Silently the spell was cast, and the lock silently turned on its own. The first of several robed individual filed into the lower room of a medium two-story abode in Northern Japan. The rustic design almost seemed out of place in such a land. Over a dozen men were creeping in now, trying not to creek the floor boards as they entered. The last two to enter were a young woman whose face showed the weight of her position, and a man who looked older than he was.

The woman, Celia, walked softly to the center of the room, her robes dragged. Her hair hung in ringlets on both sides of her head, yet enough was left that she also had part of it up in a very fancy bun. The man, known as Dmitrii stood behind her. His short dirty blond hair in a simple bowl style cut, setting off his blue suit rather nicely.

No one had to say anything. As soon as they were in position, they heard footsteps on the upper level. The main living room was split level with a balcony that ran around the left, back, and right sides of the room. Two sets of stairs under the back balcony granted access, and a large wooden chandelier dominated the center of the room. The footsteps came from the right side, revealing a girl, looking around the age of 15, with glasses and pale skin. She wore an outfit reminiscent of an English all-girls school uniform, complete with a pleated skirt, sleeveless sweater (though missing any school patches) and of course a button-down shirt and tie under it. Her long hair was in a shrine maiden style cut with her bangs fully sliced at the forehead allowing her to see without having pin her hair back. Round rimmed glasses, long socks, and buckled shoes completed the look of a schoolgirl caught in the wrong country. A book, rather old looking and a bit on the thick side was cradled in her left arm.

"Hello, Miss Yamagishi," Celia greeted warmly, despite her men having effectively broken into the girl's home. "I'm-"

"Celia Fortner," the girl interrupted, "High Priestess of the cult known as 'With Light'."

"I see my reputation precedes me," Celia replied.

"No, I just like to have an idea of who my enemies are," the girl retorted.

"Enemies?! My dear Mayumi, other than a bit of minor intrusion, we're not here on malicious intent."

Mayumi's eyes narrowed slightly at the use of her first name instead of her surname. "Then what is your intent, Lady Fortner?" she asked.

Celia sighed. "Straight to the point then. It's come to my attention that our goals align. Both of us want the same thing… the resurrection of the Dark Lord."

"Now why would an obviously Christian Cult want Dracula back?" Mayumi challenged.

"For God to be good, my dear, the Devil must be evil. Sealing Dracula within the eclipse was a mistake. Now even the heavens have turned against us for we have lost our way. The world must unite again, and to do so they need an ultimate evil that is tangible! Dracula must return to this world, or humanity will fall to its own animalistic and savage evil."

"How noble," Mayumi replied. Her arm relaxed as her book simply flashed out of existence. "But why should I help you?"

"You want him back just as much as I," Celia pointed out. "Together we can complete the rituals and bring his resurrection to fruition!"

Mayumi placed both her hands on the banister. "As tempting an offer as that is, it seems our goals do not completely align. I do wish for Dracula's resurrection, but I have my own reasons I refuse to share with you. I will complete my quest on my own."

Celia's face took a less amiable look. "I'm sorry you feel that way. But unfortunately, I need those talents of yours and, no is not an answer I am willing to accept." She straightened her posture and ordered. "Get her! I want her alive!"

Mayumi pushed on the banister causing it to suddenly fall forward as if it wasn't attached, and as it did it transformed into a line of spears that fell upon the attackers below. While some were able to get their wards up, others were not so lucky, and nearly half of Celia's men fell before any of them could get even a single spell off.

Mayumi leapt from the upper floor, landing in a crouch before two of the cultists, they tried to grab her only to be suddenly run though with a series of icy spikes that ripped from the ground at a sharp angle before her. She quickly turned slightly left throwing her left hand forward to create a powerful circular enregy ward against a series of incoming elemental spells, while her right hand, held in the "devil horns" configuration, lashed out, creating and releasing a series of black orbs of energy that picked up speed as they flew, chilling the life out of anything they touched.

"Your powers are impressive," Dmitrii noted in a heavy Russian accent, pushing Celia behind him. "But I can do better."

He slammed his hands together and thrusted them forward in open palms. Mass of spiraling dark energy rolled towards Mayumi, forcing her to teleport away from the path. As soon as she appeared, she threw another wave of dark energy bolts. Two managed to hit Dmitrii but seemed to bother him little. What surprised her was the sudden cross sweeping of both of his arm simultaneously unleashing a much larger barrage of the same bolts back at her. Mayumi dashed forward, sliding under the attack before it picked up speed and threw a kick into Dmitrii's chest, knocking him back. Celia distanced herself from the sudden melee as Dmitrii brandished a rapier and went on the attack. Mayumi summoned a staff to her hands spinning it into a defensive posture and successfully blocked all of Dmitrii's attempts to stab her.

