At the same time that this was happening, Casanova and Avery were training in an open field. Casanova was still going to stay in England for two more days so Avery could give him a tour, and they had planned on going to spy at one of the laboratories that Avery and Alexander had been experimented on in. It was approximately 2:30 P.M. when Casanova began complaining that he felt something wrong with Mitsuya. Soon afterwards, he was not able to sense Mitsuya at all.
" Something's wrong with him. It's like his spirit vanished completely. It just spiked enormously and now I can't feel him anywhere."
" Could something have happened ? Where are Himura and Mayomi at?" asked Avery.
" The last thing that I heard, Mayomi went to Osaka because it was Mitsuya's mom's birthday, and Himura was gone to visit an old friend. Keiko had texted me and told me that he went to a coffee shop with Mitsuya, Kaoru and Julianna. I don't know what could have happened to make Mitsuya's spiritual energy go to this point."
" The worst case scenario is that he somehow made contact with one of the government mages. If that happens, then he's all but doomed." Avery says, with a worried look.
" I should talk to Himura." Casanova said, as he pulled out his phone. " He might know what's wrong with him." Casanova called Himura, who informed him of the situation. " Casanova, stay in England. Everything is fine here." said Himura. Casanova did as he was told, but still had a hesitant feeling about everything. Avery was concerned too.
" Mitsuya wouldn't have this much trouble fighting someone who is weaker than him. They must be second class or stronger." said Avery.
" What if they're one of the members of the Cerberus Corps?" said Casanova, with a worried look.
Avery hesitated in her answer. " Then he's going to sustain some serious injuries before he gets away. If he gets away."
Julianna and Keiko both felt it too. Julianna could no longer feel Mitsuya's energy. She had a theory about what could be happening. " Possession. Mitsuya isn't himself anymore. There's someone else inside of him. I know you feel it too." she said to Keiko. " The spirits are resonating." Keiko felt a sharp pain in his heart at the same time. Was there some type of connection between the two that caused this? We can't answer that question just yet. But there was one thing certain. The bond between Mitsuya and Karou had something more to do with mage bloodlines and magic than we previously thought. Mayomi paced around, thinking up a theory.
" This isn't a side effect of his visit to the Founder," she whispered to herself. " We still don't know the nature of the seal that his dad put on him. But there was no evidence of him doing anything to Kaoru too." She began to project her voice to Julianna and Keiko.
" The bond between Mitsuya and Kaoru defies the supernatural boundary. The most logical assumption is that when Mitsuya used dark magic to amplify his abilities, he didn't get the incantation wrong. At that moment, a spirit possessed him, and in exchange for his power, it took what was closest to him. Kaoru's sight. The spirit then hid its powers within Mitsuya, staying dormant until he was near death."
" Wait, so that means that Mitsuya was just put in a near death situation. He said he was just going to run an errand for Himura. Where did he go?" Keiko asked frantically.
Mayomi gives him a flat out answer. " Mitsuya found out the location of Shigeo Seira, the former traitor of the Mage's Society who murdered his mom, therefore leaving him and Kaoru as orphans. He went there alone, because he didn't want to endanger any of you, especially with Kaoru bere. Himura wanted Julianna to go too, but he needed someone to protect Keiko, who's magic hasn't developed, and Kaoru. Plus, if any of you went with him it would have been a severe blow to his pride."
" Well if your theory is correct, then what happened to Kaoru's eyes?" Julianna asks.
" If Mitsuya is possessed by a dark spirit who took him while Kaoru lost his eyesight, then that could only mean one possible thing: their powers are intertwined. Kaoru has a dark property."
" What do you mean by that? Kaoru is a witch?" Keiko asks.
" Well yes and no. It's complicated. See, not many people know this. Mitsuya's mom shared this with Mayuri and I when we were younger. Mitsuya's mom was a half-breed. Her mother was a witch while her father didn't have any magic. So technically, Kaoru is half witch and Mitsuya is half warlock. Which means that their potential abilities exceed those of regular mage children."
" Wait a minute, so that means that Mitsuya has a hidden potential?" Keiko asks.
" Well basically. Every mage or artificial mage has an inner potential. They just have to undergo harsh extremes to unlock one of their abilities. A number of abilities can be unlocked through numerous circumstances. I currently have unlocked two."
Even after all of these questions, Julianna still has more. " Wait, because you're a witch doesn't that give you more potential, especially since you received more powers from those experiments?"
