Tsukune awoke to the light of the grey morning upon his closed eyelids, and the first thing he knew of as wakefulness exerted itself upon him was the warm body curled up next to him in the bed. For a moment, he wondered where he was, but then the little…'adventure' from last night came crashing into his brain, and he could suddenly explain to himself why his lower-left abdominal region felt like it had been pulverised with a croquet mallet wielded by Kokoa. Unfortunately, he could not remember much after arriving in Mizore's room, his wound refusing to regenerate having caused him to black out a few times from loss of blood and thus causing his memories of the event to become faded, dreamlike, and sometimes quite contradictory; but as he came to, he realised what that strange aftertaste in his mouth was-

-Mizore's blood. And from the sheer strength of the aftertaste, a lot of it.

"So, where did your precious mission take you that you return to me in the state you did last night?" Mizore asked conversationally, but Tsukune knew better. He knew that once the horror passed, the anger would be left to him to defuse-and he knew from the myriad little tells she had just exhibited in both her tone and her body language, she was fuming, and it would take a lot of make-up sex to make up for no doubt terrifying her the previous night. Still, until that time, he would tell her the truth.

"I was trying to get the lay of the land-put in a network of escape routes," Tsukune explained. "And apparently I didn't suppress my yoki quickly enough, because no sooner was I halfway finished with the top floor of the main building than the Chairman shows up."

"You didn't…" Mizore hissed. Tsukune flinched-an angered Mizore was a very dangerous person to be in a bed with, even armoured as he was. Speaking of which…there. The armour, the very thing that might have protected him from Mizore's rage, was gone.

"Okay, I admit, I punched a bit above my weight class with him, but…"

"You. Went to fight one of the Three Dark Lords. On your own," Mizore bit out.

"Well, to be fair, the vast majority of his strength was sealed behind three layers of Holy Locks, so I assumed he wouldn't present an insurmountable challenge." Tsukune tried not to gulp as he felt Mizore's eyes almost begin to bore through him. It was ridiculous-his master and Akua-nee both were professional killers, and yet it was the piercing stare of his fifteen-year-old lover that made him genuinely afraid. "And besides, I only got injured because I miscalculated. I hesitated. I underestimated the length of his strides. One of those. Not because he's indestructible in the slightest."

Mizore stared at him for a few moments, then rolled atop him, her backside situated firmly on his hips, and pinned him. She looked him in the eyes, deathly serious. "Aono Tsukune, do not ever do something like this again, or I swear, I will make you pay, even if I wind up having to bring you back from the dead to exact my revenge. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Mizore-sama," he breathed.

"You're damn right," she said as her face bloomed into a hungry, predatory grin.

Luckily, homeroom was a veritable maelstrom of activity, what with the Chairman having been crippled in the middle of the night, and so they were able to slip in half an hour late without anyone noticing Tsukune's limp, or the fact that Mizore's puncture marks seemed very obviously fresh-that is, anyone whose name was not Akashiya Moka.

How brazen are they to come walking in here this late and still smelling of sex?! her inner self raged. Outer Moka had very little opinion on the matter-she only cared that Tsukune was the first at Yokai Academy to show her genuine kindness, and that when Tsukune was with Mizore, he seemed content, even happy. The fact that her inner self was nursing a serious case of jealousy over the fact that Mizore got to have Tsukune all to herself really wasn't her problem, as callous as that might sound. Inner Moka was prideful, cruel, arrogant and possessive-four things noticeably absent from her counterpart.

Though in many ways, Inner Moka was the more experienced of the two-more jaded, more focused, more coordinated-in just as many ways, she was only a spoiled child who wanted what someone else had and wanted it right then and there, with no regard for the needs or happiness for anyone else. Only her own-and occasionally her outer counterpart's-satisfaction in any way figured into her decision-making process at all. She was selfish, standoffish and abrasive, with no regard for anyone but herself-and this was, at least in part, because such qualities were prized highly in vampire society, and in many ways, her unbearable level of self-obsession was ideal for that kind of social contract. Inner Moka was thus considered 'strong' and Outer Moka considered 'weak.'

