Reform

Chapter 21: A Price for Disaster

     Tatsuya stood there looking for Aloysius. Meanwhile, Mirai is attempting to keep as quiet as possible. Aloysius started to have two minds of thought. He either accepts his fate and be pathetic... again or, he goes down while fighting. Aloysius knows he cannot even graze Tatsuya. Being repetitive is often dull, even for Aloysius. Thus, Aloysius chose the second choice. He began to walk towards Tatsuya as Mirai looked without a single feeling of care.
    "I feel so tired but, why are you very insistent on finding me?" Aloysius asked.
    "That I cannot disclose," Tatsuya responded.
"And, it seems that your friend is not here to disrupt."
    "I don't really care," Aloysius said.
    "Come closer; I prefer to fight in open space," Tatsuya said.
    "Whatever you say, just don't get a headstart," Aloysius said as he walked to Tatsuya.
    "You sure about this?" Natuso asked.
    "I don't care anymore. I just want to go home," Aloysius said with a trembling voice. That apparently shut Natuso up.
"I want to go anywhere but here..." Aloysius thought.
   
    Aloysius reached where Tatsuya was at the broken wall. Unsurprisingly, Tatsuya grabbed Aloysius by his shirt and smashed him to the ground. The snow made his body frozen and, the rocks felt like they pierced his back. Aloysius grabbed Tatsuya's wrist because that was the only thing he could do. Tatsuya's mantra enchantments were withdrawn for now. Tatsuya lifted up Aloysius and punched him in the chest. Aloysius went flying and crashed on the ground near the edge of the cliff. Alas, Tatsuya summoned his mantra enchantments. All Tatsuya had to do was flick his finger on Aloysius and, he crashed into the rocks to his left. Tatsuya did not want Aloysius to die so swiftly. Tatsuya walked to Aloysius, who was injured, from top to bottom. Possible concussions, broken bones, sprained and torn muscles could have occurred. As Tatsuya was about to put a hole in Aloysius's chest, someone stopped him. To his left was Mirai with her wand in hand. She was preventing Tatsuya from finishing Aloysius.
    "Oi, what are you doing?!" Yui exclaimed to Mirai.
    "I am trying to do something good for once," Mirai thought.
    "But why him?! Who knows what he will do," Yui responded.
    "I had it with you controlling my decisions, Yui. I'm tired of you always being afraid of this unknown person. You have to move on, or else I'll do it myself," Mirai said to Yui.
    "It's good to see an old friend," Akio said.
    "The one who is stopping me?" Tatsuya questioned.
    "Yes, she was always so peppy. I miss her; I wish it hadn't happened that day. If I knew it would, one more day would not hurt," Akio responded.
Aloysius struggled to get up. It was freezing and, he was in pain as well. Two of the worst factors combined together to give him something more than a migraine. Natuso appeared and, this time, he seemed like he was actually going to help for once.
    "Aloysius, I can help but, here's the thing, I need to sell something that's a part of you," Natuso said urgently.
    "What part of me?" Aloysius grunted.
    "A mental part."
    "I don't care, just do it; I'm already losing so much," Aloysius winced.

    Natuso's grimoire form started to glow as an unknown sound began to reach past 20000 Hz. Aloysius started to feel something being torn away. He felt something that he didn't feel before. Natuso commenced changing his form from a book to something else. He started to appear more... human. Aloysius could only stare at Natuso's changing form due to him being in such pain. The moment Tatsuya broke free from Mirai's magic, Natuso's changing process was finished. Tatsuya drove his mantra enchanted fist towards Natuso, only to be blocked by some sort of magic spell. The snow dust cleared and revealed what Natuso looked like. He was tall enough to reach Aloysius's chin, and his skin was like Mirai's skin tone but paler. Nature's hair was a mix of white and blue hues. He dawned an old white shirt with old jeans. Natuso had a brown satchel as well. Tatsuya kept trying to land a hit on Natuso but, every attempt was blocked by a magic spell.
    "Hey, Aloysius! You better hide somewhere before I give in," Natuso warned.
   
    Aloysius winced before he could say something. Mirai cautiously ran to Aloysius and dragged him back into the building. At that exact same moment, Natuso got struck back when his spell finally fell. Tatsuya drove his fist in Natuso's direction again. Natuso summoned a magic spell and split it into two on both of his hands. From Aloysius's perspective, it seemed that it was a defense spell or something like that. Tatsuya hit Natuso and had the same result again. Natuso got up cautiously and summoned a new spell on his hands. There was no magic circle but, his hands were spiking with white energy. Natuso charged at Tatsuya this time and, the most extraordinary phenomena occurred. The mantra enchantments on Tatsuya's hands cracked and disappeared.
    "Hey! What did he do?!" Akio asked in an alarming voice.
    "What do you think? This guy has some nullifying magic, just like Lucas," Tatsuya thought.
"But this type of null spell is more powerful... more potent."
"I can't even regenerate my mantra boosts. Crap, this guy is more dangerous than I thought. Akio, I might have to resort to that mantra boost. It might be the only way to even land a hit," Tatsuya thought.
    "Go ahead, as long as it gives us a chance in winning this fight," Akio said.