" That's a complicated story for another time. But for right now we have to hurry up and get Kaoru home so Mayuri can treat her. Let's go."
And with that sentence, Keiko picked up the unconscious Kaoru, who by now we can assume was just sleeping, and they all ran back to the manor. The entire way there, the amount of energy radiating from Kaoru grew larger and larger, until it quelled itself. Mayuri undid the spell enchantment on the sacred tree, and they rushed inside, where Kaoru was laid upon her bed. Mayuri was already there to treat her. And she had some curious observations to make.
" It's like her soul chain is teetering between breaking and repairing itself. In this condition, it won't be life threatening, but it feels like something is affecting her. If Mayomi is right, and this does have something to do with her connection to Mitsuya, then I can most likely assume that because Mitsuya is fighting someone right now, the further he pushes his limits, the greater toll Kaoru will take. Keiko, do you need an explanation?" She said this because Keiko had the most puzzled look on his face. " Yes, please."
" Okay, I'll try to make it easy to explain. Regularly, when a mage child is conceived, there is a spiritual bond connecting it to the mother. So if the mother takes any pain while the child is still in the womb, they share it. That's why I constantly have to heal myself in case the baby or I get hurt before I can deliver. When the baby is born, the spiritual bond develops between the baby and the father. That's what'll happen to Himura when our baby is born. Normally such bonds don't exist between siblings. But because the effects of Mitsuya's dark magic have finally formed a link between him and Kaoru. Therefore, the pain that isn't life threatening, such as a simple cut or a broken bone, is experienced separately. But let's say, if one of them got their limb amputated or got stabbed, then they would experience it together. But the amount of pain that Kaoru feels wouldn't nearly be as great as Mitsuya's."
Mayuri placed her hand on Kaoru's chest, and a green light emitted from her palm. At the same time, a clock rang in the library, which everyone could hear. " I'm reversing all damage that she's taken to a state of zero. So as long as she stays close to me, she won't feel any pain. This should last at least 3 hours, until she is fully recovered." Kaoru made a face while she was sleeping that showed sudden distress. " She'll be fine." said Mayuri. " Julianna, can you stay here and watch over her?" Julianna complied. " Keiko, I think you should rest right now." she said to Keiko. But he didn't listen. " No, I'll stay too."
Mayuri and Mayomi exited the room and went to the library. They discussed what had happened.
" Mayuri, he's on the move again."
" I assumed that he would return one day. Himura and our old teacher Mr. Dante had been gathering information about the movement of his groups."
" Well what do we do now? Because of what just happened, it's clear that he knows about Mitsuya, Casanova, Kaoru, Julianna and Keiko being taken in by us. He'll be targeting us soon." Mayomi said with a tense face. Mayuri put her hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
" We aren't strong enough right now to do anything. But we'll get there eventually. And when we do, we'll bring him back to us. Trust me."
" You still believe that we can bring him back after he almost killed Himura and betrayed the Organization?"
" Mayomi, I think you're forgetting that we also betrayed the Organization when we left to form this unofficial resistance group. With Himura and all of our other 20 something partners, we can make our dream of reforming the Organization a reality and defeat the syndicate. Plus, I still have faith that my old partner still has an ounce of humanity in him. I always have." She smiles at her, and Mayomi frowns.
" We should probably start preparing dinner. Himura and Mitsuya should be back anytime soon."
" I guess so."
" Oh, what's wrong Eliot. You were talking big a few minutes ago about how I let my guard down, now you're standing there cowering in your boats. Is something wrong?" Mitsuya says, with a grin on his face.
" What happened to you? What is this sudden burst of power. I couldn't feel this in you a few moments ago? Mitsuya… What did you do? You turned to the dark arts."
Mitsuya walks, passing around Shigeo's dead body, which had been untouched by his and Eliot's battle. He examines the neck, then the arms. Eliot watches as he lifts up his arm. In one stroke, his hand barely touches Shigeo's head. But suddenly the head falls off of the body, followed by blood gushing out. Eliot doesn't have a reaction, but he is scared for his life on the inside. " That wasn't satisfactory at all. Probably because that girl already took the pleasure out of doing it myself."
He turns to Eliot and sighs. " Mitsuya isn't here anymore. Unfortunately, you're going to have to come back later if you're looking for him. But for now, you're going to have to fight me."
" And who exactly are you?"
