Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ When Light Descends to Madness ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

When Light Descends to Madness

Chapter 4

“Welcome to Gensokyo, land of the Youkai, and you are our meal.”

Those were the words that woman declared to Negi, Ako, and Asuna while sitting atop a gap of darkness. She twirled her umbrella and pointed it at the three of them. “Now, I don't remember how quickly humans cook. It's been awhile since I've done something like that.”

Now, Negi wasn't having any of that. First he began to focus his magic, chanting the spell in his mind. Copying the woman's motion, he twirled his staff and pointed it back at her, and countered, “You'll have to excuse us if we decline the offer of being somebody's lunch.” And with that, seventeen arrows of light flung themselves at the woman.

The woman smiled and flipped back into the darkness, the gap disappearing after her. The magic arrows disappeared into the sky. Getting a feeling that something had begun rather than ended, Ako and Asuna leapt to their feet, calling their weapons with a quick “Adeat!”

Detecting something behind him, Negi whirled to see another gap appear and the woman reemerge. “You're not an average outsider after all. I knew there was something special about you, just like those two other little human girls.”

“B-but we're not little girls!” Ako exclaimed as Negi leapt back, but the woman had already disappeared.

“I wasn't talking about you two,” she said as she reappeared above them. Her hands hung lazily over the side of the gap as she added, “After all, I don't think you were here three years ago.”

“Three years ago?” Negi repeated, “but that's…!”

“Too much talk for one thing,” the woman interrupted, “and for another, I haven't even introduced myself yet.”

She, and her gap, disappeared again as another one opened up in front of the trio. The woman stepped out onto firm ground with a light tap of her feet. “Nice to meet you. My name is Yukari Yakumo, the Youkai of Borders. The more distasteful acquaintances of mine shorten that to the Border Witch.”

“Why did you bring us here?”

“Tsk, tsk, what manners,” Yukari scolded, “Asking questions already without giving me your name.”

The humans shared an uneasy look. In the end, Negi replied, “My name is Negi Springfield, Yukari Yakumo-san.”

“Yakumo-san, that has a rather nice ring to it,” she smiled. “All right then, little boy, why don't we have a little match before the feast? You win, and I'll find something else to eat. Lose… well, I guess there's no benefit for me if you lose. Fair terms?”

Asuna didn't like it… but maybe for the wrong reasons. She interrupted, “Hey, what about us?”

Yukari looked her over and then said bluntly, “Hmm, no interest.”

“What was that?” Asuna growled.

“I'm only interested in the mage. I do believe they're a delicacy here in Gensokyo.”

Asuna lifted her sword with one hand and swung it at Yukari as a challenge and in an effort to release some of her anger. Unfortunately, it didn't work that well. Ako, on the other hand, was rather relieved that the strange lady had deigned her existence too small to notice, but it wasn't much of a victory if Negi got hurt. She stuck closer to her boyfriend as if her mere presence could protect him.

Yukari sighed. “Oh well, guess Ran will have something to eat too tonight. Now, are you prepared?”

"No way,” Negi retorted. “I don't feel like being a meal today.”

She pouted. “All this talking is making me hungry.” As she spoke, the forest behind her began to swell with light. The brilliance resolved into small, compact balls that resembled Negi's Sagitta Magica spell. With a charming smile, she added, “As I've never actually tasted a human mage before, don't mind if ignore your opinion and begin, all right?"

The spinning balls of light flashed forward. Negi responded by sending a wave of light arrows at the strange, instantaneous magic. They collided in midair and mixed together before bulging and imploding leaving little sparkling rings in the air. To Ako, it looked more like a fireworks show than a battle.

"Danmaku?" Yukari mused contemplatively. "No, much too slow for that," she mocked. "Don't worry though. I'll make sure not to end this match too quickly. Here's something a little bigger.”

This time a whole fireworks show exploded behind her, filling the air. There must have been more than thirty of them as they darted forward like eager dogs to the chase.

"Ah geez!" Asuna exclaimed between clenched teeth as she and Ako turned tail to avoid the assault. Instead of fleeing with them, Negi dashed directly at Yukari, sprinting through the barrage, weaving between the lancing bullets. As he cleared the last projectile, he unleashed the magic he had gathered, shouting out, “Sagitta Magica!” Twenty-seven arrows flashed from his open palm into the woman's face.

