Chapter 27 - Invading the Castle


The training door slid open after five whole days of hellish training. The seven girls walked out and breathed in fresh air for the first time in five days.

“Hmm... I really do feel lighter now..” Mayu looked at her own palm.

Akane unsheathed her blade and immediately swinged it at Mayu. Noticing Akane’s action, Mayu dodged to the side and deflected her attack away with a kick.

“Not bad, captain.. You managed to read my movements efficiently.” Akane smiled.

“I didn’t know. I just moved according to my own reflex.”

“Nezumi-sama improved her vampire senses a lot while she was training in there.” Yuki added.

“Of course, that wasn’t my full speed. But still.. Not bad.. If I were to attack you like this five days ago, you would be already dead.” Akane said.

“I’ll take that as a compliment then.” Mayu giggled.

“...” Rena remained silent and looked at her palm.

“Rena? What’s wrong?” Mayu asked.

“We’re...finally going to save Jurina...” Rena clenched her fist.

“Yes, Rena-sama.. We’re going getting her back..” Yuki placed her hand on Rena’s shoulder.

“Everybody must be feeling tired now.. Let’s all rest well.. Jurina’s crowning day will be in 2 days time. By then we’ll already be in full energy.” Akane ordered.



2 days later, on Jurina’s crowning day

Jurina sat on her bed with her head faced to the ground. She was silent.

“Center? Are you alright?” Annin sat beside her.

“...” Jurina didn’t reply.

“We should get you ready for your crowning today..” Annin smiled.

“Hey Annin...” Jurina said in a low and soft voice that made Annin blushed a little.

“Ah.. Y-Yes?” Annin seemed flustered.

Jurina looked up at her. “Why are you blushing like this?”

“N-No.. It’s just that I don’t think you called out my name that way before..” Annin looked away and continued blushing.

Jurina smiled lightly and traced her fingers across her mask. “Hey Annin.. What do you think of me?”

“What do I think of you as the next Demon King? Well, I think you’ll do pretty well..”

Jurina corrected. “No.. What do you think of me as a person.. Put all the titles aside..”

Annin blinked her eyes for a moment. “E-Eh? Well.. I think that you’re very cool and nice.. Not to mention you always look charming.”

“Do you really think I’m.......nice?” Jurina looked at Annin’s face blankly.

“Yes, I do.. Why? What’s wrong?” 

“...” Jurina looked away.

“Center? What’s wrong?”

“So...you will be the one who is going to take care of me once I become the Demon King?” Jurina asked.

“Of course.. I’m the Demon King’s personal medic. Besides, I made a promise that I would take care of you... So,you’ll be 24 hours under my protection.” Annin smiled.

“Okay then..” Jurina sighed.

“You looked troubled, Center.” Annin asked in a worried tone.

“Do you think...they’re coming today?” Jurina asked.

Annin became enraged. “Them again!? Why do you keep talking about them, Center? You’re speaking as if you really want them to come and save you from this place.”

“That’s not what I meant, Annin.” Jurina stood up.

“If it’s not about them, then it must be about that Rena.” Annin went straight to the point.

“....” Jurina looked away in guilt.

“You still love her... I knew it.. You miss her.. You want to see her so badly right now.”

“...” Again, Jurina remained silent.

“Love... It’s a mysterious thing...” Annin sighed.

“Annin...”

“I remember what your dad told me about love.. He said that you’ll know you’re in love when you can’t fall sleep at night because reality is finally better than your dreams..” Annin said.

“What are you trying to imply?” Jurina asked.

“I....find it hard to sleep every night, Center... Because...I’m in love..” Annin closed her eyes and smiled.. “And uncle Caym was right... Reality really is better than dreams..”

Jurina doesn’t have to ask any more questions to know who Annin was talking about. Jurina is not that stupid. She knows very well that Annin is completely in love with her.

“I’m in love with you, Jurina.. I couldn’t stop thinking of you..” Annin finally confessed.

“You....couldn’t stop thinking of me?” Jurina asked.

Annin nodded. “And if I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.”

“But...why me? There are so many more who are better than I am. I’m nowhere near perfect.”