Finally getting the upper hand, she manages to strike him three times, throwing him back before being forced into attacking other cultists who decided it was their turn to try. She blocked, occasionally throwing a blast of sparks or flames at her attackers taking them out or pushing them back. Seeing Dmitrii winding up another massive dark energy spell, Mayumi decided it was time to leave.

She threw her hand forward sending another dark spike of energy though the ranks to make a hole, then as she jumped towards the unreasonably small gap in the window, her form changed to that of a black cat wearing a bell and managed to slip though the opening before anyone could catch her.

"Blyat!" Dmitrii yelled. "I had her." The sudden sounds of creaking wood got everyone's attention. "Celia! Time to leave."

The cult quickly exited the house as it collapsed like other cult structures did once the cultists were gone. The cultists were relieved to escape, but Celia however was shocked by this revelation.

"She… made the entire house herself? Using just her magic? What sort of sorceress is she?!"


Archdruid Sephiroth Presents

Part Seven of the Symphony of Shadow Saga

The Art


I: Hunted


Kushiro-2, contrary to what one may think when they see it on a map, is not really a major city. Though it is an urban area with many buildings and constant business, none of the buildings exceed five-stories, and the total population was only around 250,000 souls, nothing like the megalopolis that made up much of the island of Honshu's coasts. Located on the south side of the eastern "point" of the island of Hokkaido, it serves as a transport hub for material and goods coming into Japan. Traditionally, goods are examined here and either rejected and sent back to the country of origin, or approved and transferred to a domestic cargo ship bound for one of the other port cities of Japan. Even after Second Impact decimated the shorelines nearly two decades ago, Japan still held strong it's traditions of being a seafaring nation. And with many of the supply routes for high-speed rail having been destroyed by angel attacks and the recent cult uprisings, the sea routes were more important than ever.

A young blonde woman, still obviously Japanese made her way down the main avenue of the city. In one hand, she held a case emblazoned with church iconography, and the other, a drink with a straw that came form a nearby fast-food establishment. While she would have preferred a sit down lunch, she had to make sacrifices for her job. Her outfit being very red and included a tight fitting black skirt that barely reached her knees seemed to run counter to her job as a member of the Catholic Church.

She continued her trek down the street, avoiding colliding with people. Though this city wasn't as busy as many of the cities on the southern islands, this one was plenty busy in its own right. Not paying attention she continued down the street humming to herself, when she was suddenly pulled into an alley. Despite the suddenness, no one seemed to react to this happening.

The girl prepared to deal with her attacker only to realize it was someone she knew.

"May!" the girl excitedly greeted, nearly dropping her drink as she dropped her case to hug the smaller girl.

"Heh… Hello, Yoko" Mayumi replied, just letting the sudden hug happen. Normally she was a bit touchy about people making physical contact with her, but Yoko was one of those girls that treated physical contact like it was necessary for human survival.

"God, it's so good to see you again!" Yoko continued, though she kept her voice a little quieter now. "Things haven't been the same since you left."

"I imagine not," Mayumi remarked. "But after everything that happened… you know I couldn't stay."

"You know," she started before taking a quick sip from her soda, "no one told me anything about that. They just said that you left of your own accord. I knew there had to be something else but no one would talk about it."

Mayumi sighed. "I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not going to elaborate either."

"That bad," Yoko's face took a thoughtful turn. "I know you were upset when you left."

"I was past the point of simply upset," she replied, "but that's a story for a time when I'm more willing to talk about it. Right now, I need your help."

Yoko didn't look too happy about what Mayumi just said. "You know I could be excommunicated just for talking to you. They took your exit pretty hard it seemed."

Mayumi appeared to cautiously examine the alley they were in. "Yeah, well there are reasons for that. It's important. I need information about an enemy of the church… one that is likely going to be difficult to get information on considering how much the church tries to keep a lid on this one."

"Please tell me you're not looking for information regarding Count Dracula."

Mayumi just looked at her.

"Damn… I was afraid it would be that. Okay, I know an archive in town that has something you might want to look at. It's called The Delila Manuscript. It was written by a member of the Church around the time Dracula began his war against humanity in the 1400s. A few of my colleagues said that the manuscript supposedly explains the reason why Dracula went to war with mankind… as in the real reason he went berserk."

"Not sure if that information will help, but a manuscript that dates back that far is bound to have good information," Mayumi replied. "I'll have to…" She started looking around again, noting how the alleyway looked a little more red than she remembered. Such a happenstance should only happen closer to sunset, and it was lunchtime.

"What is it?"