But Yukari merely waved a hand and the arrows stopped in mid flight, shattering instead against a barely perceptible barrier.

“That was better than before,” she commented, “maybe I can pick up the pace a little.”

A gap appeared from her shoulder and released a ball of light that struck Negi square in the forehead. The mage flew back a fair amount of distance before regaining balance by flipping off his hands onto his feet. That would have taken my head off if I hadn't shielded it, he thought with a shiver. With that thought, he decided to make a tactical retreat.

"Run all you want," Yukari grinned. "You'll get nowhere." True to her words, a boundary formed around the woman and her prey, encircling them in a wall with no cracks. Trees were split in half by the borders of the rectangle.

"Geez, no running, huh?" Asuna said as Negi joined her and Ako. "Then it looks like it's time to cut this woman down to size!"

"My dinner talks back to me. How amusing," Yukari continued to smile. "Then show me why you think I should let you live!" More balls of light appeared around the Border Witch, but this time, they circled her instead of lancing towards the humans. Also, several gaps opened up, out of which came lines of blue that pierced the chests of Negi and Ako.

The two jumped back in surprise, only to find themselves unharmed.

"What the—?!" Negi managed to say before a loud roar drowned out the rest of his words.

A flash of brilliant blue exploded where they had been standing a second earlier, erasing all presence of the particles in its path. The force was enough to push the two to the ground and they would have been badly burned were it not for the magic protecting them.

Ako cringed on the ground. The sight was enough to make Negi see red. He didn't know exactly who or what he was up against, but if Ako was in danger, it had to stop. Negi snarled and disappeared in a blur. An instant later, he appeared under Yukari with a snarl and burst out, "Lightning Axe!"

The Youkai, eyes wide with surprise, moved back unconsciously, saving her from the massive yellow bolt that crashed down from above, consuming the circling white balls with its thunderous intensity.

Yukari recovered quickly. "Finally, something that is more dangerous than a flower," she commented at the brilliant yellow streak, idly running a hand through her hair.

Asuna followed Negi's example and launched herself forward with a mighty, magic-enhanced leap.

"TERIIAAAAA!" Summoning the merger of chi and magic, she used her Kanka technique to empower herself, and lunged towards the woman with her now glowing sword.

At the same time, Negi, with a bout of feverish chanting, let drop another Axe of Lightning from the sky.

Negi's axe of lightning was repositioned by two large gaps summoned by Yukari, one above her and the other in front, right in the path of Asuna's leap. The bolt of lightning created a wall between the woman and Asuna whose momentum catapulted her forward.

"GYAH!" Asuna screeched, launching herself backwards with a blast of kanka to narrowly avoid the spell.

“Watch where you're aiming that, brat!” she yelled at Negi.

"But Asuna-san, I was aiming at HER! That was nowhere near you!”

Laughter interrupted the squabble. “Hahahahaha, what a party! I can't believe you managed to touch me.” She fingered a rip in her skirt so small it could have been part of the frilly design. “I take back what I said earlier. You're interesting too, little girl.”

“Why thanks,” Asuna gave a self-confident grin.

“Maybe I should give you a warmer welcome. Something more on the scale of normal.”

“Normal?” Asuna said. “That sounds better than beating us up and eating us with weird, voodoo magic.”

She laughed again. “Let me tell you this. Here in Gensokyo, there's a big gap between Easy and Normal.”

“I hope that's not a pun,” Ako added nervously.

From her sleeve, Yukari drew a rectangular card that ominously reminded Negi of a pactio card.

She swung up her hand. “Infinite Superspeed Flying Object.”

As she spoke, a wave of darkness spread out behind her. Gap after gap opened like the eyes of a hundred demons. From the darkness came a volley of blue spheres and a crisscross of the same lines of blue that had targeted Ako and Negi earlier, too innumerable to count.

"AWAH!?" Negi and Asuna chorused in shock as they sprinted away from the solidifying lasers.

"How the hell can she do that?!" Asuna yelled, as she dodged the missiles. She winced as a bullet whacked her in the arm. “A better question: how are we supposed to dodge them all?”

“With skill,” Yukari suggested as she watched the spectacle. Then, music began to play, a fast beat with a tempo that seemed to increase every second. Suddenly, Negi and Asuna's movements had sped up threefold. The Youkai cocked her head to the music for a second before adding, “Or that.”

