Chapter 17 Aftermath
Hikaru had finished her business at the shrine and called her men who had sealed off the shrine area back. Zero was now alone at the shrine and he went back to the living room to sit down and think. He had just taken out the final boss who was supposed to attempt to steal Dracula's power spurning Soma to reject the dark power and use it for good. Zero had always planned to kill Graham but his appearing at the shrine sped up all of Zero's plans. Now that he was dead Zero now had the added job of making sure the story played out relatively the same if his plan was going to work.
As he sat there thinking of what future action he would need to take the door opened. Soma and Mina had returned from their date looking very much in love. Zero smiled and greeted the two before leaving to give them some much-needed alone time. He wanted them to enjoy the short-lived happiness while it lasted.
Zero then decided that he needed to get stronger. He had one glaring weakness that he needed to amend as soon as possible. He lacked any magic spells and thus lacked any long-range attacks. If he had the battle with Graham would have been easier and he wouldn't have gotten hurt. He now had the dark magic mastery skill but lacked the spell tomes necessary to utilize it to learn spells. He then called his faithful servant Hikaru and asked if she knew where Graham had lived. She affirmed that she did and he then asked her to send someone to collect all the books in the house and deliver them to him. He hoped that one would be a spell tome for magic.
While waiting for the books to be delivered Zero returned to his mundane life of going to school, spending time with Soma and Mina, and training with Hikaru. This continued for a week before the books were delivered. Unfortunately, there were no spell tome in the pile of books but Zero kept them anyway as many of them were books on leadership and such. Look like Graham was a very diligent person he was studying up to lead an army. Since there was nothing to be done about it now Zero decided to hone his current skill and save learning magic for later. With the teleportation skill that he gained from Graham Zero found moving around easier saving him time.
Like that, another 3 months passed and Zero had continued his life in the city of Hirosaki. Today he received the notification that he had been waiting for all this time.
SKILL DEMON CASTLE GAINED
DUE TO INCOMPATIBILITY SKILLS WILL BE RECONSTRUCTED TO FIT THE USER'S SOUL WAVELENGTH
SUCCESS SKILL RECONSTRUCTED
SKILL CHAOS SOUL DIMENSION DERIVED FROM SKILL DEMON CASTLE
CHAOS SOUL DIMENSION: A SKILL DERIVED FROM DRACULA'S CASTLE ABILITY. THE ABILITY OF A KING WHO RULES OVER SOULS. THIS ABILITY CREATES A SUB-SPACE DIMENSION IN THE USER'S SOUL THAT IS ABLE TO STORE SOULS AND ITEMS OF ANY KIND. THE SPACE IS CAN ONLY HOLD AS MUCH AS THE SOUL CAN ALLOW. TIME DOES NOT EXIST IN THE SPACE. CAN SACRIFICE THE SOULS OF THE DEFEATED TO PREVENT THE DEATH OF THE USER AND RESURRECT.
'Yes, the skill turned out more or less as I thought it. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get the ability to turn souls into loyal monsters to fight for me thought.' thought Zero
With this skill Zero now had everything he needed to begin enacting his plan the only thing left to do was wait for the school semester to end in 2 months and he would begin the plan he created after the death of the villain Graham so he prepared and waited.
Time passed and the two months had passed quickly and now it was time for finals. Zero having no desire to try to pass these exams once again visited the friend of Mrs. Belnades and mesmerized her yet again. Zero having received the test question ahead of time breezed through the exam. On the last day of school, Zero informed Mina and her father that he would be staying at the house of a friend afterward.
(***Yoko POV***)
Today classes had ended quickly since there was only one exam to take. Her friend and fellow teacher Kathrine Shade had asked her out to go drinking at 9 p.m. in the evening and she accepted. When school finished she decided to stop by the market to get some ingredients for today's dinner. She headed home to grade her exam papers before leaving to meet up with her friend.
Yoko Belnades was a witch descended from the famous Sypha Belnades who together with Trevor Belmont and Alucard managed to kill Dracula's first incarnation. She was a powerful witch in her own right and had come to this town in preparation to battle Dracula's reincarnation that was prophesied to resurrect this year. Much to her surprise, nothing had occurred and Yoko hoped that this would continue until the year ended in 2 weeks but she still expected the worst to happen and was prepared.
Having graded her exams she was ready to head out and meet her friend Kathrine. She was pleasantly surprised by one student Zero Hakuba who at the beginning had very poor grades. When she talked to him about it she found out he was studying outside of school she half expected him to be lying but his grades improved and began to score quite high on his tests.
Walking she reached her friend Kathrine's apartment in the city and found it weird as she walked there was no one on the streets even though it was a Friday. She chalked it up to an event in the city that she was not aware of. She knocked on the door and Kathrine told her that the door was unlocked so she should enter. When she entered she came across a sight that shocked her student Zero Hakuba had a sword at Kathrine's throat.
"What's the meaning of this!?" she demanded and she began to construct a spell
"Please stop your magic Mrs. Belnades." said Zero calmly as his sword drew closer to Kathrine's neck drawing a little blood.
'Damn!' thought Yoko as she was out of ideas on what to do in this situation
"Who are you and what have you done with Zero Hakuba?" asked Yoko
"I'm Zero your student." asked Zero
"If you're Zero then why are you doing this?" asked Yoko
"It's a simple deal. Your life in exchange for hers." Said Zero
This shocked Yoko and before she could even have time to process what was happening Zero pressed his sword even more drawing more blood. "You have 5 seconds." Said Zero
"Wait!" yelled Yoko
"4 … 3" counted Zero
"Stop I'll trade my life for hers." said Yoko
"Good, I knew you would. Try to go back on your word and Mrs. Shade here will kill herself won't you Mrs. Shade?" said Zero
"Yes" answered Katherine Shade with dead eyes
Yoko had truly thought that after Zero left her side she might be able to save her but that hope was soon crushed.
"Are you one of Dracula's minions?" asked Yoko
"No I have no allegiance to Dracula but I am his friend." answered Zero
"What!? You know who he is?" asked Yoko
"Right you don't know yet but Dracula's reincarnated form is Soma Cruz your student." said Zero
Yoko was shocked because Soma Cruz was an ordinary boy that she had taught for almost a year. She was shocked that the person that she must kill was one of her students. Zero then removed his sword from Kathrine's neck and walked toward her. "Why are you doing this?" she asked
"Because I need you" he answered as he stabbed her through the heart killing her instantly