Pre-Chappie Note- I've edited the chapters till now to correct any narrative mistakes I may've made. Pleade read said chapters to get the drift of this chapter

Chapter 7

The blast made all that the quartet were considering inconsequential. With the desperation Yue showed in her voice till now, Hajime, Kaori and Shizuku knew that she hadn't known of this minor problem- relatively speaking, a large scorpion coming down from above would be classified as a disaster, but when you're stuck in a Labyrinth and forced to survive after one of your comrades shot you into Hell{1}, the scorpion decreases in scale.

Regardless, Kaori and Shizuku set about blocking or dodging the damage being dealt, while Hajime focused on damage dealing and protecting Yue, who was still tired, but felt the trust she was being shown so clearly. She had to help, if only to protect her saviours.

While Hajime was thinking of how the scorpion appeared, seeing as he didn't sense it earlier{2}, but did now, Yue came up to him and asked him one thing.

"Can I drink your blood?"

Now, Hajime knew that Yue being a vampire means that blood replenishes their mana. That said, drinking blood in the middle of a battle is just a new concept. Still, better something than nothing- "Go ahead, I trust you" was his reply.

He did feel a bit of guilt that Kaori and Shizuku weren't dating him yet (Nothing was helping him at the moment more than the fact that the two of them were in love with him), but decided that he was explaining things right after the battle. Yue went for the jugular (because where else is blood pulsing?), and started sucking blood.

Just as she got to casting a spell, however, Hajime realized just why it was strange. Pushing her aside, he touched it and said one word laced with mana-

"Transmute!"

That scorpion started disintegrating into scrap metal from the leg and only the core was left after 15 minutes (depleting Hajime's mana levels and shocking the other three in the process). He then proceeded to fall on his butt, while Kaori started healing him and Shizuku collected the core and explored the room.

Now, vampires may be classified as monsters, but really, they aren't- they're just humans with mana-induced quirks that are genetically passed down. So Yue drinking Hajime's blood really isn't a good idea for her. As a result, she fell, writhing and screaming in agony.

Hajime had no intention of giving her monster meat just in case, but it turned unequivocally moot due to his blood. He still watched in morbid (and perverted) fascination as her body changed, grew and adapted to the monster blood.

It wasn't mentioned in the books Hajime had read, but monsters do try to attract their mates using a combination of pheromones and beauty (the more grotesque, the more beautiful for the monsters), so the same changes applied to the four of them- Kaori ironically grew more angel-like with a far more developed bust and butt, Shizuku got her body even more toned than before, which emphasized her bust a bit more, while both were rendered battle ready. Hajime became more feral in appearance, which played with his own boyish charms such that he became quite the looker, and his 'weapon', for lack of better terms, was enhanced to alpha levels. Again, his combat prowess has been proven time and again.

Yue originally had a child-like body, which was good in the past, but with her being the last of the vampires, she was overdue for a change. She ended up gaining around 20 cm in height, and her body grew more voluptuous than Shizuku, (though less so than a certain dragonwoman), and her hair gained streaks of white, rather than the complete change in color that the other three had gained{3}.

When the transformation ended, Hajime and Kaori could only stare in awe (and in Kaori's case, jealousy) at her sleeping form, at least till a very curious Hajime lopped off Yue's pinky finger and popped it into his mouth. He winced in pain and despair at the taste of a girl's flesh (literally, now get your mind outta the gutter) for a second before letting out an audible sigh of relief to see his arm start growing back. Then he saw Kaori glaring at him, looking for answers.

"Hold up, Kaori! I've got a good reason for this… You see, Yue was out of mana from that seal formation that she was under, so she asked me for some blood when we were fighting the scorpion golem! Now, she isn't a monster obviously, so my blood forced a similar evolution to when we first ate monster meat. Continuing in my conjecture, I wondered if I was also capable of gaining her Auto Regenerate skill… By the sight of my left arm, though, that turned out to be the right idea... You're scaring me, Kaori!"

Kaori understood what he was saying, but was incensed that he would take such a risk without consultation. She was mollified by Hajime cutting his pinky off and offering it to her. She did nibble on it like it was delicious though, scaring Hajime inwardly.

Shizuku chose that moment to appear and stop to stare in horror at her best friend nibbling on a human's finger… Only to stare in shock at Hajime's regenerated left limb. Figuring out what was going on, she frowned for a second before staring in awe and horror at the beautiful woman lying where Yue had been, when she had left them alone. Again, figuring it out {4}, she just gaped for a second and then proceeded to tell Hajime what she had found in the room. She received Hajime's thumb as a reward.

Pulling out the crystal orb she had found in the room behind the seal cube, she almost activated it, but Hajime decided that they were waiting for Yue to wake up.

It was a while before she woke up so they decided to talk about their lives as children…

Kaori was a shy character in elementary school, it would seem, only breaking out of that shell in middle school after she first saw Hajime. Her father's overprotective nature didn't help either, alienating her from boys other than Kouki and Ryūtaro. Since then, she would start gaining more popularity than before, much to Shizuku's amusement.

Not that she had a right to be amused… She was a great actor from her words, which led to her gaining popularity as the Ice Queen of her school, only letting up around Kaori when they were alone together, due to her upbringing as the heir to the Yaegashi Dojo of Swordsmanship… though she was starting to suspect something about that due to her second job of Assassin.

Hajime was the most surprising- he never hid his love for the otaku culture, which wasn't surprising in the least, considering his parentage- Koori was surprised to hear that her favourite video game was developed by the company Hajime's father owned, while Shizuku was salivating at the possibility of meeting the shoujo mangaka that she was a great fan of as soon as she got out of Tortus.

