A five-year-old Mayumi sat on a bench next to her beloved mother. She leaned against her mom as she felt her mother pat her gently on the head.
"You have a wonderful life ahead of you, Mayumi," she whispered. "One day, you'll be a part of something incredible!"
Mayumi's eyes had closed to focus on the feeling of her mother's touch, but soon opened to see the church yard around them. Iron fences protected slender trees as they grew near the church's outer walls. Her eyes raised, taking in the blue infinite sky with but a few white clouds to break up the view. The wind was cooler today, a contrast from the hotter days she'd remembered from last year.
"But they'll be hardships too," her mother continued. And despite her wandering eyes, Mayumi hung upon every word. "Problems will arise, and you'll have to use your gifts to solve them. No matter how dark things get, always remember that you will find sanctuary in both light and darkness."
"I will, mama," Mayumi responded. "I will…"
Explosions chained around Mayumi as she tried to predict just where the meteors were falling, she reached Shinji as the explosions closed around them.
"Stay close!" Mayumi shouted over the flaming tempest. Shinji nodded as Mayumi started to pull energy together. Moments later, a Meteor struck and their world exploded.
VI: Patron of the Art, Part I
Dario laughed maniacally.
"Everything is on fire!" he yelled triumphantly. "How does it feel, Ikari?! How does it feel to burn?!" He waited for the inevitable power up he would receive at Shinji's death, only… it wasn't coming. Realizing Shinji was alive somehow, he was in complete disbelief. "Bugger that, no way you survived this."
The flames began to die, revealing a veritable fortress of ice that held its shape despite the ambient heat. It suddenly shattered into icy mist that rolled over the ground around it, obscuring Dario's view and putting out the fires it passed over.
"Is it cold in here, or is it just me?" Mayumi quipped as her and Shinji came into view beyond the frozen fog.
"Bloody hell," Dario lamented. "You've got more lives than a cat." He slammed his hands together igniting the fire in them again, but Mayumi could see that the fire was diminished somewhat.
"And you're running out of petrol, mate," Mayumi replied, mocking his accent.
Dario instantly remembered using that same line against Hikari months ago. "Oh, you little bitch. Been talkin' to the plant lady? I'll burn you yet, witch!"
"Plant lady?"
"Hikari," Shinji replied. "I'll explain later."
"Just fuckin' DIE!" Dario threw both his hands forward unleashing his twin dragon fire once more.
As the twisting Firey apparitions closed on the pair, Shinji stepped forward and called Final Guard, tanking the hit like a champion, while Mayumi pulled deep within herself and released twin ice dragons which, like a pair of deadly serpents, slithered out away from the path, to attack Dario from both sides simultaneously. The scream he let loose told Mayumi what she wanted to know, and with cold satisfaction, she watched the fire diminish further.
Parts of his body were frozen, others bleeding. He struggled back to his feet as Shinji lowered Final Guard.
"Good one, mate," Dario admitted. His fire was quickly weakening yet he tried to prepare for combat again. "Got enough in ya to finish me off?"
"Easily," Shinji countered. "Your fire is almost snuffed, Dario."
"Yet you still don't want to kill me," he noted.
"Wrong," Shinji countered. "Before I met Mayumi, you would have been correct, as killing you brings me one step closer to becoming Dracula. But now… I'm realizing my destiny." He threw his hand out to his side, summoning a smaller version of the Sword Lord's blade. "Prepare to die."
A sudden explosion of dark energy nearly threw both Shinji and Mayumi from their feet.
"Get him out of here," Dimitri commanded. "Ikari is mine." Celia grabbed a hold of the injured Dario.
"Don't be foolish!" Celia yelled. "You can't take him!"
"I can and I will," Dimitri yelled back. "Now get out of here, before I kill you myself."
Celia looked shocked at the sudden betrayal. "Dimitri…" she whispered before cutting off her own tears. "So be it." In a flash of light both her and Dario disappeared.
The smoke cleared, revealing both Mayumi and Shinji were still standing, but the blast did force them to slide a dozen meters back.
"Not like you to be noble, Dimitri," Shinji noted.
"You don't know a damn thing about me, Ikari," Dimitri yelled back. "Besides… I want the honor of killing you."