Outer Moka, however, knew the truth. Inner Moka was strong-she was assertive, charismatic and confident-but it was the strength of iron, brittle and easily broken.

Outer Moka may have been more outwardly childish than her inner counterpart, but she was adaptable and frightfully perceptive, and that was what they needed right now-to stay under the radar and avoid making enemies, not to make a number of them through her inner self's borderline-narcissistic insistence that it be her way or no way at all. And so Outer Moka remained quiet even as her inner self raged at her to let her out.

Nekonome-sensei soon brought the class to order and began to call roll, and Moka sat back into her chair to suffer through another day at war with the desires of her more insistent other half.

Believe it or not, Alucard had been having a relatively pleasant day before his heir called. He had taken a holiday from his duties at Fairy Tale and was enjoying sitting on the deck of the cruiseliner he had booked his vacation on, even if the wine was absolute swill. The briny air of the sea and the waves crashing against the sides of the ship lulled him into a rare sense of peace. That peace was rudely interrupted when Alucard sensed his heir's astral projection out of the corner of his mind's eye. What is it, kid? Alucard asked in a casual, calm tone of thought, though he bit back a sigh at the loss of the moment.

So, I kinda went and found out why your enemies are called the 'Three Dark Lords,' Tsukune sent.

In other words, you got overconfident and let Mikogami get the better of you? Alucard asked, sighing aloud. I thought this might happen. Don't sweat the fact that the old bastard refused to die. Your survival against him is a wonderful indicator of your own competence and general usefulness. Then Alucard thought for a moment. Wait, just what were you doing such that you ran afoul of Mikogami? The man's become a veritable pacifist from what I've heard.

I…may have set out an escape route…or seventy-six…

Alucard pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned aloud. Tsukune, are you trying to open a path to the Realm of Chaos? Do you have any idea of how much damage you could do by letting even a single wave of chaotic energy slip through?!

Don't worry. I can absorb it, Tsukune thought back.

Alucard thought of the massive black monstrosity of a creature sitting in the depths of Castlevania. You will do no such thing! Alucard snapped. I will not lose you to the politicking of the Lords of the Higher Worlds! Alucard took a deep breath, and considered that perhaps moments like this were the cause of his sudden quest for solace at the bottom of a bottle. I see you don't have any idea of how dangerous and reckless this is. Tell me, kid, how much do you remember about reactions on a subatomic scale-specifically the difference between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission?

What, in that both release energy, but you get more from making bonds instead of breaking them? Tsukune asked, somewhat confused as to where Alucard was going with this. Alucard rolled his eyes and mirthlessly chuckled. All the training in the world could not change the fact that his heir was only fifteen years old.

Very good. Now, imagine you could split concepts-split space itself-and that it works in relatively the same way. What would be the corollary? Alucard guided him patiently.

The corollary would be that splitting them would release a sizeable amount of energy, but what…

The Realm of Chaos and the Prime Material Plane. Do you know what humans call that fission? Alucard mentally bit off before Tsukune could go further down that track. They call it 'the Big Bang.' Now, consider that the Big Bang is an instance of conceptual fission, and what do you get?

...Oh… thought Tsukune.

Yes. Every time you inscribed that sigil onto a wall, you provided an anchor for a portal to the Realm of Chaos. And if there are enough portals to the Realm of Chaos, especially in a dimensionally-ensconced area such as Yokai Academy, there is a high chance that something will serve as a catalyst to create an instance of conceptual fusion. The release of energy and the destruction of subspace would be catastrophic. And no, you can't get rid of them; that will destabilise the entire array. Just…don't make more of them. For all our sakes.

Yes, Master, Tsukune replied.

Mercifully, the transmission ended there. Alucard stood from his seat and went to see if the cruise-liner's bar had anything stronger than the wine. He felt as though he was going to need it, and soon.