But the two fighters were still hard pressed, even with Ako's music fortifying their speed and reaction times.

And then, Negi slipped. On what, no one ever found out, but it was his saving grace. A laser ripped through the air, an inch from his nose, and circular bullets hit the ground with no room to spare… but he was unhurt. Immediately, it clicked.

“Asuna, minimize your motions!” he yelled.

“What?”

“Try to dodge the bullets by as little room as possible. There's a pattern to this. Find it and use it before you get trapped.”

Yukari raised an eyebrow. “Oho, he understands grazing already.”

Asuna tried but failed miserably, earning a bruise across the cheek. “Whoever first said, `easier said than done,' obviously wasn't talking about a life-threatening situation. Ow! He certainly wasn't slapped while saying it either.”

With an ease that belied the fact that he had only understood the trick a moment ago, Negi slid through the pattern of bullets and lasers. When compared to Asuna's fumbling, he made it look so simple.

“Spirits of the air…” As he began his incantation, green orbs of light began to gather around him, much like the way the blue-white orbs revolved around Yukari. The Youkai of Borders leaned forward to watch with narrowed eyes, but of course, she was not about to let him get near that easily.

A cascade of lasers dropped into Negi's path, forming a radiant shimmering wall of concentrated energy. Unperturbed, he raced headlong towards the pillars then veered sharply left. Yukari tracked his motion with a wave of blue spheres, but he moved too fast for any to hit.

A shape materialized in the haze of bullets on a direct course for the Youkai. “It's not that easy,” she said, raising a hand. The object slammed into her barrier and quivered. “A piece of wood!?”

“Sagitta Magica!” Negi chanted from the opposite side, “Fifty-three arrows of binding air!”

The orbs that had gathered at Negi's side darted forward. In a complex tangle of motion, the arrows turned into long, green lines that wrapped around Yukari. With a final snap, the magic fastened its hold on her and quieted.

The energy particles zooming around disappeared into motes of light. One by one, her gaps disappeared, leaving the only magic active the arrows wrapped around her like rope.

“Negi-brat, you did it!” Asuna cheered, picking herself up from the ground where she had been lying low.

“Not bad,” the captured woman agreed.

Negi rubbed his head modestly. “I've had practice.”

Ako's instrument faded with her music. The artifact reformed into a card and slipped into her pocket, but the girl was in too much of a rush to notice.

“Yakumo-san, I think I've won.” Negi approached her seriously.

“Maybe,” Yukari remarked. “...but maybe not quite yet.”

“What do you mean?” This couldn't be good.

She only smiled. Negi saw nothing - no movement of her hands, and she said nothing more - but suddenly, her bonds disappeared. They shattered with a ringing like glass, and the woman reached out a hand. Negi jerked back but her hand touched his head, and suddenly, he couldn't move. “What a good boy. A bit naïve, but better because of it,” she cooed and gave his head a pat. “Now why don't you come home with me?”

Negi didn't have a chance to answer. One moment, he was caught spellbound, the next he had been blown several feet away. He groaned and shook his head. A muffled ringing still lingered in his ears.

He looked up and winced. A patch of dirt about a foot away from where he had stood had suddenly and quite violently been replaced by a small crater.

“Yukari, what's with all the noise? Shouldn't you be taking your fifth, late noon nap right about now?”

Everyone looked up to where a girl dressed in black and white sat on a floating broom with arms crossed. She wore what could only be described as a witch's hat. With a yawn, the girl brushed away her blond hair from her golden eyes.

“Ah, Marisa.” Yukari looked surprised at her presence. “You look more tired than I'm supposed to be.”

“Eh, I was sleeping,” she admitted. “And these people are?”

“Intruders, Marisa, attack!”

With a half-closed eyes, she saluted, “Yes, sah…”

“Huh wait, what?!” the humans chorused together.

Marisa lifted a card into the air and declared, “Comet: Blazing Star.”

A rush of magical power drew into her broom. Without further warning, she flipped once in the air and then rocketed forward with a trail of stars behind her. Negi grabbed Ako and dove to the side, but Asuna wasn't so lucky. The girl could only pale a shade before Marisa hit her front on.