Shinji exhaled sharply, closing his eyes as he did so. "You really are a delusional bastard, you know that?" He let the sword lord blade slip from his hand causing it vanish before it hit the ground
Dimitri sneered evilly. "Prove it."
Shinji summoned Final Guard's Shield over his left arm as he drew Laevatain from its sheath, igniting the blade, then rushing forward as fast as his vampiric speed could carry him. Dimitri drew his rapier and blocked the incoming strike before attempting to riposte, which was easily blocked by Shinji. What happened next was a blinding flurry of strikes from both combatants, as they desperately tried to penetrate each other's defenses.
Mayumi stepped forward intending to help, when a peculiar feeling came from behind her. Swinging her arm back she summoned a ward just in time to block a sphere of flames from reaching her. Much of the fire deflected away setting the nearby grass ablaze.
A flame licked mage that was all too familiar stood before her.
"Trying to help your boyfriend, are you?" Rastur sneered. "Too bad. You'll have to deal with me instead. You might be a good witch, but your power pales in comparison to the unbridled power of a true adherent of Castlevania.
Mayumi laughed, readjusting her glasses. "Shows what you know," she replied. "My power comes from every witch that haunts the castle's halls. You have no idea what I'm capable of."
Rastur took that as a threat and unleashed a series of fireballs at Mayumi. The young witch simply walked forward, allowing her ward to block the incoming blasts, which didn't even slow her down.
Shinji's skill with his sword was proving to be less of a match for Dimitri that he was hoping. While his vampiric speed was keeping him slightly ahead of the copy mage, he failed to deliver any real damage. Consequently, Dimitri seemed to be hyper-focused, doing his damnedest to stay ahead of the torrent before finally striking home with a piercing shot to the left shoulder that managed to miss getting blocked. Shinji grunted in pain, his shield dissipating as he lost his concentration.
Sensing blood in the water, Dimitri kicked up his speed forcing Shinji on the defensive, though now without his protection, he was at the mercy of the madman. Within moments, he received several additional punctures to his chest, one barely missing his heart. The boy continued backing off but Dimitri was relentless, striking the side of his face with a deep slash just below his left eye then puncturing his right shoulder, almost forcing him to lose his grip on his sword.
Shinji used his free left hand to summon a Sword Lord to distract Dimitri and buy him a few extra moments. He tried to call for a healing soul, but realized the only he had was long since lost when Hikari got her powers. As Dimitri managed to defeat the Sword Lord with a powerful dark energy spell, Shinji called upon the Soul of Succubus and managed to strike a direct hit with Laevatain. The burning blade hurting Dimitri and forcing him on the defensive.
He mage noted with disdain that despite the burn caused by the flaming blade, the wound was suddenly quite cold. He noted Shinji's regenerative abilities suddenly kicked in faster, quickly healing the numerous puncture wounds on his body.
"You can copy what I use against you," Shinji realized aloud, "but you can't copy the powers of minions who directly bless me with their gifts. I have called upon the soul of a succubus. The more pain I cause, the faster I heal." Summoning the shrunken down Sword Lord blade back to his left hand this time, he drew in breath and showed his fangs. "Sorry to keep you waiting… but now I'm ready to finish this."
"You're full of yourself if you think you can win. I'm still the better swordsman."
Shinji laughed… it was a dark laugh that sent shivers up the spine of Dimitri. "Fool! Did it not occur to you that I can tap the power of virtually any minion within the castle? While I am still missing many, I do have several I can draw upon to give me an edge, and I've learned a new trick. Seems that stressful situations can reveal new uses for my power. No only can I call minions to aid me in combat, I can use the same minions to empower myself with strength, speed… or even combat skill."
As Dimitri took a defensive posture, Shinji released Succubus and called instead for the Soul of Skeleton Blaze, an image of the creature appearing superimposed over him for a moment with a yellow aura. Suddenly, Dimitri found that instead of an inexperienced boy with soul powers trying to take him in melee combat, it was as if the boy suddenly became a master of dual blade combat.
As Shinji threw himself into the fray, a magical apocalypse of sorts was happening behind him. Mayumi continued to try to pound her way through Rastur's defenses even as she used her left hand to counter his attempts to incinerate her. Craters formed around them and what remained of the buildings around them were being blown apart in chunks. Luckily, the residents had fled long before the battle began.