Fortunately, Yue woke up at that moment, or Shizuku may have had Kaori devour him with her (Now, get your mind in the gutter). The trio explained that they found a crystal orb and decided that she deserved to hear what the creator of said orb had to say. Yue had no objections whatsoever. {5}

They activated it and proceeded to listen, mouths growing open in astonishment as they heard Yue's uncle, as he identified himself, explain why he had sealed her in such a deep place… Needless to say, they were shocked.

Apparently, the man realized that the god known as Ehit was not your run-of-the-mill non interfering superpower- Nooooo! He was a manipulative and insane superpower who was planning to take his niece's body for his own… The three otherworlders had questions that didn't connect to the info being given at the moment. This really stuck in their craw. Seal her to protect her, till she finds someone who is ready to destroy the world to save her, and then entrust her to said saviour so that she is protected.

Yue herself was crying in horror that her most respected person went to such lengths to protect her. She knew that Hajime was powerful, but what would he do against a God? The orb letter ended with a tearful apology and farewell.

Hajime had a headache coming on- the bastard that summoned them was already reprehensible in all senses of the word, but this was pushing it. Scratch that, this broke it.

"DAMN IT ALL! First Amanogawa, then Hiyama, then this bull-fucking-shit! Don't I deserve a FUCKING break?!"

Kaori had to ask the one question that no one asks a raging man in a crisis.

"What happened, Hajime-kun?"

That opened the dam… No matter just how much of a good rep you build up, it crashed down with one action. With Kouki, he's done worse. Hajime has the sense not to blame the ones who aren't to blame anyway, so he did reassure them of that.

"None of the bullshit called my highschool life is your fault, either of you! That much is clear! But all of this started with you two approaching me at the start of first year. You didn't know this, but Kouki Amanogawa is a bit of a control freak behind that mask of naïve justice-mongering. He absolutely hated the fact that you two approached me and tried to get close to me, especially in front of him! That evening, he and Sakagami cornered me and threatened me to stay away from you two, especially Kaori! That got my blood boiling, so I told him that it's your wish, not mine, though I don't really mind it. Sakagami wasn't into Amanogawa's actions at all, so he's actually ok in my books, but He was forced to punch me, so no harm no foul!"

Catching his breath, Hajime barely noted that Kaori and Shizuku both had shocked expressions, but he dismissed it.

"Then that bitch Daisuke Hiyama and his stooges come into the picture, with their acts of extortion and assault… They're lucky that my parents don't know that most of my bruises come from them- I haven't told them because that would definitely have the three of them expelled, which is bad for them, and myself feared. I usually try to keep it from them, though I do tell them that I'm bullied- you don't hide that from people you trust or love- you two would've blown up at the trio, which just escalates the problem most of the time. ANYWAY, that continues till we're summoned here! And then stuff starts to escalate beyond normal standards!

"You know that I'm sometimes used for target practise. What you don't know is that one of the times you were healing me, I saw the HERO passing Hiyama some money and smiling sadistically at me! That tore it- I decided to tell dad everything when I got back but now I find this sack of Bull Shit flung at me! I'm lucky to even be sane at this stage! I think I'm entitled to some form of anger!" {6}

And that's when you could see the effect that the actions he described had on the three girls present. Yue just wanted to know what was going on. Kaori was just horrified at the way her love was treated, and decided that if she saw one Kouki Amanogawa again, the new Kaori would show him what a bitch-slap is. Any form of affection she felt for the Hero died at that moment.

Shizuku scared Hajime at this point. Her expression promised pain to her target. Over the time in the Pits, she had gotten closer to him and learned more about him as a person, which intensified her feelings for him. She never expected Kouki- no, Amanogawa - to be the scum of society. When she gets back, he is going to be excommed from her family Dojo for despicable conduct, but till then, maybe his balls can be intimate with her new blade, with acid for added effect. Ryūtarō was getting a bitchslap from her, and maybe Hiyama gets the acid infused blade to balls approach as well. Makes for a good Cause of Death in her opinion…

Hajime's headache was with the fact that he would have to kill Ehit the bastard to return home.

Meanwhile, during training, the three aforementioned people felt shivers down their spines- Ryūtarō less than the two main culprits, but still.

{1}- You know, the threat of the scorpion was exaggerated in both canon and Void's fanfic- I'm downplaying it here.

{2}- Hajime can't've been serious about survival if he didn't use ANY sensory skill in caution- I would do that, it's common sense.

{3}- This is just me not liking Yue's loli disposition. I may not be a pedo, but canon Yue physically doesn't really radiate 'Come hither' to me, she radiates 'FBI! OPEN UP!' .

{4}- I forgot, Shizuku does have the perfect mix for a Yandere and Dandere rolled in one... I will limit it to her asking Hajime rather than the honestly disturbing ideas of stereotypical Yanderes. This also makes her deductive abilities in his regard close to infinity

{5}- Void again made a mistake- Hajime is blunt. Even to Yue at times. Hee doesn't feel an immediate attractin to her, tht's just cheesy. It'll develop through the course of the Labyrinth.

{6}- Kouki didn't really like or dislike Hajiime since the beginning. Also, Hiyama seems to be a bit too eager to date Kaori, almost like Kouki wouldn't be a problem... that's why I'm alluding to a co-op between the two. Also, it does seem too bad to target someone due to jealousy- Hiyama wouldn't want to make Kaori hate him, unless Kouki thinks he is deserving for some reason. No, they work together here... I got plans for that aspect as well.

Now, I reallly appreciate the 108 followers of teh story at this point for thinking that this story is good! Thanks you all! Please keep reading and criticizing it in the future as well!

Special appreciation goes to

dragon-cloud16

Raidentensho

Kleave guy

These three really gave me ideas to incorporate in the future!

Next Time- A teacher goes out, and Hajime bonds with his three companions