As gravity brought Asuna back to the ground, Negi pursued his sudden attacker through the line of stars. They were packed so tightly together that he could feel their heat from all sides. Then, he broke free into cool air.

A horrifying sight met his eyes. His entire vision was filled with fiercely glowing green lights. Arrow-like shapes fat with magic shot towards him in a complex, spiraling pattern. As he entered the minefield, the air became stifling hot. Struggling both to breathe and to survive, Negi didn't see Marisa until it was too late. The girl grazed through her own pattern with painful ease and swung her broom. With a crack from the impact, her broom launched Negi away like a golf ball, but it was not over yet.

As he flew, she leapt into the air. And as Negi completed an arc and fell back to the ground, she pulled out an octagonal box an aimed at his falling figure. A thick cloud of particles appeared around Marisa and then collapsed into the box.

“Love Sign:”

Yukari giggled. “Oh dear.”

“Master Spark!”

An intense, rainbow-colored beam blasted from the box and blasted Negi into the ground. The beam completely enveloped him. Nothing could be heard over the roar of the laser except for the consequential rending of the earth. When the rumbling had died down, all that was left of the clearing was a crater and the victimized boy within.

Yukari began clapping.

“Negi!” Ako cried, rushing to the fallen hero's side. Cradling him, the girl felt for the usual signs—heartbeat, breathing—and found both falling to a normal rate, so she sighed in quiet relief. She gave an angry look to the victorious, but confused Marisa and the amused Yukari. “Fine, you won! Are you happy now?!”

“What should I be happy about?” Marisa asked, scratching her head. “He's pretty bad at danmaku, and it's not like I find beating up weaklings fun.” When both Ako and Asuna began to snarl in protective rage, Yukari giggled.

“Marisa, I don't think Reimu likes her human well-done.”

“I don't like humans period; I'm not a cannibal,” a girl stated as she walked out of the shrine building. “Now what's with all the ruckus? I was enjoying my afternoon nap.” The best way to describe this lady was red, white, and shrine maiden. However, one could say she had a good deal more red, considering the huge bow on her head and her unattached red sleeves.

“Lazy as always, dear Reimu,” Yukari smirked. “I was about to prepare a feast for our newcomers.”

“You mean preparing the newcomers as a feast,” Marisa corrected.

“Hmph, what are you up to this time?” the woman known as Reimu glared at Yukari. She gave the new arrivals a cursory glance - at best - before then going right back to staring at Yukari. “Humans from the outside world? Are the youkai really that starved?”

“I take it you mean that literally and figuratively, yes?” Yukari flipped open one of her fans.

“Hmm...maybe.” The shrine maiden looked somewhat uneasy with the reply, not certain if she would like the explanation.

“Well, maybe I was a little hungry,” Yukari began coyly. “But I lost my appetite for food and gained a whole new interest in our new guests when I heard they knew about our visitors three years prior.”

Both Marisa and Reimu suddenly turned their heads in interest towards the trio.

“Whoa, hold it! You know about Konoka and Setsuna?” Ako gasped, thoroughly confused.

“...and decided not to eat us but fought us anyway?!” Asuna continued with quite a bit more anger.

“What if I said yes?” Yukari smirked.

The redhead's temper threatened to boil again, but Reimu stepped towards them. “Don't bother, she'll confuse you either way.” She gave Asuna a tentative smile. “Why don't you guys come inside? We can discuss this over tea. Hopefully in a civilized manner, right?” She shot a baleful glare at Marisa and Yukari. Apparently used to such threats, they merely gave a thumbs up and a nod respectively. Satisfied, Reimu led the way back into the shrine, with Asuna following closely. Ako lifted Negi and followed behind Marisa and Yukari.

xx

When Nodoka came to, all she could see was darkness.

At least, that's what it looked like at first. Eventually, the darkness faded from her eyesight, and she found herself within the confines of a child's room. The pink pillows, the plush, if worn toys, the nightmarish holes in the wall, the blood...

Spotting those last two things flooded Nodoka's heart with dread. She looked around, but nary a soul was to be found, let alone the companions she came to this world with. For some strange reason, the imagery of the room heavily reminded Nodoka of the words, "And then there were none." Probably just too many detective stories, she convinced herself. Nonetheless, she kept her backpack and lone spell book at her side. She quickly began chanting and establishing a spell of defense.