“You don’t love someone because they’re perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they’re not. I know you have feelings for Rena, but answer me, Center..... Do you also have feelings for me? Even a little?”

Jurina didn’t answer. More like she couldn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what kind of answer she should give.

Annin turned around and nodded. “I get it... I’ve showed you how I feel about you. All my feelings were true. All those promises I made with your dad, I’m keeping them. Now it’s up to you. No matter what you decide to do, I’ll always be here for you.” Annin looked down and clenched her fist. “I should be in my room guarding now.. Stay here and you’ll be safe. I’ll see you later, Center...”

“Annin...” Jurina looked on as Annin made her way out of the throne room and back into her room.



Hellsing HQ

Akane secretly walked into the corner of her room and clicked on her earpiece. “Nishishi, did you find anything?”

Nishishi sounded from the other side of the earpiece. “I did find out some important information about that.. And why are we so secretive about this again?”

“I don’t want to let anyone know I’m researching on Jurina’s dad. This is a top secret mission I’m putting you in. You’re not to reveal anything to anyone but me. Do you understand? I don’t like people knowing that I do things behind other people’s back.”

“Won’t they be curious about where I went? Well, I did disappear from Hellsing for quite a long time..” Nishishi asked.

“Don’t worry about that. I took care of it.”

“You took care of it? What do you mean you took care of it?”

“I told them you went for your own adventure around the world to discover more swords” Akane hesitated a little.

“Pfft... Out of everything you could have told them...” Nishishi laughed out loud in Akane’s earpiece.

“Alright, that’s enough entertainment for now. Get those informations about Jurina’s dad, and we shall meet soon. Got it?” Akane ordered.

“Got it.” 

“Now get going. We’ll be making our move to the Demon General’s castle now.” Akane whispered.

“Okey dokey. See you soon.” Nishishi turned off her earpiece.

“Hey, Akane.. What are you doing mumbling to yourself over there?” Mayu asked. “It’s time to go.”

Akane turned around to meet up with her members standing there waiting for her. “Alright then. Let’s go. Lovetan, lead the way.”

Lovetan smiled. “Sure.”

They were led out of the city and far away into a huge and wide field. It seem to have no end to this field.

“Well, we’re here...” Lovetan looked forward and raised her hands to the side.

“There’s nothing here..” Rena looked left and right.

“The castle is right here. But it’s sort of in another dimension.” Lovetan explained.

“So we’re going into another dimension now?” Mayu asked.

“Well... Kind of..” Lovetan said.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Get us in there then.” Gakuran became a little impatient.

“Everyone must follow my steps. The only way to find your way into the castle is to follow a path. The one and only path. Once you stray off the path, you will never find your way to the entrance and you’ll have to start walking on the path all over again. But of course the Demon Generals do not have to walk this path. This path was designed by Milky. She did it so carefully that even one tiny step off the path...no...even 1mm off the path will not get you into the castle. It’s almost perfect.”

“Tch- Almost... But still not perfect.. Now let’s go!” Mayu felt insulted suddenly.

Yuki giggled a little at Mayu’s jealousness of Milky’s smartness. “Nezumi-sama.. Calm down..”

“Lead the way, Lovetan.” Akane ordered.

“Alright...” Lovetan started walking in an irregular pattern. Then zig zag manner. Then in circles The others followed as close as possible to make sure that they do not stray off the path.

“Wait.. How do we know if we accidentally stray off the path?” Chokoku asked.

“Simple.. If by the end of the path, you do not see a huge door appearing in front of you, it simply means that you had strayed off the path before this. As I said, only the ones who followed the path correctly will be able to see the door and enter it. Just follow closely.”

As soon as Lovetan stopped in her tracks a huge door appeared right in front of their faces. “Can everyone see this door?”

Everyone nodded. “Let’s enter then.”

They pushed through the door to reveal the main hall of the castle and walked in.

“Alright, we’re finally in.” Lovetan smiled.

The door closed off by its own.

“Anything we need to look out for?” Yuki asked.