Tsukune winced as he poked at the patch of his abdomen where his wound would have been. Newly-regenerated tissue was always strangely sore, like it hadn't fully fallen in with his body's natural rhythm quite yet. The fact that Mizore had said very little to him that day told him that she still wasn't happy with him over the previous night's…misadventure, and so, deciding discretion to be the better part of valour, he had quickly swiped his effects from her room and brought them into his own. He was engaged in the process of equipment maintenance-a vital step for any assassin or otherwise covert operative-when he perceived of Akua's astral projection in the corner of his room.

Konbanwa, Onee-sama, thought Tsukune. I assume you're here for something?

You look like shit, ototo, she said bluntly.

Take a punch from one of the Three Dark Lords at point-blank range and then say that to me, Tsukune thought with a scoff.

Remind me to tell you about my last battle with Toho Fuhai, thought Akua with a smirk. Anyway, there's a matter that's just popped up. The First Subdivision-that's you and me-have been assigned to deal with it. I'll fill you in on the way.

Who's the handler for this op? Tsukune asked, his mind shifting fully into professional mode. Shisho?

Dame, Akua replied. I am. You're the only field operative we're deploying on this. Grandfather thinks it's something that Gyokuro wants to be kept hush-hush. You'll understand when I explain the op, don't worry.

No pressure, Tsukune joked bitterly. My girlfriend's gonna kill me…

You let me handle Shirayuki-san. Just keep your mind focused on this. If Gyokuro wants this buried the way Grandfather thinks she does, it's bound to be something big.

Understood, said Tsukune as he imagined a carapace of steel encasing his body. He donned his harness and utility belt, his leather coat and his mask. He then walked into the corner of his room that he kept shrouded in shadow, and then stepped out of the shadows at the edge of campus-specifically, a cliff. He dove from the cliff, and then unfurled his wings, letting them gain air and glide before flapping them with powerful strokes as he travelled.

Okay, I'm en route. Fill me in, mission control, Tsukune thought to his surrogate sister.

The target is a Fairy Tale facility. Fronts as a pharmaceutical company. The lab is based in Northern Kanto. I'll give you the coordinates in a minute.

What happened?

No idea. Orders are to purge the place, and then torch it. Queen Bitch wants nothing left, not even ashes.

Acknowledged. Tsukune hated missions like this one-they made him feel like nothing but an attack dog for the organisation he had worked for for half his life. It wasn't a good feeling. But he was a good soldier, and even if he didn't trust Gyokuro-the 'Queen Bitch', as it were-he trusted his master implicitly.

He found himself in the vicinity very quickly, and began to look around for tunnels through which he might reach the AO. Akua guided him to one, and he masked his yoki as soon as he came out the other side-on a deserted road in the middle of rural Japan. He homed in on the facility and plotted his trajectory for entry-labs, and Fairy Tale labs especially, were more often than not sealed to prevent outside intrusion. The only way around this, in Tsukune's experience, was to enter through the roof. And so he gained altitude, only to then fold his wings and plummet down through the skylights.

The first thing Tsukune did as he came in for a landing was engage his third eye, which was fortuitous, because the instant he hit the ground, several somethings leapt out of the darkness and attacked him.

Tsukune found himself hard-pressed to analyse the monsters' anatomy-psychological profiling was much quicker to give him results, those results being that the creatures were absolutely feral. There was one that might well have been a dog at some point, and he sensed very different biologies belonging to many different creatures within the lab.

He used his kunai and his martial arts training to keep them off of him as he analysed them, searching for a weak spot. The creatures were…marred somehow-violated and made mockeries of in the purest, most literal possible sense. He could feel the wrongness of their ki, like it was being tainted, twisted and warped to create some unholy Lovecraftian abomination.

