Chapter 84: The Serpent's Last Dance (I)
"Hmph, learn your place, scum!" Moka snarled, her voice cutting through the silence. "You think I did not notice your disgusting Yoki stalking from the shadows? I was waiting for you to show yourself."
Hitomi Ishigami's body crashed through the wall of the Art Club building after receiving Moka's iconic 'Falcon Kick'. Stone and debris exploded outward, scattering across the rooftop in a shower of dust and shattered fragments.
The sound of breaking furniture echoed from within, followed by a low, infuriated hissing sound that seemed to vibrate through the very stones beneath their feet.
Moka stood her ground, her crimson eyes fixed on the hole she had just created. Her foot was still extended from the kick, ready to strike again if the snake would once again rush at her.
Beside her, the defeated Kitsune, Chizuru, who had the misfortune of challenging the Vampire Heiress, having a big chunk of her vitality stripped away after getting bitten, now struggled to raise on her feet, her body still weak from their earlier clash.
The dust began to settle, and from the darkness of the Art Club building, a figure emerged.
Hitomi Ishigami stepped through the gap in the wall, her movements slow and deliberate as she started dusting herself. Her skin was pale, almost gray, and her eyes glowed with an eerie green light.
The snakes that formed her hair writhed and twisted, their tongues flickering as they tasted the air. Her body was covered in a thin layer of dust, and her scaled armor showed faint cracks from the impact, but she was otherwise unharmed even having an air of nonchalance in her stride.
"Impressive," she said, her voice a low hiss that carried through the night. "I knew you were strong, Akashiya-san. But I did not expect you to possess such... ferocity in your kick."
She stepped closer as the snakes on her head began to twist and move around, their eyes gleaming with malicious intent, intent that was similarly reflected in the eyes of Hitomi Ishigami.
"However, you have made a grave mistake, komusume. You have interrupted a masterpiece in progress." Her gaze shifted to Chizuru, who was still kneeling on the ground, her breathing ragged. "And you, Minamoto-san. I had such high hopes for you. Your beauty would have been the crown jewel of my collection. But now? Now, I will simply have to break you along with this brat who doesn't know her place."
Moka stepped forward, placing herself between Hitomi and Chizuru. Her crimson eyes blazed with cold fury. "Before you even get to touch her, as annoying as she is, you'll first have to get past me. As for breaking me, humph, I'll carve those snakes from your head and feed them to you just to prove you a point."
Hitomi's smile was sharp, predatory. "Bold words for a child who has not yet learned her place in this world. As a Sensei, I have dealt with plenty of arrogant students before. After using my abilities on them, they break so easily."
"It is simply a matter of time before you two succumb to me and become part of my collection."
"Grand words for a snake. I am glad you're so confident in yourself Ishigami-sensei, because I didn't intend on leaving this rooftop unscathed."
Hitomi laughed, the sound cold and sharp. "And who is going to stop me? You? I've seen you fight, maybe I would feel a tingle facing your true self, but the weak you? Pfff, childish threats. Could it be her?" She gestured dismissively at Chizuru. "A broken, pitiful fox who cannot even stand?"
Moka's claws extended, her fingers sharpening into razor points. "Talk is short, so let me demonstrate to you my own power."
Without entertaining such back and forth, even though it gave both Moka and Chizuru time to recover some lost Yoki, Moka didn't want to give Hitomi a chance to set-up traps and ensnare them into her snakes.
Hitomi moved with the boneless fluidity of a serpent, her body flowing like water as she lunged at Moka. The snakes on her head struck first, their fangs aimed at Moka's exposed throat. Moka's vampire senses were on point tonight, she dodged effortlessly, her body dissolving into crimson vapor as the snakes passed through her.
She reformed behind Hitomi, her claws aimed at the Gorgon's back. But Hitomi was already moving, her body twisting to face Moka with unnatural speed. Her hand shot out, her fingers closing around Moka's wrist.
"Oh my, oh my, aren't you fast, komusume?" Hitomi admitted, a note of grudging respect creeping into her teasing tone. "But I can easily handle a Vampire's speed."
She flung Moka aside, sending her crashing into a nearby wall. The impact cracked the stone, and Moka felt the breath driven from her lungs. She pushed herself upright, her eyes blazing with crimson yoki, annoyed that she got caught in such an unsightly attack pattern.
"You're truly arrogant for no good reason."
She launched herself at Hitomi again, her claws raking across the Gorgon's scaled arm. The impact sent sparks flying, and Moka felt the resistance of Hitomi's armor-like skin. It was tough, resilient.
'She's protecting herself with some kind of Youjutsu apart from her Racial abilities. I need to wear her down first.'