" I don't see why that's important. Can't you just be pleased that you're going to finish a fight with Mitsuya's body. It doesn't matter who's controlling it."
" Fair point, but how am I supposed to know that you aren't going to try anything?"
" See, that's very stupid if you expect a spirit who has been dormant inside the body of a 14 year old child to be at full strength upon his first release. To add to that, a game gets boring easily if you don't play by the rules. So I always make it my objective to do just that." He sits on the ground next to the decapitated head. " So, here's what's going to happen. I'll give you five minutes to think of a game plan. Since this is the second round, we aren't going to try to kill each other. You got that." Eliot nods his head with no response. He also takes a seat on the floor.
Inside Mitsuya's mind, he's back at the bottom of a lake, struggling to breathe. A hand quickly lifts him up, bringing his body back to the surface. Now, he has returned to the barren land which he can now validly consider the inner subconscious of his mind. He's gasping for air, when the hand of the person touches his shoulder, instructing him to calm down. He can't see anything, not even the face of the person grabbing him.
" What, no WHO the heck are you?"
" I can't explain that as of right now. We have much bigger things to worry about than that."
" WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY WE? AT LEAST TELL ME WHO YOU ARE ?"
The person sighs. " Okay, listen, I'll try to make this short. And you better not get all depressed on me when I tell you this. See, earlier, Angel took away your time abilities, so you can't use time magic again unless you go see the Founder, or push your current power to a limit where you can't go back any further. Meaning, that you can't reverse, stop or speed up time like when you were younger. When that happened, there was a seal activated around you to complete the transaction, if I'm not mistaken. You were about to die, but the will and power of your younger self managed to break it. Now, a few minutes ago you got stabbed so you were almost put in a near death situation. Now, we go back to your past. When you committed that dark incantation, two entities came. An entity that gifted you power, and an entity that took as a sacrifice and put it somewhere else. The dark entity overtook the good one, also known as me and tainted it. You were destined to die for commiting a taboo art without having any knowledge of it. In order for both of us to survive, I had to undergo a symbiotic process. But because I was tainted, both of our powers were sealed until you underwent another event which threatened your life. Meanwhile, the dark entity took Kaoru's eyesight and your powers and returned to oblivion. Since you used Kaoru as a sacrifice, and you also just awakened your powers, whenever you are put in a near death situation, she will also feel pain, although not nearly as great as yours."
Mitsuya has to take a few moments to digest this. " Wait, so Kaoru is in danger right now?"
" Most likely, but I'll remind you. There's nothing to worry about. The toll won't be very severe."
Mitsuya takes a deep breath. " So basically, you have both the powers of a good entity and a dark entity because you were tainted. What's the effect of being tainted?"
" Okay, I'm going to need you to calm down." Mitsuya looks confused, but he goes along with it. " You're slowly dying. At this rate, I estimate you would last only another 10 years at most." Mitsuya, however, is not at all fazed by this, much to the entity's surprise. " You aren't surprised? That's kind of something big that a normal person would prepare for or panic about?"
Mitsuya smirks a little bit. " Well it's bold of you to think that I'm a normal person. I kind of assumed that would happen all along. I knew the risks of using dark magic, but I just did it anyways because I was so consumed with hatred and revenge. This is the rightful consequence for my crimes. I guess I can't go back on it. So, how is it going to take me?"
" The chances are that you'll get an illness along the way sometime soon. But it most likely won't be painful." The voice pauses. " Mitsuya, are you sure that you're alright? Are you going to tell Himura or Kaoru or any of the others?"
" It's natural. I'm a mage, so it's kind of obvious. In this society that we live in, nothing can be certain, no matter how much protection that you have on you. The people around you will die, and there won't be anything that you can do, and eventually you will also die. Since the day that I was born, death has been slowly approaching me. And I've just been waiting in the same exact spot to greet it."
" Wise words, Mitsuya. You never sound like that."
" Well, it's been a long time since I ever really thought like that. I guess I've changed." He pauses. " Wait, so my original reverse and time stop powers are out there somewhere?"
" I don't know. The thing that took them disappeared without a trace. Only the scrap of power that it gave to me survives, as far as I can sense. So the most likely answer is no, you aren't getting them back right now."
" Well that's unfortunate. But that's besides the point right now. Why did you possess me?"