It wasn't long before Tsukune noted that, to his very perplexed alarm, his kunai weren't having much of an effect; given that he had brought his alchemical silver kunai, which was supposed to negate the regenerative ability of most all yokai, it was quite alarmingly strange that these mindless, slavering creatures seemed able to shrug off his-very expensive-weapons. Cursing himself for not bringing the silver-edged lines, though the longer he fought, the more he was certain that wasn't going to help, Tsukune quickly thought to change tactics-though, to be perfectly candid, the decision was more to do with the fact that one of the dog-like creatures had leapt up and secured itself around his forearm. In any case, the dog-creature found itself ablaze with bright, electric-blue flames. With an unearthly whimper, which had more in common with iron nails scraping a chalkboard than an actual animalistic sound of pain or terror, the creature found that its immunity to the metals that would normally incapacitate its ilk did not extend to fire-or, at the very least, to magic. Tsukune could only hope that was a weakness inherent to all the monsters that seemed to have overrun the facility.

Moments later, Tsukune found himself amidst a room filled with bright blue fire, which had caused the monsters-whatever they were-to flee as they realised that the magical fire could in fact hurt them. The fuck were they researching here?! Tsukune exclaimed through his link to Akua. Only thing they seem vulnerable to is magic! That presupposes an A ranking, at least!

It doesn't matter. Just get in, raze the place and kill every mutated dog that stands in your way.

Bull. You can't be any more in the know about this than I am! Tsukune sent back as he leapt to avoid a sudden rush of tentacles headed straight for him.

That's irrelevant!

Irrelevant my ass!

Akua sighed, and Tsukune was summarily informed for the second time that day that it was possible to sigh when communicating telepathically. You know what? Fine. Cleared it with Grandfather. Just swipe as much in the way of data as you can, and get out of there alive, you hear me?

Loud and clear, mission control, Tsukune thought back as a tentacle shot past him, which he grabbed with hands ablaze with wytchfyre. And be sure to thank Shisho for me. With that, he allowed the wytchfyre to spread and consume the strange, many-eyed and many-limbed lump of flesh that seemed vaguely similar to a kitsune-from a tertiary perspective, of course. The thing shrieked its soul-wrenching agony at such a high and unnatural frequency that hearing it was causing Tsukune actual psychic pain. He put it into a box in the back of his mind as he started throwing wytchfyre at will, the soul-consuming flames making quick work of many of the loathsome creatures, as Tsukune made his way into the laboratory proper.

Making his way to the nearest computer, he palmed one of his special flash drives and inserted it into the computer, recognising his access credentials as identical to those of Shuzen Gyokuro-cyber warfare was one of his master's later lessons, and no one, save the mysterious Masked King, had higher administrator access than the Queen Bitch herself. He skimmed some of the data that streamed past the screen at an amazing rate as the entirety of the archived files on the lab's computer database downloaded themselves onto his flash drive, and the keywords that he kept seeing were enough for him to get curious-but it wasn't that good kind of curious; it was that sick to your stomach feeling of foreboding curiosity. As he paid attention, over and over again it mentioned 'mutagen,' 'Alucard cells,' and 'test subjects.' This was enough to set off an instantaneous red flag in Tsukune's head, and suddenly, he had a good idea of what happened in this lab.

Mission control-what is 'Alucard'? Tsukune asked with a growing feeling of dread as he walked amongst the shards of broken glass that seemed to have exploded from large, cylindrical tanks.

The response seemed to come after a period of hesitation. ...Why?

Because if I'm right-and it seems like I am-this lab was meant to explore how so-called 'Alucard cells' would interact with preexisting, well-documented physiologies, Tsukune sent back as the data transfer completed, and he walked to eject his flash drive and leave. He snapped his fingers, and behind him the lab's oxygen condensed and then ignited with explosive force. Summoning his wings, he crouched and leapt with a powerful downstroke of his wings, and then, as a finishing touch, he threw a ball of blue fire large enough to cause the rest of the lab to be engulfed in unquenchable magical flames.

It was in the wee hours of the morning in which Tsukune returned to Yokai Academy, exhausted, as flying for long distances tended to do. He thought about going to Mizore's room and slaking his thirst for blood, given the high amount of calories flight burned, but decided against it, believing that despite Akua's assurances to the contrary, his girlfriend would be absolutely livid that he had gone on a mission without explaining to her in person why he had to cancel. Thus, he decided he would go over some of the more troubling files on his flash drive.