Chizuru, who had been watching the exchange from her position, finally with the recovery of some Yoki, began to rise. Her body was still weak, but the fire in her green eyes had not dimmed.
Staring at Hitomi as she was fighting, blocking and attacking back at Moka, she started to summon her Kitsunebi and ready herself to assist Moka in this fight. Of course it was out of pure business interest and even that was begrudgingly.
"You think you can take both of us on? You're clearly mistaken." Her voice was hoarse, but there was a fighting spirit behind her words. "Even a bitch like Akashiya has her uses."
Moka's eye twitched. "If you're going to insult me, do it after we've killed this snake. Or I'll just leave, and let her turn you into stone."
Hitomi's smile widened. "How touching. The two of you, setting aside your rivalry over a boy to face a common enemy. I must say, this is far more interesting than I had anticipated. I think I will enjoy breaking the two of you."
"And I'll like you Akashiya-san to keep to your words."
She lunged at Chizuru, her snakes striking first. The serpentine heads lashed out, their fangs aimed at Chizuru's exposed throat. Chizuru launched her Kitsunebi at Hitomi, but again by employing her serpentine moves she dodged the blue fireballs, appearing next to the Kitsune.
Hitomi's snakes coiled around Chizuru, their bodies constricting like iron bands.
"Your aim is beyond terrible, Minamoto-san."
"Stupid fox, you let yourself get caught."
Moka moved without hesitation, her claws raking across Hitomi's back. The Gorgon hissed, turning her attention from Chizuru, but one of her snakes had already bitten into the Kitsune's arm before being dislodged.
Chizuru's eyes widened as she felt the venom flowing through her veins. She looked down at her arm, and watched in horror as the pale skin began to turn gray followed by petrifying.
"No," she gasped hard. "No, no, no! I still have not received Tsukune's love."
Hitomi laughed, triumph lacing her venomous words. "Do not worry, Minamoto-san. I will take great care of you. Once you are fully petrified, I will display you in the center of my collection. You will be the most beautiful piece I have ever created."
Chizuru's flames flickered, struggling to push back the petrification, but it was no use. The curse was too strong. She could feel the stone spreading, creeping up her arm like a second skin.
Moka's eyes narrowed. She had seen enough.
She launched herself at Hitomi, her claws raking across the Gorgon's face. The impact sent Hitomi stumbling backward, and Moka used the opening to place herself between Chizuru and the Gorgon.
"Trully befitting of a Vampire Race, you bloodsuckers are stronger than your average Yokai." Hitomi admitted while twisting her neck at a creepy angle, cracking it as she looked with a glean at the petrification advancing on Chizuru's body.
"But it does not matter. The petrification is already spreading. In a few minutes, she will be nothing but stone."
"Pathetic," Moka spat. "You're hiding behind a cheap curse, yet when someone stands up to you, you run like a coward." She turned to look at Chizuru, her expression cold. "Don't move. I'm going to give some of your essence back. But I don't want to hear a single complaint from you."
Chizuru's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about? You're going to heal me? After everything I just did to you? I just tried to kill you!"
"Don't misunderstand, I don't like you at all. After taking down this swamp snake, I don't want to see your face around my presence. But I would rather have a decent ally than a pig that drags me down."
Moka knelt beside her, her claws retracting. She leaned in close, her lips brushing against the skin of Chizuru's neck.
"Just get it done already, bloodsucker," Chizuru hissed, her voice strained. "I am turning into stone because you stole my essence."
"No you're turning into stone because you're weak and couldn't dodge her attack."
Moka's fangs pierced Chizuru's skin, and she felt the warmth of the Kitsune's blood flood her senses. She drank deeply, then released the flow, letting the essence she had taken earlier flow back into Chizuru's body.
The effect was immediate. Chizuru's Yoki flared, the golden light brightening as the petrification began to recede. The stone cracked and splintered, falling away from her skin like broken armor.
Chizuru gasped, her eyes widening as she felt her strength returning. The warmth of her Kitsune fire surged through her veins, burning away the lingering remnants of the curse. She pushed herself upright, her flames flickering with renewed intensity.
"Now," Moka said, stepping back. "You're not going to die, useless fox."
"You could have let me turn to stone," Chizuru said, her voice barely a whisper. "Why didn't you?"
"Because I'm not a moron that lets most of her emotions dictate her actions." Moka's eyes were still cold. "Despite being an annoyance, you're also useful in taking down this Gorgon. I'm not going to waste that opportunity."
Chizuru's expression flickered, complex emotions passing through her eyes. She did not respond, but Moka felt the subtle shift in her Yoki. The hostility was still there, simmering beneath the surface, but it was no longer as sharp as before.
Together, they turned to face Hitomi.
The Gorgon stared at them, her eyes wide with disbelief. "How... how did you stop the petrification? That is impossible! My curse is absolute!"
