Ritsuko's workshop was once a place of solace for Maya, but now she felt awkward being in here. She skimmed over the tome in front of her, looking for key words and phrases, but was having little success. Sighing, she wondered why she bothered… Ever since she began following Ritsuko's rise to power, she always felt like a fifth wheel in these endeavors. Though her sempai would always praise her when she found or remembered something of value, she felt as if she contributed little to Ritsuko's studies and research. Hell… if even Kodama, Shinji's Librarian couldn't find this information, what hope did she herself have?

Not to mention she was now just another piece of Shinji's ever-growing collection of females. At first, she felt this would somehow make her seem more important, even if Shinji effectively raped her…

"And I let it happen…"

Another thing she was struggling with. She could have fought him, or at least tried. Shinji all but hated himself after he committed the act… enough that even Maya herself was convinced that if she had tried to fight back, he would have come to his senses and backed off of her. But was that true, or was her perception of events skewed in favor of wanting desperately to believe there was still a good person behind that vampiric visage?

Never-the-less, the fact remained that as soon as those teeth hit her flesh, she did nothing to try to stop it… she let it happen. Worse yet, even now weeks after it happened, she felt no more important than she did before, in fact, she felt like some of the girls might be looking at her with disdain or even… pity? The fact remained that she was the weakest link in the entire harem, with no powers of her own to contribute, and a skill that was not only redundant considering Kodama's amazing prowess when it came to research, but practically useless in the face of such. Even her sempai had begun using Kodama as a resource almost as soon as she became part of the harem herself.

Closing the book, she sighed deeply, lamenting quietly at the state of her life before shifting her gaze to the objects on Ritsuko's table. Many were familiar… Some were scientific; an odd sensor device, basic tools, electronic components… Others were much more esoteric; crystals, odd powders, and…

"Tarot cards?"

Those were new… She wondered why Ritsuko would even have these, her sempai never studied the divination aspects of magic before. Was she trying to branch out? Or was she just curious if there was any truth to such things. Maya lightly chuckled to herself; the idea seemed ludicrous beyond belief that mere pieces of cardstock with odd pictures could divine the future, or peer into the past. What nonsense!

The deck was face down; the odd intricate patterns that formed the back of the card seemed almost enticing. She picked up the first one looking closer at the pattern, noting it's perfect vertical and horizontal symmetry, meant to hide not only the card itself but its orientation. Supposedly in her hand was the key to the future.

"Such nonsense," she decided, then casually flipped it over to see what card she even picked up.

An image of the grim reaper stared back at her… an intricate text box at the bottom of the picture proclaimed "DEATH".

Her pulse immediately shot up, her heart suddenly in her throat. Feeling revulsion, she dropped the card onto the table and stepped back. "Why that card?!" Of all the cards that could have been on the top of the deck, it was the one Maya would have least liked to see… not something esoteric like The Tower or The Fool… no… it was the most feared in the entire tarot.

"It… it doesn't mean anything!"

"I hope…"


VII: Patron of the Arts, Part II


Two guards stood silent in a beautifully decorated hallway. Every few meters or so, armor sets holding ancient polearms and heavy shield stood in niches as apparent decorations. Banners and tapestries hung on the wall sections between these niches, showing various designs though most prominently displayed the cross and batwings that became the symbol of the cults dedicated to the resurrection of the dark lord.

The two men stood stoically, dressed in black and red robes sporting flame patterns on the sleeves and bottom sections of the robes. Behind them were a pair of cultists in white, their cloaks embroidered with golden crosses and a pattern that seemed to indicate light was radiating from the holy symbols. They were talking, though they were too far away for the other cultists to hear.

Suddenly, the doors were blown off their hinges, and the two closest had to jump back, using a short incantation to float back, landing near the others in white. Coming though the opening other than smoke and dust were two figures; one in dark clothing with a black and silver shield on his left hand and a flaming sword in is right, the other a bespeckled school girl holding a black book under her left arm and her right hand wreathed in black ice.