As she got closer, Rastur decided it would be best to keep the battle mobile, launching a series of electrical bursts as he ran to his right. Mayumi followed, her skirt kicking up as she magically enhanced her own speed to match his, yet revealing nothing. She maintained her ward to block the incoming electrical bolts while continued to try to rain frozen death upon the fast-moving mage.
"Ha! This is exhilarating!" Rastur called out. "You are wonderful! I've never met someone who could match me like this! It's far too seldom I get to really let loose with the arcane."
"Glad you approve," Mayumi shot back, dodging another blast while twirling in the air. She seemed to hang for a moment as her hands reached skyward and then were brought down in a gesture similar to an exaggerated bow. Rastur jumped back, using a glide spell to carry him away as the are he stood was suddenly rained down upon with flaming meteors, which seemed to try to track him.
She touched down, summoning a circle of runes ahead of her with both hands. "For what it's worth, you really are starting to tax even my knowledge of magic." The circle completed. "I relish challenges like this." She slammed her hand into the back of the circle causing a beam of holy energy to rip cross the field towards Rastur. Having just landed from his glide, he bent back allowing the beam of raw radiant power to pass him, then continued running at Mayumi, now drawing a sacrificial knife with his left hand.
He struck now closed with her only to come into contact with a black blade of Mayumi's own. Despite being bigger than Mayumi, he was having issues trying to overpower here.
"No gimmicks like copying," she continued. "No holds bared… just raw mystical power." A sharp strike from Mayumi's free hand backed by a concussive spell threw him back and stole his breath. He had to move immediately to dodge the lightning she was calling down on his position, giving him no time to adapt to her change in strategy.
"Indeed," he replied, throwing both hands into a torrent of electrical fury the likes of which sci-fi space wizards would be jealous of. Mayumi had to use both hands to block the fury of the spell and was barely holding on, but her amused smile never faded. She was truly being challenged now.
Dimitri was having less luck as he now had several gashes and cuts from Shinji's twin blades.
"I'm getting tired of this," he growled out, finally exposing an opening in Shinji's seemingly expert defense and fully exploiting it.
Shinji hissed as the blade punched though his stomach and out his back.
"You're mine, Ikari!"
Shinji just lowered his head slightly and chuckled darkly. Dimitri's face fell at the sound. Didn't he just mortally wound the boy? How is he still finding amusement in this?
"Fool," Shinji whispered. "This situation is reversed. You're mine."
Dimitri finally realizing his mistake tried to back off but it was already too late. Shinji didn't just have the traits of a vampire, he was virtually one in every respect. Dimitri was grabbed in a grip of iron and screamed out as he felt fangs pierce his neck ripping into the flesh there. His blood was quickly being drained by the heir of Dracula, and though he tried to fight back, he simply lacked the mystical energy needed to use dark magic, not that he could concentrate with the sheer pain he was experiencing. His own physical strength failed him as his muscles weekened. Digging deep he tried a technique he had used to survive against the odds before, but found he was already too weak to pull it off. Dimitri tried to call out to Rastur for salvation, but the sheer power being thrown around by the mage's battle with the witch precluded any chance of him hearing his cries for help.
"I should have listened to Ceilia…" This was his last thought before the darkness closed over him.
Shinji dropped the drained body on the ground before pulling the blade from his stomach, dropping it to the ground. Ash poured from the wound as he felt the regenerative power of his blood quickly heal the injury. Without hesitation he swung Laveatain and removed Dimitri's head with a swipe of the devil-forged blade.
Another massive concussive blast from Mayumi finally knocked Rastur out of his attempts to electrocute the witch, though he failed to notice the hand gesture she used just before striking with the forceful spell. As they both stared each other down, the sound of Shinji crying out caught both of their attention.
Black energy flowed from the headless corpse into Shinji. Dimitri had defeated many candidates in his time on earth, and now all of that power flowed into the heir of Dominus. His dark aura seemed to snuff the light around him, the edges breaking off into small batlike shapes as they dissipated. Shinji smiled sadistically in the direction of Rastur, showing bloodstained fangs.
"Yeah… time to go." Mayumi turned back to Rastur as he said that, in time to see him fade away.
"Coward," Shinji sneered, his aura calming.
"He knew he couldn't win," Mayumi noted.
"Yes, his self-preservation instincts are quite sharp."