"Nothing is absolute in the face of true strength," Moka said, her voice cold. "And you just made a very big mistake by relying on that Petrification Curse."
Hitomi's composure shattered. Her snakes writhed in agitation, their hissing growing louder, more frantic. She had not expected those two who were at each other's throat to now work together. It also didn't make sense for a Vampire such as Moka to return back the essence she had taken from Chizuru, but now all of the norms were destroyed with those strange girls."
"You're just prolonging the inevitable," Hitomi spat, venom lacing her words. "Once I am done with the two of you, I will find your little boyfriend and turn him into a statue as well. Although it disgusts me to bite with my silky hair such a monkey, but for the family picture, I will sacrifice myself."
"Maybe I'll display him in the center of my collection, a constant reminder to your failure, for decades to come."
The air shifted.
Moka felt the pressure of Hitomi's Yoki surge while the temperature around them dropped. The shadows around them deepened, stretching across the rooftop like grasping fingers.
The Gorgon's eyes began to glow, a pale green light that pulsed with ancient power. Her snakes coiled and uncoiled, their gaze fixed on Moka with a hunger that gleamed in their eyes.
"True Petrification."
The words came out of Hitomi's mouth with such venom, and not long after activating her ability, a dark-green wave of energy started to be sent out by the snake's eyes along with the Gorgon's gaze.
Moka's vampiric instincts screamed a warning. She began retreating but even if she tried to evade this attack the area of effect seemed too large for her to get out in time.
She closed her eyes, relying on her other senses. She had learned to fight in darkness before. She could do it again.
"Blood Aegis."
Crimson energy erupted around her, forming a large shield of hardened blood akin to a barrier that wrapped around her like a second skin. The curse struck the Aegis, and Moka felt the impact shudder through her body. The stone tried to creep across the barrier, layers of blood began solidifying, but the power was lost on the attack by the time it reached Moka's pale skin.
It could not penetrate her defense.
She opened her eyes, her gaze fixed on Hitomi. The Gorgon had not expected her to resist in such a way.
"You... you blocked it," Hitomi breathed, disbelief creeping into her voice. "That was my most powerful technique! How is that possible?"
Moka did not answer. Instead, after dropping the petrified Aegis, she raised her hand and pointed at Hitomi. Blood gathered in her palm, shaping into a spear of condensed crimson.
"Blood Lance."
The spear shot forward, aimed at Hitomi's chest. The Gorgon dodged, her body twisting with her serpentine figure, but the spear still grazed her side, drawing a line of red across her scaled armor.
Hitomi hissed, her eyes blazing with fury. "You will pay for that, you little whore!"
She lunged at Moka, her claws extended, her snakes striking from multiple angles. But Chizuru was already there, her flames surging forward to meet Hitomi's attack.
"You're not going to touch her," Chizuru snarled, her voice carrying the weight of her Kitsune heritage. "If anyone is going to kill her, it's going to be me."
Moka's eye twitched. "I am right here, you idiot."
"I know you are! Do you think I would let this crazy snake get the satisfaction of taking you out? That's my right!"
Hitomi's smile was cold, knowing. "How touching. The two of you, fighting over who gets to destroy me. I must say, this is far more entertaining than I had anticipated."
Her snakes lunged, and the battle continued.
Moka and Chizuru moved in tandem, their attacks flowing together in a rhythm that was surprisingly harmonious. Moka's speed and precision complemented Chizuru's long ranged attacks, and Hitomi found herself on the defensive for the first time since the fight had begun.
"This is taking too long," Chizuru snarled, her flames lashing out at Hitomi's snakes. "We need to end this quickly."
"Brute force won't finish this," Moka said, her voice cold and composed. "She's too durable for that. We need to find a weak spot."
"I don't have weak spots," Hitomi spat, contempt lacing her words. "I am perfect!"
"You're delusional if you think that." Moka's claws raked across Hitomi's arm, drawing a thin line of blood. "That mentality is exactly why you're going to lose."
Hitomi screamed in frustration and tried to disengage, her body moving toward the gap in the wall. She had to escape. She had to preserve her life for another time.
But Moka was faster.
"Blood Prison."
Crimson energy erupted around Hitomi, forming a cage of blood that trapped her in place. The Gorgon struggled against the bars, her snakes hissing and twisting in agitation.
"You think this will hold me?" Hitomi snarled. "You think you can trap me?"
"Not forever," Moka admitted. "But long enough for the idiot fox to hit you."
Chizuru's flames surged forward, engulfing Hitomi in a blast of heat so intense it warped the air around her. The Gorgon screamed, her scaled armor charring beneath the assault.
"Snake Clone!"