The Infernus Cultists in front began summoning up their flames while the With Light adherents began chanting a summoning spell. Shinji rushed towards the mages as Mayumi launched a spike of shadowy ice towards the adherents. The cultists attempted to avoid Shinji's attack but only one was successful, the other having his chest split opened with a flaming sword. He screamed as he fell, but Shinji with his vampiric speed was too fast for the second cultist who fell with the follow-up strike.

The adherents managed to avoid the ice spike thrown at them and completed the ritual. In a burst of light, four angelic warriors each the size of a man appeared with silver swords in hand. Shinji simply charged the front line while Mayumi blinked out in a short-range teleport to get behind the other two. As the young vampire fought the two angelic warriors, Mayumi summoned a small swarm of shadowy kitties to occupy one of the angels. The second launched himself at Mayumi forcing her to dodge the attacks, using her ward to block what attacks she couldn't avoid.

"Die, witch!" he yelled as he attacked. Mayumi floated back away and suddenly the Angel found it was unable to follow. Looking down, he saw a series of black tenacles had grabbed his legs. He fought the shadowy appendages, slicing though a few but was quickly entangled by the mass before being dragged into the shadowy hole from which they originated.

In a display of swordsmanship that an expert in sword-and-board combat would have been proud of, Shinji quickly dispatched his two, watching as the last angel was engulfed in shadows that used to resemble housecats, and with an echoing scream as it simply was consumed in darkness and vanished.

"I think you an Ritsuko would get along nicely," Shinji noted.

"How so?" Mayumi questioned.

"She's into cats too."

Mayumi chuckled at that then took a more serious look as the armor suits stepped out of their niches. Shinji and the witch went back-to-back immediately as they were surrounded with six of these effectively behind them and four in their path forward. The vampire called upon the soul of Axe Armor whilst relegating Final Guard back to guardian mode. He threw both of the axes before summoning the blade form of Sword Lord. Mayumi launched a cold wave over the ground ahead of her. As the four facing her walked forward, the suddenly frozen ground erupted in over a meter long thin blades of ice, jutting at odd angles and striking with the speed of bullets.

One of the suits ahead of Shinji was taken out buy the axes, the second tried to block the over hand sword swing from the massive blade that Shinji summoned, but couldn't withstand the sheer force of the attack and crumpled immediately. Sliding forward, Shinji threw his body into a rotating lateral swing taking out two more in one hit, scattering their armor all over the hallway, then continued to spin and threw his weight into an overhead slam taking out the fifth, suit. The sixth managed to attack, only to be suddenly stopped by the visage of the upper half of dark armor holding the shield Shinji had before.

On Mayumi's side, the first two armors were taken out instantly but the others backed off. Mayumi followed up with a flourish, spinning once and waving her arm out with the spin like she was spreading seeds on the ground, only in this case she was expanding her cold influence over the ground. The armor suits found themselves unable to continue backing off and were instantly impaled by another series of icy blades. Compared to Shinji's exertions, she made her attack seem effortless.

She turned in time to see Shinji's follow up slash, an uppercut of sorts that smashed apart the last suit. A red orb of energy seemed to fly out from the last target curving back around to Shinji. At first Mayumi thought it was an attack, but noted Shinji didn't even try to dodge it, allowing the orb to reach him and seemed to be absorbed into him. He appeared to consider for a moment before turning towards Mayumi.

"Stand back a second," he commanded. She obeyed, stepping a few steps back just in case. Shinji threw his arms out in a flourish. Suddenly he was surrounded by a ring of suits of armor with shields and spears that all thrusted outwards at the same time before they vanished. He then seemed to consider once more before a blue aura appeared, and his body now seemed to sport transparent armor plates over his shoulders, chest and legs, as well as regalia off the shoulders and a cloak. All were fully transpartent and had a silvery blue appearance. Lastly a brief yellow aura appeared, then he summoned back his Final Guard shield over his arm and quickly showed off attack techniques he hadn't had previously. Satisfied, he dismissed the effect.

"You absorbed the armor's soul?" Mayumi asked, more an observation than a question.