" I had to keep you dormant for a considerable amount of time for you to recover both mentally and physically. Plus, if I stay cooped up for too long it was eventually going to happen anyways. I took over briefly in order to buy you some time. You have five minutes before Eliot attacks, and right now you have about a minute left, so any other questions that you ask are going to be short answered."
" Did you really have to chop off Shigeo's head?"
" I figured that was what you would have wanted. I'm not usually like that, just tried to make a memorable first impression with these artificial mages. But it was really unsatisfying because he was already riddled with bullets by Angel. And, if your next question is about taking Angel with you, you can't."
" I wasn't planning on asking. I don't forgive what she did to Aito and the people at the Orphanage. I don't care anymore. No matter how much she says about being forced to do it and wanting to be with Kaoru and I, I won't listen. The next time we meet, it'll be war. Now, can I have my body back?"
" You really want it back? Are you sure?"
" Yes, I would be much more comfortable fighting in my own body than looking at it while some unknown entity from oblivion possesses it. I'm putting you back to sleep for the time being." He stands up.
" Well, if that's the case, then I guess it wouldn't be a problem if I gave you some of my power. At the current rate of function, we are both weak. It'll take me years to regain my full capabilities. Are you fine if I only give you an ounce of my strength, or one of my powers?"
" I guess so. In the end, we both are weak after all. How long will it last."
" By your stamina, I'm guessing about 3 minutes."
" That'll be enough to get done with him." The light appears, and Mitsuya's vision slowly begins to return. But then he remembers something. " Wait, what powers do you have?"
" YOU'LL SEE WHEN YOU GET THERE."
Mitsuya woke back up. Eliot was standing up on the other side of the hallway. " Well, I guess it's time for us to beg-" Eliot's words are cut off by Mitsuya, who is already next to him. " Stop talking, start fighting."
Mitsuya grabs his face and shoves him into the ground. He shatters the ground beneath him, further and further down. It would seem that Mitsuya just sent him down 3 more floors until they were at the sewer system. Next, he flung Eliot, who crashed against a wall. He started coughing up blood, and quickly scrambled to his feet.
" What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" Mitsuya says, with a fiery passion burning in his eyes.
" Stop being such a smartass." Eliot lifts his sword, and shoves it into the ground below him. A huge amount of light emits from it, and engulfs Mitsuya in the flash. Mitsuya is pushed back a distance of several feet until he goes crashing through a wall. Eliot quickly runs up to him and sends a powerful kick to his stomach, sending him backwards. At the same time, Eliot's leg begins to bleed. When the dust settles, Mitsuya is just standing there confused.
" Was that supposed to do something?" He does the same thing as well, this time crossing his arms and an even brighter light emerges from him. Eliot tries to swing his sword at him, only to get thrown back. He falls into the sewer water, panting for his breath. Mitsuya throws his sword at Eliot, stabbing him in the leg. Eliot can no longer move, and Mitsuya delivers successive slashes to his body. For the next few seconds, Mitsuya would punch, kick and slash Eliot as he tried to hold back his screams. Next, Mitsuya would dropkick him, sending him flying back to the surface where Shigeo's head was. He threw Eliot across the room to a wall, where he fell. Eliot took this opportunity to call his sword back from the sewers. He struggled to stand up. At the moment that he lifted himself up, Mitsuya lifted his palm to face him. Eliot realized what was coming next. He felt the weight of the air crushing him against the wall. He struggled before he was able to put up his own two hands and negate the force of Mitsuya's wind. But it was too strong. Eliot could feel himself being pushed back further and further until the wall below him was crumbling. He was forced to get on one knee, and the force of his push severely weakened.
Mitsuya, on the other hand, was handling this with ease. That was until he felt blood running down, and it dropped on the floor. He touched his face, and realized that he had a nosebleed. He had come to the terrible realization. The third eye and the marks disappeared. His blackened hand returned to normal. He exhausted the entity's powers. He whispered to himself, " Three minutes have passed." The next thing that he knew, his wind had stopped. And Eliot was on his feet again, panting for air as his mouth was bleeding. Mitsuya fell to the ground. " Dammit." He couldn't move anymore, no matter how much magic he had left. Eliot took his sword, and spoke its name: " Kusanagi no Tsurugi. Third, Final Form: Heavenly Gathering." All at once, two more swords were produced. Eliot aimed them directly at Mitsuya. He shut his eyes as tightly as he could. There was no way out of this, he thought. Could this be the moment where Mitsuya finally perishes ?