Hitomi's body dissolved into a swarm of serpents, each one slithering away in a different direction. The cage shattered as her form dispersed, and Moka's eyes narrowed.
"Pathetic," she spat. "Using such a cheap trick to escape."
"She's gone," Chizuru said, frustration creeping into her voice. "We let her get away."
"Not yet."
Moka's eyes swept across the rooftop. Her vampire senses were sharp, attuned to even the faintest traces of Yoki. She could feel Hitomi's presence, a cold, slimy residue that clung to the air like an oily stain.
"She's heading inside the building."
Chizuru's expression darkened. "She's going to destroy the evidence."
"Then we don't have much time."
Together, they raced toward the building.
They burst through the entrance of the Art Club building, while keeping their senses sharp and on high alert.
"Make sure to avoid any traps." mentioned Moka while she navigated the corridors.
"You don't need to remind me. I know what I have to do."
The interior was dark, the air stale and musty, the scent of old dust and forgotten things clinging to the walls. The walls were lined with eerie paintings, looking briefly you could tell it was a gallery of nightmares.
But they did not have time to appreciate the macabre collection.
"I can feel her," Moka said, her voice low. "She's deeper inside."
They moved through the corridors, their footsteps echoing in the silence. The building was a labyrinth, twisting and turning in ways that seemed unnatural. But Moka's senses guided them, tracking the faint pulse of Hitomi's Yoki.
Then they heard it. A sound like cracking stone, coming from deeper within the building.
"She's already starting," Moka said, her senses alerting her to the danger. "We have to move faster."
"What about the traps?"
"We'll deal with them, the lives of the missing girls are more important."
"Aww, so noble of you."
They burst into a large chamber, and both Moka and Chizuru stopped at the sight before them.
The room was filled with statues, dozens of them, each one a young woman frozen in stone. They were arranged in a circle, their faces turned inward, as if they were watching something in the center of the room. A massive pedestal stood in the middle, and atop it was a statue that looked like it was still caught in the middle of screaming for help.
In the center of that macabre gallery stood Ishigami, hunched over a pedestal, her claws extended, her snakes coiling and twisting in a frenzy of fury caused by the miserable defeat she had received at the hands of the girls. The massive statue on the pedestal had a face frozen in a mask of terror.
Moka recognized one of the girls amongst the petrified forms. She had seen her before, interacting with Outer, curious about joining the Art Club. From what Tsukune had told her, the girl had been missing for about a week.
"Too late," Ishigami taunted, triumphing thick in her voice. "You cannot stop me now. Since you want to save them, I will not leave you that satisfaction. I will part with my art collection, but soon I will have you two at the center of my collection."
Her claws descended, aimed at the statue's head.
"Don't you dare!"
"Watch me, komusume!"
Moka felt a surge of desperation and activated her Wealth of Power, dissolving into crimson vapor as she lunged forward. But the distance was too great. She would not make it in time.
Then the shadows in the room rippled.
A pool of blood materialized in the center of the chamber, dark and crimson, its surface rippling like water disturbed by a stone. Ishigami froze, her eyes widening as she felt the shift in pressure.
"What... what is this?"
For a moment, she paused, and just like the rest of them, she felt a powerful Yoki envelop the entire building. The pressure in the room shifted, the air growing dense with Yoki, and the shadows contorted and deepened.
"If you think I will get distracted by a bit of Yoki, you're mistaken! I will finish what I started."
Just as she was about to deliver the fatal blow to the statue, the pool of blood erupted, surging upward like a geyser. A hand burst through the surface, its fingers long and pale, its nails dark and sharp. The hand closed around one of Ishigami's snakes, and the Gorgon screamed as the creature's head was torn from its body.
Then a figure rose from the pool, dripping with crimson, his eyes were of a chilling crimson color with the vertical slits of a Vampire.
"Tsukune," Moka breathed in relief as she paused her own advance.
He stood in the center of the blood pool, his intangible form hardening, solidifying as he appeared before them. He was in his full regalia, wearing Alucard's Armor, the Dragon Helm, Dracula's Black Cloak, and the Legend's Boots.
The helm opened to reveal his Vampire features, the long silver-white hair cascading past his shoulders, devil-like bat wings protruding from the Alucard's Armor, deadly fangs, and dark nails that could carve into the hardest magical metal.
The coldness in his eyes was unmistakable, but there was also a sense of fury in his gaze that promised violence to anyone who had dared to threaten what was his.
"It seems the snake has been caught," he said, his voice holding that cold, commanding tone he reserved for enemies. "And a venomous snake that cannot flee deserves to be crushed."
Ishigami stared at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Who... who are you?"
"Oh, you don't recognize me, Hitomi-sensei?" He stepped closer, his boots echoing against the stone floor. "It is me, your diligent student, Aono Tsukune."
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