"And I've figured out what it can do in all the ways I can use it," Shinji confirmed. "I had thought that souls only had a single purpose when I started tapping into that power, but I learned that Final Guard could be used in other ways, so I've been experimenting with other souls to see if I can do the same. Most of the souls in my collection do have multiple uses."

"The power of Dominus is fascinating to be sure," Mayumi noted. "You effectively embody all of Castlevania."

"Embody yes," Shinji agreed. "But as I've learned, the beings within Castlevania can use their powers in ways I simply cannot. You have the soul of every kind of witch within you, and yet you are able to do things with that power I would never be able to. Hikari gained the soul of an Alura Une, a plant demon, and she is able to do things with those powers I'd never be able to even touch. Essentially, I'm something of a Jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none."

"A Jack-of-all-trades may be a master of none, but will always be better than a master of one."

"… Pardon?"

Mayumi smiled. "It's how the saying actually goes… people always forget that last part."

"I… never even knew that part existed."

"You are the Master of Castlevania, of course you would have a little of everything. A vampire first and foremost, but you have an entire toolbox worth of extra talents at your disposal. Never think of yourself as anything less."

Shinji smiled at that. "Thanks, Mayumi… Now let's finish what we started, Ceilia and Dario know we're here by now."


Blowing open another set of doors, they found a spiral staircase going up. They followed the inside edge of a rounded tower that seemed to go up quite far.

"I thought this place only had two floors?" Mayumi noted. Her eyes glowed for a moment.

"I think this might be a-" Shinji began but Mayumi cut him off.

"Extra-dimensional space?" she completed. "It isn't… we just walked through the portal."

"What?!" Shinji looked back as the doors slammed shut behind him. He tried to open them but they refused. An odd transparent sheen could be seen around the doors and door knobs.

"High magic protects such doors. Even if you could get them opened now, they won't lead anywhere… or they might lead somewhere completely different."

"Wonderful," Shinji looked up seeing two people making their way up.

"Oi!" came the voice of Dario. "You just don't give up easily do you. You'll never catch us, ya know."

"We'll see," Shinji yelled back up. Then heard a screeching sound.

Mayumi looked up and sighed. "Oh good… Harpies."

Six flew down quickly seeming to be ready to dive bomb the pair then down thrusted their wings hard sending a series of razor-sharp feathers down at the pair. Mayumi dove under the stairs while Shinji held up Final Guard's shield and tried to be a small as possible. Two feathers grazed him, causing him to suck in a breath at the feeling. Mayumi broke cover, firing off a chain lightning spell, and managed to take out three in one shot.

Suddenly, as she pulled her other arm back to fire a second shot, something sticky hit her arm and had enough force to push her to the wall. She looked at her left arm and saw it was stuck in place by thick webbing. Holes she didn't see in the walls along the stairs were now belching forth demons of their own, with the upper bodies of beautiful and unclothed women, and lower bodies that resembled spiders larger than any had a right to be.

The harpies flew back down, preparing to launch more blades, intending to pin Shinji and kill Mayumi. Suddenly they were being harassed by three Gaibon, resulting in a mid-air battle. Shinji was beset by a couple of Aranae himself and couldn't help Mayumi, but she didn't need any.

As the spider demon closed on her, Mayumi charged up another spell, unleashing a cone of flames into the creature, causing it back way. It was far too late for that though, and her haunting screams as she was burning alive echoed in the tower. Without stopping her spell Mayumi quickly ran the fire over her arm, burning the webbing, then concentrated on extinguishing her arm before she was burned too badly. As it stood her outfit was now damaged, and she did loose a layer of skin on her forearm, but she had bigger things to worry about; the other Aranae were pissed off with her now.

Shinji lept up, kicking off the sides of the staircase on the way up and dispatching Harpies as he went. He was desperate to get to Ceilia and Dario as they continued running up the staircase, but was tackled by a harpy after killing four on the way up. The harpy resumed flying but Shinji slammed into the wall and rolled down some of the stairs before managing to stop. Quickly getting back to his feet, he blocked the incoming feather blades then leapt at the remaining harpy, slashing though its stomach and landing on the stairs on the other side. Shinji turned as it fell, seeing her body released a blue orb of energy, which he quickly absorbed.