“If you head straight, you’ll reach a hall with four doors. Each one of them will lead you to one of the Demon General’s room... The black door will lead to Sayanee-sama’s room. The green door will lead to Umeda-sama’s room. The red door will lead to Kumi-sama’s room and the purple door will lead to Annin-sama’s room. You’d have to go through their rooms to get to the throne room... That should be where the crowning takes place. But be prepared. All the Demon Generals will always be guarding in their room until the crowning time. So you’ll most definitely meet them in their respective rooms.” Lovetan explained.

“So, in other words there is no other choice but fight them to get to Jurina.” Rena said.

“Wait.. What about the assistant’s rooms?” Mayu asked.

“Their rooms are somewhere else. We don’t need to head there. The only way to access the throne room is through the Demon General’s rooms.” Lovetan told them.

“I see.. We may not meet up with the assistants after all.. This is a good thing.” Akane said.

“Now let’s get going.” Lovetan said and all of them rushed forwards to the hall.

As they reached the hall that Lovetan mentioned, something doesn’t seem right. Instead of four doors mentioned by Lovetan, there was only one. A white door. “Huh?” Even Lovetan was confused.

“What’s going on, Lovetan? You said there will be four doors. Black, green, red and purple. Why is there only one door? And it’s white.” Akane asked.

“There SHOULD be four doors here instead!” Lovetan emphasized.

“They must have known we’re coming today, so they changed the architecture a little. I suspect this is that Milky’s work as well.. Since there is only one door, It’ll be best if we stick together and go through the door together.” Mayu suggested.

“Agreed.” Akane said.

All of them linked arms. Akane who was standing in front, turned the door knob and pushed the door open. As soon as they opened the door and entered, all of their arms got separated as they got away from each other into darkness. Before they knew it, they all woke up in separate places.

Akane stood there, in the middle of a huge stage. Eyes scanning all around her for anything suspicious. Her right hand laid on her blade, readying to strike anytime. That was when a black shockwave flew right at her with an incredible speed. Thanks to Akane’s lightning speed reflexes, she immediately unsheathes her blade and shot a lightning shockwave towards it as well. The shockwaves exploded upon contact.

A girl appeared from the darkness. “Welcome to the hall of darkness. I’m the Demon General Sayanee, the Hades.”

“I’m Akane. The President of Hellsing. Ex-captain of the battle strategy and tactics department. A swordsman.”

“Pleased to meet you Akane, but we’re not open for guests today. You can drop by to say hello tomorrow instead.” Sayanee smiled.

“Stop acting dumb with me. I don’t like people who acts dumb. You know very well why we’re here today. We’re here to save Jurina from this madhouse.”

Sayanee sighed. “Tell me... Akane.. What makes you so eager to come crashing into Center’s crowning day? Today is her special day. So, I will not allow any interference in her ceremony.”

“She’s definitely doing this for some reason. I can tell. Nobody in the world will just disappear one day and suddenly end up being the enemy the very next day without a valid reasoning.”

“Center said she had been on our side ever since the beginning.”

“Only dense fools will fall for something like that.”

“Then can you explain how is it that Center was able to activate the Yamata no Orochi? Everyone knows that only the ones with a deep evil intention resting in the heart will be able to activate it. There is no other ways to activate it..”

“It doesn’t matter to me how she activates the Yamata no Orochi. What matters to me is that Jurina is my subordinate and I will get to Jurina whether you like it or not.”

“You’re still insisting on moving further?”

“I won’t be repeating it again.” Akane emphasized.

“Very well.. You leave me with no other choice. You’re a swordsman, right?” Sayanee smiled and unsheathed her katana. “My favourite type of enemy.”

“You’re my favourite type of enemy as well. After witnessing your fearsome swordplay back in Hellsing, I’ve always been wanting to spar with you a little. We shall see whose swordsmanship tops whose. Your destructive swordplay... Or my lightning speed swordplay...” Akane pointed her blade at Sayanee.

“Interesting. I’ve never fought a swordsman in a few hundred years.. You could entertain me a little..” 

“Shall we begin?” Akane proposed.

“Ready when you are..”

Both of them kick off the ground at the same time and clashed their blades together.

“Damn.. We all got separated. Definitely Milky’s work.” Mayu cursed as she stood in a pinkish room. This room obviously belongs to someone with a princessy character. There could only be one person in Mayu’s mind with a princessy character.