"We need to go." Mayumi grabbed Yoko's hand, and Yoko dropped her soda in favor of grabbing her bag instead. They only got about halfway down the alley when side doors opened, revealing cultists in white and gold. The pair tried to turn around and more entered the alleyway. The sounds of screaming came from the street as they appeared. Yoko and Mayumi immediately went back-to-back in a defensive posture.

"Church cultists?!" Yoko could barely contain her shock at their appearance.

"Not just any church," Mayumi replied. "These guys are from 'With Light'."

"Now, now," one of the leaders approaching started, trying to sound less than intimidating. "Celia only wants to talk to you."

"Considering what happened last time, you'll forgive me if I don't buy that."

"The mistress was a bit hasty," came a voice from the other side, though Mayumi didn't turn around. "She promises to be more polite and patient."

"The answer is still no, now get out of our way."

"I'm afraid we can't do that." Both girls heard the powering up of magic as the conversation continued. "Our instructions were clear; bring you in or die trying."

Sensing the time for words was over, Mayumi immediately summoned a cone of fire to flood the alleyway in one direction. Though a couple of the cultists were incinerated instantly, the others were able to get their wards up before the blast hit them. Yoko on the other side unleashed a spread of icy spears into the cultists before her taking out a few before summoning her mystical rod to her left hand and preparing lightning magic in the other. Once the spells really started getting thrown, walls around them blew opened, allowing the pair to use the bottom floors of these structures for cover.

Summon spells were cast next, and Mayumi saw a pair of pure white skeletons with some kind of holy symbol in their heads. The moment she realized what they were, she grabbed Yoko and tried to get out of sight. The pair drew in energy from their surroundings into their rib cages before unleashing the energy as rays of pure holy devastation in the direction of the two witches. They split at the last second, barely avoiding the beams.

"Careful you fool!" they heard one of the cultists say. "The High Priestess wants them alive!"

Mayumi started a summoning spell of her own, and Yoko didn't like the feel of it. Her suspicions were answered when a circle of dark energy appeared and out popped a trio of Black Panthers. They turned into liquid passing under the cover they hid behind before popping up and rushing down the summoners Before the Nova Skeletons could get another shot of, they were both downed, and one of the summoners was also hit. The panther jumped through the man, coming out the other side seemingly without harming the man. He looked at himself only to notice the panther had his heart in its mouth. It bit down hard, and the man to collapsed.

More cultists entered only to be bombarded with dark orbs of energy thrown from Mayumi, one of the cultists managed a lightning bolt, but Mayumi avoided, throwing a hand in his direction. A black orb of energy flew a short distance, forming into a black cat that ran across the ground towards the cultist. Before he could react, the cat jumped through him, tearing a massive hole opened in his abdomen. As the cultist fell, the cat busied itself by licking the blood off of its paws before disappearing in a poof of shadowy smoke.

The witches managed to escape out the side of the building in all of that confusion.

"I think I can see why you left the church," Yoko noted with a little bit of sourness in her voice. "You've been playing with bad magic. How have you gotten so good at it?

Mayumi sighed and ominously replied, "It's in my blood."

"I see," the older woman replied. "Let's get you to the archive."


The pair waited until nightfall. Though Yoko did try to get Mayumi to open up, she refused to elaborate further on her beef with the church. As soon as it got dark, Yoko led Mayumi to a small building uptown that was rather non-descript.

"Just let me do the talking," Yoko insisted. Mayumi agreed. They entered the building, finding an altar and a small set of pews. It's was meant to be a small chapel, likely for members of the Church organizations than for the people.

"Lady Belenades," the man in robes greeted. "Do you require access to the archives?"

"Yes please."

"Who is this girl" the man asked.

"A protégé of mine," she replied immediately. "Is there a problem."

"Not as long as she stays close to you at all times."

"Don't worry, she will."

The man opened a secret passage behind the altar leading into the archive proper, and allowed the two to pass.

"Now to find that manuscript," Yoko whispered.

Mayumi's eyes searched around, seeing dozens of shelves full of books and racks upon racks of scrolls. Stairs led down to a lower level, equally full of various written works. Candelabras mostly granted light to see by.

"And you're certain it's here?"

"Quite."

She sighed. "I always hated this part of the job," Mayumi noted.

"Agreed," Yoko replied, walking down the first aisle with Mayumi. "No matter how well kept an archive could be, it was always a bit of a pain to find just the right scroll or book." She eyed the racks further in. "Luckily, I remember where the manuscript is stored."

Mayumi looked back towards the stairs. "If we get ambushed down here, there isn't much of an escape route for us," she thought to herself.