“Hunggrrryyy...” A soft voice moaned.

That small voice might as well have been a thunderclap, considering how badly it spooked the librarian. However, she quickly collected her nerves and looked for the source.

On a chair near the only window in the room, there sat a little girl. Or at least, what appeared to be a little girl. Her face spoke of a dichotomy of wide-eyed innocence and chaotic violence, perhaps to match her blood red dress. Most striking of all was the rainbow colored wings on her back, although they resembled giant crystal lights on a barren Christmas tree more than they did wings. Said girl sighed miserably. “It's been too long since I ate. Why isn't Sakuya here yet? Why why WHY WHY WHY?!” In barely contained fury she summoned what looked like a twisted iron snake and slammed it into the ground, causing the whole floor to shake.

Alas, Nodoka wasn't prepared for this show of strength and fell to the floor with an audible “Wah!” The bad luck got even worse when the little girl noticed her.

Her eyes alight with curiosity, the little girl looked to see Nodoka on the floor, staring in a mix of horror and a shared curiosity.

The girl then grinned, showing off vampiric fangs. Nodoka paled.

Without warning, the winged girl flew forward, her face in childish glee. “WAI!” She cried, that bent iron spear raised to strike.

“EEEP!” Nodoka shrieked. Not interested in becoming shish-kabob for a vampire, she immediately activated a teleport spell. The human girl disappeared in a watery flash just moments before the iron spear struck where she was. Reappearing a bit further away, Nodoka backed up nervously but quietly, hoping by some slim chance she would not be detected.

No such luck. The strange vampire girl found her quarry within seconds and lunged again. Nodoka disappeared and reappeared further back into the room. Safe to say, her magic defense wall was definitely working. For how long, she hoped not to test just yet. “P-please don't eat me!”

“Eat you?” The girl blinked, entirely confused, before becoming slightly melancholy. “I don't want to eat you, but Sakuya's not here and I'm hunnnngrrryyyy... So stay still!” She let her hand out, and those instant bullets began shooting towards her in waves. This little miss, however, was definitely not a fairy.

The waves were so quick and numerous, the poor librarian froze in terror, even more so when the bullets easily slid by her magic defense system. Nodoka did notice, however, that she miraculously avoided getting hit despite her minimal movement. So those instant bullets are easier to dodge if I move less, she thought. But I can't hold out much longer. If I can get her name...

“Wow, you know how to play danmaku, too?” The vampire girl marveled. “Maybe you can play with me.” She twirled around and pointed her iron snake at Nodoka. “Taboo—Cranberry Trap!”

“W-we can talk about this, right?!” Nodoka whimpered, but the attack had already begun. All she had to do was flick her eyes left and right to see two red waves streak towards her from opposite directions. The librarian swallowed her fear as much as she could and simply backed up to evade the attack—only to find another wave coming from that direction as well. Seeing why it was a “Cranberry Trap”, Nodoka quickly tried to whip up a counter attack. Chanting vigorously, the girl cupped her hands, shoved them downward and blasted a wave of water, sending her sprawling into the air. She dodged the trap, only to crash into the ground.

“Oww...” Nodoka muttered, trying to recover. “Do we really have to?”

“Less talk, more danmaku!” The vampire girl raised that iron staff. “LAEVATEIN!” She boomed.

This can't be good. Nodoka scrambled as the vampire girl effortlessly sent huge wave after huge wave of violent magical energy. Nodoka scraped by the attacks only by teleporting to the far ends of each wave. One nearly clipped her torso; she shrieked as the attack shredded a thin section of her clothes and missed her skin by a hair.

Nodoka staggered back, but wasn't worn out yet. Shaking visibly, she gathered energy. With a brilliant watery flash, Nodoka shot a wall of water towards the twisted girl. The vampire scooted back in a panic before whipping out Laevatein and slicing it forward to break the spell. By the time she finished, she found herself facing four Nodokas. “Wai! Four of a Kind! Four of a Kind!” The vampire girl herself began to flash like an after image before three copies of her formed as well. “Two can play that game! Or I should say eight!”

Any hope Nodoka had of confusing her quarry was lost as the copies wasted no time launching a furious magic bullet assault. Luckily the Nodoka clones had the same basic magic defense Nodoka did, so they easily warped out of harm's way or launched their own watery counter attacks. For a while, all the real Nodoka could see were a flash of bubbles and red bullets.