“You’re right.. I was the one who created that special door. That’s because I already knew you guys were coming today.. I can’t let any of you pass through without a fight.” A girl is seen sitting on top of a pole, smiling while swinging her legs cutely.

“Milky...” Mayu glared at her. It was already expected by Mayu that this is Milky’s room. “Where’s everyone else!?”

“Everyone else? They’re having fun somewhere else of course.. You on the other hand... Will be having fun with me instead.” Milky hopped off the pole and landed on the ground perfectly.

“Cut the crap! Let’s do this now!” Mayu got into her battle pose.

“You see, captain of the Battle Strategy and Tactics Department of Hellsing...” Milky said.

“The name’s Mayu.”

“Oh, right.. Mayu... You see, Mayu... Let me just get this straight. Leave now. You’ll never be able to defeat me.” Milky really did went straight to the point.

“Says who? I have been through a hellish training. I’ve gotten a lot stronger than I used to be.”

Milky took a glance at Mayu from head to toe. “I see.. You went through some kind of intense weight training.”

Mayu was a little surprised. “How did you know?”
”I can see that your muscle mass had increased since the last time we met. So my theory is that you went through some weight training. Given that you had only one week to train yourself... Instead of using weights, I’d say you trained in some place with a high gravity pull since it works so much better than using normal weights. Correct me if I’m wrong.” Milky showed her trademark smile again.

“...” There was nothing Mayu could say because everything Milky explained was completely spot on. That was when Mayu realized that her opponent might be even smarter than she had thought. Not only smart, but also has a fearsome power. This could be a huge problem for Mayu.

“Hmm.. I’m not sure if I should explain this to you..” Milky tilted her head cutely.

“Just say it. As of now, nothing can surprise me anymore.” Mayu scoffed.

“According to my calculation, given the difference in strength as we are now, the percentage of me winning this battle is 91%. Everything you do will be futile. So it’ll be best to leave now if you want to survive.” Milky explained.

“So there’s actually 9% of me winning this fight... I was actually expecting lesser.” Mayu grinned. “9% of success rate is good enough for me.”

Milky started giggling to herself.

“What so funny? You don’t believe that I can make that 9% happen!?” Mayu felt insulted.

“You’re right, Mayu. There’s a 9% chance that you will win the fight.. But there’s more to this... The 9% indicates that you will win this fight.......with the cost of your life.”

Mayu’s eyes widened immediately at Milky’s statement.

“In other words, there will be 100% chance that you will end up dead whether you win this fight or not.” Milky laughed again.

Mayu looked down and clenched her fist. “I.......don’t mind..”

Milky’s laughter stopped. “What was that?”

Mayu looked up and glared at Milky. “I don’t mind dying if I am able to defeat you! I WILL MAKE THAT 9% COME TRUE!”

The cheerful Milky lost her smile immediately at Mayu’s statement. “I have never seen someone as foolish as you. Even if you take me down and end up dying yourself, you won’t achieve anything.”

“You are our biggest concern. I’ll have to admit this to you. You are intelligent beyond words. That is why if I defeat you, it means I took out the brains of the group. Your team will be crippled badly. It will help my other team mates a lot. And THAT’S an achievement.”

Now, it was Milky who felt insulted. “Alright then.. I will crush you and your foolish pride.”

Mayu got into her battle pose once again. “Bring it on!” 

Sasshi on the other hand appeared at a place full of rocks. “What is this place? A rock garden?”

“Sasshi!” Lovetan called out and rushed towards her for a hug.

“Lovetan! You’re here as well! What happened to everyone?” Sasshi hugged Lovetan tightly.

“It seems like everyone got pulled away into different places. Somehow we ended up together.”

“What is this place then?” Sasshi asked.

Lovetan looked around. “This is Umeda-sama’s room..”

“I see... That master of yours.. I still have a score to settle with her.” Sasshi scoffed.

Rocks were all over the place. There were small rocks, large rocks, flying rocks... Wait what? Sasshi looked up and noticed a huge rock hurled towards her. She quickly pushed Lovetan behind and dodged to the side only to meet up with another hurled rock. She then covered her arms with her skeleton arms and punched the rock and watched it blast into little pieces.