"Here," Yoko stated happily, and pulled a book from the shelf. It had no markings on the binding, except for the archive number which was 26-9-1986. "It was pieced together by the Scholar Delila who worked for the church at that time in Walachia."

Mayumi accepted the book, which somehow felt heavier that it should be, she wondered if that was her "witchy sense" kicking in again. She noted that specific oddities in what she was experiencing at the moment was a strange but effective way to alter her senses that something needed her attention, whether it was off or simply important, like when the ambient light in the alley turned red to warn of an impending ambush. A heavier than expected book could signify that this tome was more important than she herself thought it was.

"Good, let's get out of here," Mayumi suggested.

"What? We can't take that book out of here," Yoko protested. "It's church property."

"I don't feel safe down here," Mayumi protested, suddenly feeling very nervous. "This place is a dead end, there is no other way out. We get cornered down here…"

"Relax, this is a secure church archive. No one can get in unless-"

"Unless they already had someone on the inside?" a familiar Russian voice offered. Yoko immediately put Mayumi behind her as readied her spells.

"Dimitrii," Yoko hissed. "What do you want here? How did you even get in?"

"The archive guard is working for 'With Light'," Mayumi noted.

"I see you've been paying attention, child," Dimitrii taunted. "Come now, Celia is waiting and she won't take no for an answer." Several robed figures moved passed him on the stairs into the archive proper.

"Why won't you leave me alone!" Mayumi yelled. Yoko felt the dark power building behind her and got out of the way as Mayumi unleashed a blast of dark power that burned like the heat of hell itself. But that heat was controlled, it passed though book and scroll leaving nary a trace of damage but to the cultists, it was like standing on the sun. Dark ash fell in the wake of energy blast from the cultists that were moving towards them.

"Down to the lower level!" Yoko yelled. "I know a secret way out."

Mayumi simply grabbed Yoko and jumped over the balcony into the lower level, Yoko felt their fall suddenly slow and noted Mayumi was riding a broom down in a gentle glide. As her feet touched the ground it disappeared, and Yoko ran down the aisle, Mayumi close behind. The cults had to take the stairs which slowed them significantly. Inside of a side room, Yoko pulled down on a wall sconce which opened a passageway. Both girls ducked in before the cultists could even reach the door. But both girls knew the cultists would be smart enough and have the tools to detect such a hidden passageway so they kept running. Finally reaching a ladder up and a hidden switch that opened into an alleyway on the surface about a block away. Mayumi noted there was no button outside to activate it, meaning the passage was specifically for escapes and not direct access.

They exited out into the streets only to find more cultists… and Dimitrii at the head. Yoko looked about, seeing that there was no escape as cultists blocked all major exit routes.

"You just don't know when to quit do you, Dimitrii," Yoko warned.

"Giving up never got me anywhere, Miss Belenades," he countered before turning his attention to Mayumi. "Now for the last time, Celia's patience may be limitless, but I've reached the end of mine. She might not like it, but I have no qualms with bringing you in broken and unconscious."

"Even though I'm barely a highschooler?"

"Why should that matter? You're already a proficient killer."

"People like you made me this way!" she yelled back. "You think I'm proud of it?"

"Of course, you aren't," he almost taunted. "You are a good person with a bad bloodline. You don't see your potential for mayhem like I do. Personally, I wish you were more accepting of what you have become. You should be proud! Not everyone can cause genocide as easily as you can."

Mayumi frowned at his words. She'd unfortunately been in this situation far too many times before; hunted, forced to fight, forced to take lives because there were no alternatives. Now it's happening again… another cult, another pursuer… but something was different about Dimitrii. He was by far the most powerful mage she had faced so far, and seemingly gifted of the same dark talents she had at her disposal.

"Don't," Mayumi whispered dangerously.

"Don't what?"

"Don't try to play the 'oh look we're the same' card, because we are nothing alike. I kill to survive. You kill for pleasure."

"And you don't feel cold satisfaction in your veins when you snuff out another soul? Stop lying to yourself."

Mayumi closed her eyes a moment, before she opened them again. For the briefest of moments, the appeared as red cat-slits.

"You want to know why I'm so resistant to fall into that 'true nature' you seem so obsessed with? Let me show you…"


My reflection,

Dirty mirror!

There's no connection,

To myself

I'm your lover,

I'm your Zero,

I'm the face in your dreams of glass

-"Zero", by The Smashing Pumpkins


"I am about to go, I believe the term is 'HAM' on this fools. It may buy us some time for the escape. I need to know what's on this manuscript… I feel it's vitally important now."

Next Chapter: Join or Die


A/N: In case you were wondering; Yes, the archive number of the manuscript is in fact an Easter Egg. It is, in European Format, the date the original Castlevania released on the NES.