Unfortunately, the vampire girl's clones struck first amidst the confusion. Using physical attacks, they easily tore through her water clones before they could react—perhaps mirroring her own fatigue. Playing toe-to-toe with this girl proved to chew up too much energy...

But alas, the vampire girl moved back to physical attacks. In one fluid motion, she snapped back together as one person and charged once more. This time, a swipe from that iron snake clipped Nodoka's arm just slightly before her magic defense kicked in. When Nodoka disappeared and reappeared some distance away, the girl was shocked to see a bleeding gash on her right arm.

The fight stopped that instant, since not even a second later, the vampire girl was happily attached to said arm, drinking away. “Wai! I win!” She cheered as Nodoka was on the verge of fainting. “It's been a while since a human played with me. You're cool! What's your name?”

“R-really?” Nodoka asked the girl, woozy from having her blood drained. Now I know how Negi-sensei AND Ako-san feel! She moaned mentally. But... gazing at the girl, Nodoka changed her mind. She looks so strangely adorable... maybe if I keep her talking, I won't lose too much blood. “U-um I'm Nodoka Miyazaki...”

“Flandre Scarlet! Sister of the great Scarlet Devil!” the young looking vampire girl beamed. “Most of the time I don't see humans because everyone else says I'd blow them up if I saw them. But that's not true. I like blowing things up, but not humans!”

“I... see...” Nodoka smiled nervously, not sure how this Flandre had perfected being cute and horrifying at the same time to an art form. “You said you haven't seen many humans in a long time, right?”

“Yeah, I haven't seen too many new people now,” the vampire girl began to think back to people unknown to Nodoka. “Last time I saw a human other than Sakuya was two years ago...There were two of them, and they always stuck together.”

Nodoka's thoughts drifted back to Konoka and Setsuna. “You know, I once knew two people like that, too...”

xx

Kinsha Sakurazaki gave her mistress a look of concern.

After meeting with that teenage teacher, Negi Springfield, the Empress had seemed more excited than usual. Now, a day or so later, it seemed the sugar had run low.

She had been quite still for the better part of an hour already. Except for the occasional yawn, she lounged in her throne, staring at the sky with half-glazed eyes.

Dipping her brush in her inkpot yet again, Kinsha dropped her eyes for the necessary few seconds it took to continue the short letter she had been assigned to write. Then, she returned to observing her mistress with a soft sigh.

Suddenly, the Empress' eyes snapped open. She jumped to her feet and swept the throne room with a quick glance. Her eyes seemed to burn with a feverish intensity.

Then, she whined, “Set-chan! I want cake! Come with me to get cake!”

Kinsha stifled an uncharacteristic giggle and composed herself. As the mistress called for her friend again, Kinsha said, “Sakurazaki-sama is not here right now. She left on important business.”

She crossed her arms and frowned.

“Aww, that's not fair, Set-chan. Leaving me all alone.”

For a second, the Sakurazaki clan woman thought that she would give up, but then a thought seemed to come to her. “That's it!” she declared, “I've decided. Little swan, you're coming with me.”

Silence met her command, but the mistress didn't let it deter her.

“Aww, brighten up,” she told the other, yet unseen party, “It's cake! Nothing can be wrong with life when you have cake!”

The mistress swept out of the throne room with her usual grace. Before the door completely closed, Kinsha thought she saw a shadow detach itself from the wall and slip through the cracks. Then, the door closed with a soft thud.

Must've been my imagination.

She went back to finishing off the letter, putting the mistress's dictation to paper:

So in conclusion, come see me soon Takahata-sensei! Let's have cake!

-Konoka Konoe

888

(Seraph: I don't know which one was the most fun to write. Battle one, battle two, battle three, or the little snippet at the end. That doesn't really matter. What matters is that you, reader, have been sticking with us for 5 releases (including the prologue). I congratulate you. Now join Konoka for some cake while we watch Negi and friends struggle to make the best out of a bad situation, or in Asuna's case, wring information out of anyone who has it.

Ansem: Even I don't know why our Empress is demanding cake, but I wonder just what kind of new friend she's got. Are all sugary sweet dictators afficionados of cake? Find out later!)