Closer to the bottom, now quickly running up to catch up with him, Mayumi was taking out aranae after aranae with bolts of fire while protecting herself with a flaming aura. Finally, having attained enough height, she prepared a wind spell and jumped off the stair, producing her magical broom and throwing the wind spell straight down to boost her upwards at speed. Shinji grabbed on to the broom as she reached him. This move managed to get them past all the spider demons, and Shinji was able to use flying armor to direct them to the stairs when they lost momentum due to gravity.

The three Gaibons dropped nearby looking for instructions. Shinji took a minute to summon a harpy of his own. His was beautiful in comparison to the disgusting monstrous ones that attacked; with flowing blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a white dress.

"You four, deal with the rest," Shinji commanded, them down to kill the remaining aranae, while the pair resumed their climb.


The top of the tower ended with a pair of wooden doors exiting on side of the stairwell. Shinji wasted no time and kicked it opened. Before them they found a large stone tower roof. Another portal stood on the other side, and they had arrived just in time to see Ceilia and Dario pass though into an unrecognizable area. But between them they also saw the back of another woman. This one dressed in black robes that left the back almost completely opened except for a cowl style mantle over her shoulders that also formed her hood, the whole trimmed in gold. The bottom of the robe flared out a bit and was also trimmed in gold. Shinji noted her skin was very pale and was relieved to see no glyphs on her back. This begged the question as to why her back was so exposed.

He stepped forward but watched as the girl threw her hand forward at angles, launching bladed black feathers into the sides of the portal, destroying it and preventing the pair from following Ceilia and Dario. She then turned towards the pair.

"You think that will stop us?" Shinji replied. "No matter what, I will find them, and I will make them suffer for what they have done."

"Spoken like the true king of Castlevania," the mysterious woman replied, as she turned to face the pair. An intricate black tatoo covered the skin around her eyes, shaped like a bird. Her eyes were pure white, with no features at all. Electrical energy jumped between her slender fingers, clad in fingerless gloves of black and gold trim.

Shinji was about to ask who the hell she was, when the name simply popped into his head… he knew her, or more specifically, Dracula knew her… Mayumi was about to ask when Shinji spoke first.

"Malphas," he said, his tone dark.

"Well!" Malphas replied, "so you do remember. Or at least, you are starting to."

"How did you escape the castle?" he demanded.

"It seems there are elements attempting to call the castle back. Their attempts are… clumsy at best, but I was able to capitalize on their attempts and make it back to this world. Of course, the cost was the lives of all the cultists in the ritual… but who cares about such scum. It would seem, my Lord, that you were not so lucky with your escape, seeing as how your soul is fragmented."

"Whose side are you on," Mayumi demanded.

"My own," she replied instantly and thrusted her hands forward sending both back into the wall of the tower. As they tried to recover, Shinji yelled as a barrier of energy erupted around him.

"A Binding Spell?" Mayumi realized instantly. "Those take time to set up… you were planning this?"

"Of course I was," she replied. "Ever since the day of your birth there are fewer witches within Castlevania. I was their leader, my dark sisters… You couldn't even begin to know the sadness they experienced as so many of our sisters disappeared… just to create something like you."

"I didn't ask to be born," Mayumi countered. "Don't take this out on me."

"Oh, I would have preferred to take this out on the person truly responsible, but she was burnt to ashes years ago. You should know, you were there."

Mayumi gritted her teeth at the forced reminder of her mother's death.

"I would have taken you under my wings, showed you how your powers truly work, but alas… her execution prevents that. The ancient law dictates you must pay for your mother's sins."

"So, you're going to kill the very person you wanted to save."

"Kill? Oh no, I can't kill you yet… I have to wait until Castlevania returns. Eventually those buffoons will figure out how to do it, then I can bring you home… and sacrifice you to release my sisters back into the castle."

Mayumi smiled evilly at her. "Sorry to disappoint you, but it won't work. The souls fused with my own to create a composite soul… so I guess that makes us sisters."