It was already too late when Sasshi noticed it. As the rock got destroyed, a powerful knee blow met up with Sasshi’s face and blasted her into another rock. Sasshi groaned and looked up to notice Umeda dusting off her hands. “We meet again.. Sasshi.”

“Tch-” Sasshi stood up and wiped the blood off her face.

“Lovetan...” Umeda grinned. “I see you have come home to pay me a visit..”

“I didn’t come here to visit you! We’re here to kill you!” Lovetan screamed back at Umeda for the first time in her life.

Umeda lost her smile immediately. With the blink of an eye, Lovetan got blasted away with a kick into a nearby rock. “You have no respect for me.. I don’t need anyone like you living in this world.”

“Lovetan!” Sasshi screamed and glared back at Umeda.

“I’ll take care of you later, Lovetan... As for now...” Umeda’s eyes shifted towards Sasshi. “Let’s continue where we left off the other day shall we?”

Umeda took off her jacket and tied it around her waist. She was wearing a singlet inside, revealing her bare arms and shoulder. She then grabbed onto her right shoulder. “Do you remember this scar you gave me? I kept it with me as a memory of fighting you. You’re basically one of the strongest opponent I faced.”

“I will be the one to beat you up this time.. And I will make you pay back for what you did to Lovetan.....with your life!” Sasshi cracked her fingers. 

“As I said to you before this.. The next time we meet, I will not show you any mercy. So, I will fight with my full power from the beginning till the end.. No holding back.” A black energy surrounded Umeda and her eyes started glowing in red. “You will be the first to die by my full power. You should be honored.”

The black energy blasted from Umeda’s body. Sasshi stomped the ground hard to prevent herself from getting blasted away by the evil energy exerted by Umeda.

Sasshi grinned. “Sorry to tell you this, Umeda... But, you’re not the only one who will be fighting with full power.” Sasshi’s eyes glowed in green. Her whole body was engulfed in a green aura, but this time the aura felt different. It felt evil. Very evil.

Sasshi screamed and punched both her fists into the ground. Green lights blasted from the ground as skeletons started crawling out of the ground and climbed onto Sasshi. More and more. After the green lights were gone, Sasshi inhaled and released her breath slowly. It was green in colour as well. Even the inside of was glowing in green. She looked nothing like a human now. She looked more like a monster. A skeleton monster. At least twice of Umeda’s size.

“You’ll be the first to die by my true form. You should be honored.” Sasshi copied Umeda’s statement. Even her voice changed. It wasn’t her usual goofy kind of voice but instead, it sounded very demonic.

“I never knew the Zombie Lord’s true form would look like a demon.. That’s good.. This will be like a demon’s fight.” Umeda grinned. “Are you ready to get pummeled?”

Sasshi let out a loud demonic roar at Umeda.

Umeda laughed excitedly. “Excellent! Now let the game begin!!” 

Gakuran looked left to notice an icy cold area. Her right side on the other hand, reveals a volcanic area. That was when she heard someone calling out to her. “Gakuran! Over here!”

Gakuran rushed towards the owner of the voice. It was Chokoku. “Seems like everyone got away and got separated.”

“Yea I can see that... But somehow we ended up together... Talk about fate, huh..” Gakuran smiled.

“Definitely fate..” Chokoku smiled back and looked around. “Hmm.. For some reason, this place has an extreme hot and an extreme cold area combined into one...”

“That’s because this is our area..” Two voices echoed around the place simultaneously.

“Who’re you?” Gakuran asked.

“Who’re we? More like who’re you? You’re in our place and you dare ask us who’re we?” One of the girl asked.

“It’s not like the both of you will live to remember our names though..” The other girl sounded.

The two girls said simultaneously. “Welcome to our territory, the hall of ice and flame.”

“Those must be the assistants Lovetan described to us, Kanon and Yuria.” Gakuran said.

“Lovetan? Tsk tsk tsk... And I thought she was taken as a hostage.. In the end she was nothing but a betrayer.” Yuria scoffed.

“This might not end up well.. I was supposed to face Kumi instead.” Chokoku said.

