the most part. "I hope you do, now we figured out your magic affinity, I won't be much of use when it comes to gravity. I am an expert magician, but gravity is one of those elements I'm not that specialized for." She explained, but before Mio could become crestfallen at this information, Meredith smirked to herself as she delivered some information which reignited hopeful sparks within the redhead's chest. "Fortunately, we have someone who is an expert in gravity, Kuroh Yatogami."
"Does he have an affinity for gravity as well?" Mio questioned in slight excitement, glad to know that she had a possible mentor in one of the guys that she could look to for guidance.
The leader of the Helsing group nodded her head. "Yes he does, but take heed: when it comes to magic, you have to make your own magic techniques. I will be teaching you magic skills and how to use them properly, where Kuroh will teach you how to use gravity, Theseus will teach you on controlling your energy and Vali will be teaching you on hand to hand combat. Do you understand?"
"I understand Meredith." With a look of determination on her face, Mio nodded her head in acceptance to her magic teacher on what she will be taught by who. To be honest, while it sounded quite daunting to her it also filled the redhead with a sense of eagerness. It truly felt like there was progress being made on the path to her mastering how to wield her power, something which hadn't been happening for years now since she first went on the run with Maria.
People may call Hellsing monstrous and bloodthirsty, rightly so even from what she'd seen, but to Mio they may as well have been a god (ouch!) send.
Taking her hands to her sides, Meredith then clapped them a couple times to draw Mio's attention back to her. "Excellent, now we've discussed the schedule of your training, let's get started with my lesson." That said, Meredith walked to the side as Mio watched her getting a rolling chalkboard that had been located off to the side. She then stepped back a few times, pulling the chalkboard over to them, setting it in the center of the room, and glanced at the roof.
"THESEUS! (SNAP)!"
BOOM!
A pair of rock chairs suddenly appeared before the chalkboard upon the shoutout towards the Alucard 2.0, making Mio jump all of a sudden.
Meredith ignored her surprised face, took out chalk, and began to draw two-person and a brain with the difference on them, one had a star on its chest while the other had it on its hand. She was done drawing and faced Mio as she quickly took a seat in front of Meredith as she began to speak like an instructor.
"You know about the calculations I told you about, correct? Now normally it would be useless in teaching you this but I prefer a more specific reason on how to use magic properly. First," she pointed at the drawn person with a star on its chest. "Is the magic input of every being in the world, it is our magic core on how much magic we have, the reserves we were born with. But overtime…" She erased the star drawn on the chest before drawing a larger star that almost covered the drawn person. "Our magic reserves begin to grow, as we get older and stronger the magic input grows bigger when time passes by. It is the most important thing to know how much magic reserve the person has, the more you know how powerful they have become so you have to be careful and know this Mio, it would be useful in the future."
Mio hummed in an understanding of Meredith's instructions as her magic mentor now pointed at the person with the star in their hand. "The last step of conjuring magic is the output." Meredith made a demonstration by conjuring lightning on her hand, to which after analysing it with her senses Mio sensed that it was a weak spell. "The output determines how much magic we put in our spells, the more magic we put in, the more powerful the output of the spell can be like so." She made the lightning more powerful as the binding light almost made Mio blind as she saw Meredith make powerful lightning before swinging it to the wall.
BOOM!
The wall was destroyed the moment the attack impacted, something which Mio looked at in an awestruck manner. "But you have to be careful on how much magic you're putting in because the more magic you use, the more you lose your magic reserve in, got it? Now, these are the three important things you need to know when it comes to magic: calculation, input, and output. It will be difficult in the beginning, but slowly you will understand how to use magic more efficiently."
"I understand Meredith, hopefully this lesson will help me a lot in the future." Mio said with a tone of understanding of how to use magic properly instead of the improper way that the devils used. Just by their imagination they are already powerful but those with skills can outsmart them, even an ultimate class.
"Good, because now, we're just getting started." Meredith declared with a sadistic smile that shone in the darkness, her face covered in shadows as her eyes glowed in the dark almost matching Theseus' expression but with less killing intent.
It was at that moment that Mio knew that she would be in for hell.
AN:
Hello, hunter here. New chapter complete, and while not much has progressed so far several things of noteworthy proportions happened. For one, Theseus gained his own familiar, a Catachan Devil. I can SO imagine the horror that it would inflict upon those who behold its visage. None of the supernatural have the balls of steel that the Catachan Jungle Fighters do. THEN there's the fact that Yuki's being sent back to the Hero Clan, simply since its a fact that the Hellsing organization does NOT fuck around. Someone makes a move on their turf, they respond in kind. There's a reason why the supernatural world does NOT want to piss these guys off, and while she's simply an ordinary woman, Sir Integra may as well have the same level of fear-inducing ability as the rest of the 'monsters'. Hope you all like it and we'll see you next chap.
PEACE OUT!
Oh shit! Looks like Theseus has gone badass more further than expected!... My name is darklord bringing you another chapter of the series! Now the reason how the CD was able to give Theseus a match was that as animals grow more, their intelligence increases as well, like bears, tigers, and lions natural predators of the world. And for magic training, we want to go more on how magic can be taught, whats the affinity for every person they have like Naruto and how they can train. The author of Dxd didn't do a much of a good job on explaining magic which is why mostly it complicates people sometimes as they use their own concept of how magic can be used. Alright thanks for reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time!
GOOD LUCK!