Malphas sighed. "That does complicate things," she admitted. "Never-the-less, I have to try. And since I know you won't come willingly…" Malphas crouched on the ground and leapt into the air, seeming to stop in midair as a pair of black raven wings suddenly grew out of her exposed back. They were huge, Mayumi guessing each being as long as Malphas herself was tall, perhaps even bigger. Now she hovered there, with a backdrop of dark clouds racing behind her.

"You should have set up two binding spells," Mayumi threatened.

"Now where is the fun in that? Though I did set some lovely traps. Even if you have fully tapped into the powers of my sisters, I left more than enough to ensure I could defeat you. I'd watch my step if I were you."

Before Mayumi could ponder, Malphas threw her wings forward sending a swarm of black ravens to attack her. Summoning her staff, Mayumi launched herself forward and used spinning strikes to knock aside the ones she couldn't simply avoid. Malphas smiled as one of her traps were triggered throwing Mayumi back with an explosion of fire. The young witch rolled back to her feet, and slapped out the flames on her skirt. Malphs flipped in midair, sending feather blades at her next. Mayumi rolled side to side avoiding the attacks as she tried to concentrate long enough to see where the traps were. More blades made this difficult to do.

"If you stay in one place like that, I'll cut you to ribbons for sure."

The calm smugness in her voice was pissing Mayumi off, but she had to focus. She managed to eliminate one trap, though she wondered if they were pressure sensitive or proximity. If she was going to determine that, she had to find a way to keep Malphas occupied. As soon as she could stop a moment, which happened to be right in front of Shinji's prison. She winded up and let loose her shadow bolts into the air. They homed in on Malphas forcing the witch to dodge and weave through the air. Mayumi concentrated only to find that she couldn't see the traps. They were cloaked somehow. She quickly moved to the spot she already set a trap off, doing her best to follow the route she took to reach it as the Shadow Bolts finally dissipated after hitting nothing.

As she prepared her next spell, Malphas released spheres of electrical power that floated towards her. Mayumi dodged them but ended up hitting another trap, sending her off in another direction, she hit the ground rolled and struck yet another trap, nearly throwing her off the tower. Her ears were ringing, her body hurting, and her vision blurred.

Malphas smiled. "All too easy," she whispered as she flew down to collect her prize. Suddenly she was grabbed by her ankles. She looked down to see a black shadowy tentacle had ensnared her then whipped her down to the tower ground again, then tossed her towards the portal. As she hit the ground, one of her own traps were set off burning off a few feathers and causing pain and lacerations to her body. Her robes now partly torn, she managed to rise to her feet at the same time Mayumi did.

"Nice trick," Malphas hissed.

"You think the powers that the witches had are all I can do?" Mayumi yelled back. "You absolute idiot. Why do people keep underestimating my capabilities?"

"And they call me arrogant."

"You are," Mayumi replied. "I have literally no doubts in my mind about that." She paused. "And apparently so am I."

Malphas raised an eyebrow.

"I just realized I can easily uncover all of your little traps."

"Impossible," Malphas retorted. "They're cloaked and your spells can't set them off."

"Maybe I can't see them or use magic to locate them," Mayumi replied as dark energy surrounded her hands. "But they're pressure triggered, meaning even if it's a magical source, if it exerts pressure like a living thing can..." Mayumi slammed her hands into the ground sending out a wave of shadow energy. The energy formed into a legion of shadowy cats that ran outwards. Chains of explosions were going off seemingly everywhere as Malphas looked on in dismay. She tried to hit one of the cats with her wing blades but the blades simply passed through them as if they were made of smoke, and they passed though the explosions unfazed as they ran. Once enough of the ground was clear, Mayumi floated off the ground and boosted forward, slamming Malphas in the midsection with her staff.

Malphas summoned a staff of her own as she recovered, blocking the next attacks as both women were now in a deadly dance. Though Mayumi couldn't fly without solid ground closely below her, she was timing her overhead hits well enough to keep Malphas on the ground until she finally back-winged, throwing wing blades that were deflected by Mayumi spinning her staff rapidly to form an enhanced ward before her. The raven witch had to then dodge several large spikes of ice flying up and preparing to unleash another swarm of ravens.