    Tatsuya began to concentrate an orange-colored energy into his wrists. A new type of mantra enchantments appeared and, they glowed in a red-orange color. Natuso easily nulled them again with his magic. That was what Tatsuya wanted and subtly tripped Natuso and kicked him to the side. Aloysius had an urge to go help Natuso but, Mirai held him back. And, as if another disaster could happen, a loud noise was heard from outside. Someone else was going to land soon and, Natuso motioned to Aloysius: Get out of here before you die. Aloysius understood some of the things Natuso was trying to tell him. Mirai soon began to drag Aloysius back into the hallway of dorms. While Aloysius was being pulled away, Lucas landed in front of Tatsuya.
    "Long time no see, Tatsuya," Lucas greeted Tatsuya. He had his hoodie up with a gun in his right hand.
    "Why come all the way here?" Tatsuya asked while summoning his regular mantra enchantment.
    "Can't have you killing and causing more disturbance," Lucas said as he loaded his gun with what seemed like bullets made of magic.

    Lucas fired first at Tatsuya, aiming for his forehead. Tatsuya deflected it with ease. Tatsuya thrust his fist into Lucas's direction but, Lucas blocked it with his gun. He knows that if he lets a hit land on him, he is dead. Lucas made Tatsuya's hand twist in a weird direction and shot twice at Tatsuya's chest, creating a wound. You could see the blood coming out from his stained shirt. They both ignored Natuso, who got up and quietly followed Aloysius. In Aloysius's dorm, Mirai and Natuso were guarding the door as Aloysius laid on his bed.
    "You couldn't have done that before?" Aloysius asked weakly.
    "I could have but, I simply chose not to," Natuso said with a smile.
    "Cheeky bastard," Aloysius chuckled.
    "Isn't that weird?" Mirai asked.
    "What's weird?" Aloysius replied.
    "Aren't you gloomy, quiet, or just outright crying all the time? You're genuinely laughing," Mirai noted.
    "How would you know? Unless you paid more attention to him than others would," Natuso laughed.
    "Quit joking around and be serious for once. What part of Aloysius did you sell?" Mirai asked. Natuso's smile disappeared as a long silence ensued.
"What did you sell?" Mirai repeated.
"Please, Natuso, what did you sell?"
    "I sold his depression," Natuso said suddenly.
    "And, why was that a good idea for you?" Mirai asked.
    "It was the most potent emotion so, there was no other choice unless you want to see a half of Aloysius and not the other," Natuso rolled his eyes.
    "Well, if I may, that was a great choice," Aloysius expressed.
"I feel wonderful, I feel free."
    "No problem," Natuso smirked.

    Aloysius sat up as his body ached all over. His spine was not broken but, his back was bleeding all over. There are a lot of bruises on his chest and wounds. His body was beginning to recover but, he would still be extremely sore and his body would have big and small scabs all over. Crashes and booms could still be heard in the background but, it seems that Natuso knew what he was doing. That was until someone came crashing through the door. Lucas was there lying on the floor trying to get up. Natuso activated one of his spells in his hands. Mirai ducked with Aloysius under the bed. Lucas eventually got up as Tatsuya arrived with orange-colored mantra enchantments. Lucas ran at him while firing his guns. Natuso rebuilt the door (somehow) and signaled for Mirai and Aloysius to come out of hiding. Aloysius slowly sat on his chair this time.
    "Why don't we just sleep through this?" Natuso offered.
"Mirai, you sleep on the chair and Aloysius sleeps on the bed."
    "What about you?" Aloysius asked.
    "I can just recreate myself into a grimoire again and vice-versa," Natuso answered.
    "Ok, and what about that satchel that you're wearing?" Aloysius pointed.
    "I don't know, I never looked inside of it," Natuso said as he opened it.
"All I see is a note."

    To: Natus Ex Uno
    From: *o** AKA **** C***x

    Natus Ex Uno, the new grimoire, with such knowledge and power. I already know what you did once you have seen this note. Take care of your new wielder. Guide him as you bear ten times more the knowledge and power than I did. Be careful...

    "What does the note say?" Aloysius asked.
    "Nothing, it says nothing," Natuso lied.

    After their nighttime sleep, everyone woke up and went to the cafeteria. Instead of seeing breakfast and smelling bacon, they saw destruction and smelled blood. Darren and Kieran were a part of the crowd that saw the scene. Blood could be smelled and seen all over the place. There was that same hole in the wall with blood mixed with the snow. Everything was blood and destroyed. Just blood and destruction...