Mayumi couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the sarcasm Shinji used in that line. She looked around seeing half of the town was in flames, and the cultists who caused the blaze were nowhere to be found. Mayumi began to concentrate, creating a rolling mist of cold to sap the heat perpetuating the flames, and one by one the fires dimmed and extinguished, but the damage had already been done. Many of the buildings would likely need to be demolished and rebuilt.
The few survivors who remained in town were now emerging, but Mayumi saw only fear in their eyes. Though the pair likely saved them all, the dark power they both held was palpable, even to the uninitiated amongst the survivors.
"I don't think we're welcome here anymore," Mayumi lamented.
Shinji said nothing at first, simply looking into the eyes of those who would meet his gaze. He could almost hear their thoughts now… he certainly could smell their fear. While the part of him that was the evil count smiled at the aroma, Shinji felt saddened. He had accepted that his fate was to become a monster in the eyes of normal humans, but seeing it now drove the point home in ways he wasn't mentally prepared for.
"We should leave," was all he said, as she stepped over to Mayumi, wrapping an arm around her. Then to the shock of the people looking on, the two of them were captured in a beam of moonlight, and then seemed to break apart into a swarm of shadowy bats that quickly faded away as they flew.
Hours later, in a small safehouse several towns away, Shinji slept in a room protected by blackout curtains, while Mayumi sat vigil next to him, unable to sleep herself. A crystal ball floated in front of her and she had been debating on using it for a while now. She wasn't going to peer into the future, she was going to peer into the present, specifically the magical sensor she placed on Rastur during their battle. Rastur was a powerful mage though… and she knew if she used it, she might only get the barest glimpses before he found and dispelled it, or worse, traced back its source. She had planted that little sensor on him by impulse, but she was now realizing the risks involved in its use.
"Nothing ventured… But what if the worst happens?"
"Do it," she heard from who she thought was a sleeping Shinji.
"You're awake," Mayumi stated, sounding surprised.
"Still getting used to the new power I possess," he replied. "Some of the memories of the people who held pieces of Dracula were also transferred to me… Dimitri wasn't very nice in the way he killed most of them."
Mayumi frowned at that.
"I realize of course he was quite evil," he continued, "but I never expected how. He fully planned on trying to piggy back on me if he couldn't defeat me."
"Piggy back?" Mayumi questioned.
"His copy power also allowed him to jump between bodies. He never got the chance to use it though, he never expected to lose our duel. By the time he tried, I had already drained too much blood and energy for him to use the power."
"Is that why he looked older than he should have since he should have been no older than you?"
"Yes."
"Ugh… how many times did he do that?"
Shinji shook his head. "Not sure, but I'd rather not contemplate on it." He sat up. "Do it… activate the sensor."
"How did you know I made one?"
"There are only a few uses for crystal balls," he reasoned. "Divination or communication, and it seemed reasonable to assume you would try to tag him during your fight in case he escaped again. We need to know where our enemies are holed up."
"I think I can do that without alerting Rastur to the fact that he's being scryed." Mayumi held her hands near either side of the crystal ball, and concentrated. "I'm getting a strong feeling. They are still in Kushiro-2… I think… yes… the north side of town… just outside of it. I'm getting a dim vision of a rather large house… closer to a Japanese style manor or sorts…"
"Kushiro Manor," Shinji noted. "There is a shrine there they are likely using as a teleportation gate."
"We need to destroy it," Mayumi noted.
"Indeed, we do. That will finally free the town from their influence." Shinji looked towards the curtains, noting the light trying to peek around it. "We move at nightfall."
"If we're lucky, maybe we can take both Rastur and Celia out of the picture for good."
Shinji nodded. "Yes, but right now…" he grabbed the girl pulling her fully into the bed with him which caused her to giggle with amusement. "… we rest. Soon, we will end the influence of our enemies here, and hopefully take out their leadership."
Mayumi was hopeful, but she knew it would never be so easy…
She's the one for me,
She's all I really need, oh yeah
She's the one for me,
She's my one and... only
"This is our chance to destroy 'With Light' and deal a decisive blow to 'The Order of Infernus'… We must not fail!"
Next Chapter: The conclusion of "The Art"
A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been battling sleep apnea for a while now and I finally got it under control. Final part soon with any luck…