“You were supposed to face Kumi-sama? Oh, I don’t think so.. Kumi-sama has found a better prey than you.” Kanon grinned.

“It’s a pity that girl has to face Kumi-sama...twice...” Yuria smiled.

Gakuran was shocked. “Twice? You don’t mean the one facing Kumi...”

“Exactly...”

“This is bad. We have to end this fight fast..” Chokoku got into her battle pose followed by Gakuran.

The blizzard at Yuria’s side got much stronger. “You’re in our territory now.. Don’t think you can win us so easily..” Yuria’s body is now covered with ice.

Volcanos from Kanon’s side erupted as Kanon engulfed her whole body in flames. “We were born killers..”

Yuki looked around her. The whole area was completely pitch black. A faint laughter in a distance, gaining her attention. A voice then echoed. “Can’t see?”

“Where are you!? Come out!” Yuki screamed.

“Pity...” The voice got closer and closer.

“What are you saying? Come out! I’ll beat you up again and again!” Yuki screamed again.

“Some people just never learn from their mistakes...”

Then Yuki frowned. Something doesn’t seem right. Footsteps were heard walking towards her. Yuki felt a gust of wind blew towards her and then the footsteps were not heard anymore. Just the ringing sound in Yuki’s ears now. The truth is, Yuki is in Kumi’s room. Right when Yuki appeared in Kumi’s room, her eyesight was immediately silenced, giving Yuki the impression that she arrived in a completely pitch black room.

Yuki remained standing there with her head facing down. Kumi’s hand reached out to Yuki’s forehead. Nearer. And nearer. “This is going to end fast.”

As Kumi her hand further, Yuki popped her head to the side in an instant, causing Kumi to miss her target before delivering a successful high speed kick of surprise right into Kumi’s stomach. She was sent flying towards the wall. Kumi coughed out blood from that impact.

“If you think I never learnt anything from our previous battle, you’re wrong.” Yuki looked at Kumi.

Something grabbed Kumi’s attention on Yuki’s left arm. There were bloods dripping from her fingers. That was when Kumi noticed that two of Yuki’s fingers were crooked. Yuki broke both her fingers to cancel off Kumi’s powers at that point.

Kumi stood up and wiped the blood off her face. “Impressive..”

Yuki slammed her right fist into her left palm. “We’re going to save Jurina-sama.”

Kumi grinned. “You can die trying.”

Rena slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Before she noticed, she got blasted away by some sort of a force gun. Rena groaned and looked up. There stood a girl with her palm facing Rena. “I will not let you get anywhere near Center...”

“You... You’re the one who kissed Jurina on the cheek... What’s your relationship with her!?” Rena raised her voice.

“I was close to her father.” Annin snickered. “Do you even know her father? Have you even met him before? More importantly.... Do you even know his name? You don’t.” Annin shot her barrier towards Rena. Noticing this, Rena dodged to the side and watched the walls got crushed by the force field.

“Then you can go date Jurina’s father instead. The one I love is Jurina.. Not her father.” Rena took out her sword.

“As I said... I will not let you get past this room!” Annin released her barrier force and pushed Rena further back. As Rena managed to put up her sword to defend on time, she wasn’t hurt much.

“I will not let you stop me from getting to Jurina! I have to meet her!” Rena insisted.

“You’re not getting anyone back! Center do not belong to you! If you still insist on going on... I will not hesitate to kill you...”

“Neither does she belongs to you. She belongs to where ever she wants to be! But definitely not in this place! I know it! She must have some reasons for doing this.” Rena argued.

Annin swinged her hand to the side. “That’s bull! Center wants to be here!”

“You’re the one that is bullting! I will not allow you to keep Jurina here forever! She wants to see me! I know it!”

“Shut up! Shut up!!” Annin shot her barriers towards Rena again. Rena raised her sword to defend against it again.

“I have known Jurina probably longer than you did.. We spent a lot of time together and been through a lot of hardships together. I know her well. I will not let you take her away from me! I will get to Jurina!”

A purple energy blasted out from Annin’s body. “Over my dead body!”




Chapter 27 - Invading the Castle
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