But the young witch was waiting for that. Already the spell was being charged whilst she was blocking, she threw her staff into the air raising her hands over her head and launching three blasts of holy energy that flew in curved paths. Just as Malphas was about to unleash her swarm of Ravens again she was hit with all three blasts. Radiant energy tore through her body, making it feel like her very blood was boiling.

"Light and then Dark, this is going to hurt."

As Malphas started to fall, Mayumi slammed her hands into the ground one last time, creating a massive spike of solid shadow energy. Malphas was grabbed by two tentacles, one at the shoulders and one at her hips then pulled down fast. Before she could even adjust to what was happening, the spike ripped though her back and out her chest. Blood sprayed from her mouth on impact, and her body erupted into smokey energy.

Shinji's prison finally shattered as Malphas' Soul tore from her evaporating corpse. Shinji noted it was silver this time, a color he was not familiar with and let the soul join his spiritual menagerie. Mayumi kneeled in place, her legs spayed out a little behind her and was breathing hard. Shinji dropped in behind her and held her, feeling her heart beating hard.

"It is done," she whispered.

"You've done well," Shinji noted. "I'm sorry I was of no use this time."

"It was as she planned," Mayumi noted. "She underestimated me though. I feel like I got lucky."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Shinji told her. "Your gifts and your ingenuity helped you win. This is indeed your victory."

Mayumi smiled gently.

"For now, we need to get home," he continued.

"I can open the door at the base of the tower now," Mayumi explained. "Melphas was the one who made it in the first place, and I understand it's function now."

"Good… let us leave this dismal place."


The next morning, Shinji awoke to the sounds of a crowd outside his house. Looking out the window, he saw there were several towns' people looking at the house and all were talking. His ears picked up the mixed emotions. They knew he was some kind of monster, but they also knew he tried to save the town, and was mostly successful. The arguments over if he was friend or foe continued…

Shinji sighed. He didn't want to be a monster, but at the same time, he understood the inevitability of it all. He turned around and saw Mayumi behind him, wearing one of his T-shirts and only a pair of panties beyond that.

"Something wrong, my king?" she asked.

Shinji sighed. "I think it may be time for me to leave again." He walked up to her putting his arms around her. "There is a safehouse deep in the woods well away from the major cities. It is a safe place… the rest of my harem are there. You should go there…"

"Without you?" Mayumi asked. "You started this journey to come to terms with yourself. Have you not done so?"

Shinji thought about this for a moment… "You're right… I have… I supposed I thought there would be more to the feeling of accomplishment than this."

"We both accomplished what we set out to do… I belong with you… so, let us both go home. I can perform a teleportation ritual to take us anywhere you have been and can clearly visualize."

Shinji chuckled. "So eager to meet the others?"

"I have to sometime, do I not?" Mayumi replied. "Today is a good a day as any."

He chuckled again. "I suppose you're right. Ok then. Get dressed and gather your belongings. We'll leave as soon as the ritual is ready."

Ten minutes was all it took for Mayumi and Shinji to both make sure they had what they required from this house. Shinji felt he would miss this little city by the sea… but he also knew that much more work needed to be done. Mayumi for her part was eager to get started on her new life… ever wanting to be part of something bigger, she felt she finally had that opportunity. She would help save the world now, and that was something worth fighting for.

It took 30 minutes to set up and perform the ritual… She had no idea then of the struggles and joys that awaited her…


"Mayumi fit right in with us. She would make fast friends with my Librarian, and proved to be an asset to our team, providing some of us with solutions to some of our greatest shortcomings. Maya, however… well… she became increasingly aloof. She was interacting little with the other girls, she even seemed muted around Ritsuko… I made love to her a few times, but this seemed to do little to pull her from her mood. I figured she would get over it soon enough, she just needed time to adjust… what happened next shocked us all to our cores…"

Next Story: Dearly Beloved…