Pulling his laptop from the extradimensional briefcase, he started it up and waited for the OS to finish loading. Once that was finished, he inserted the flash drive into the USB port and waited for the computer to decrypt all the files, confidential or not, on the drive. Once that was done, he began pulling the database apart. Everything was there: experiment notes, chemical compounds, DNA structures-everything that one would imagine a top-secret research branch to possess, all laid out.

All the same, there was something missing. Even though the notes referred to 'Alucard cells' more than once, sometimes several times in the same paragraphs, there were no notes on the acquisition of the experimental resource. All that Tsukune could gather from the smorgasbord of data laid out in front of him was that these so-called 'Alucard cells' were highly, highly mutagenic, and so it seemed as though his initial evaluation was correct. He had been facing down the results of the experiments the scientists were running on the strange cells, and the closest he could come to a conclusion was that these scientists were, for some reason, studying the 'Alucard cells' for the Queen Bitch herself. And given the intent behind some of the more casual notes, they perceived the introduction of Alucard cells as 'augmentation', making Tsukune think immediately of super-soldiers-and monstrous as the initial results were, the test subjects were, in fact, both faster and more durable than their constituent races would suggest, so in a sense, Tsukune was forced to acknowledge that the results, while horrifying, were also quite promising, in a sick, twisted sort of way. At any rate, he had to admit that were he in the Queen Bitch's place, he might well authorise more in-depth study on the strange tissues that had turned yokai into abominations. In fact, the facility was only considered a failure because the containment procedures were not thorough enough-he could gauge that by the protocols and the layout of the lab.

And yet, nothing on the flash drive gave him so much as an inkling of just what Alucard cells were.

Groaning in frustration for the nth time after the nth consecutive failure to find a note that defined 'Alucard cells', Tsukune decided it to be time to face the music, as it were-because somehow, that single mission had warped his mind to the point where ceasing to avoid a quite likely furious Mizore seemed to be the lesser of the two major current stressors in his life. The fact that he hadn't thought his decision through thoroughly enough became immediately apparent when he shadow-shifted into Mizore's dorm. Immediately when he did so he was hit with a massive splitting headache, only to then realise that every surface was covered in ice, every piece of furniture torn to its constituent parts, several of which bearing the tell-tale sign of a Jigen-to. Damn it, Akua! When you said you'd handle it, I didn't expect to return to a war zone! he thought to himself as he made the adequate adjustments to the lowered temperature and relative ruination of the room.

If Mizore were human, it would be child's play to locate her through thermal imaging of the room. However, given that she was a yuki-onna, that option was quite effectively off of the table, and so he merely blocked out all other sounds save her heartbeat. That, at the very least, she could not willfully hide from him. However, the act of doing so put him ill at ease-tracking prey by their heartbeat was much more his master's modus operandi than his own, after all, and he always thought it was a bit stalker-y, and not in a good way. Nevertheless, he needed to find Mizore, if only to make sure she wasn't dead. Akua was not known for showing mercy.

Eventually, he found her, prone on the floor and unconscious. The fact that her heartbeat upon closer examination was as steady as it seemed from a distance told him that the damage done to her may well have been superficial-save for the blow that knocked her out, that was.

Sighing his resignation to the fact that all of Akua's methods did contain at least a smattering of violence of some degree of brutality, he sat down on the cold floor and brought Mizore's head into his lap, content to wait until she awoke so that they could discuss what had happened. While he did this, he contemplated beginning a high-stakes poker game against himself before eschewing the idea as being ridiculous and unfeasible-ditto on chess-and so he set a mental set of fifty-two playing cards and began playing a game of blackjack with himself, as blackjack only required one set of facts to be present, and an element of randomness that he found easy to replicate by using part of his mind to continue generating random numbers.

By the time Mizore's eyes opened to gaze upon his face looking down at her, he had won four games, lost sixteen-it seemed the house did always win-and long since turned to card-counting as an exercise in mathematics while playing a mental game of mahjong. Not that he was a Sinophile or anything-he just liked the game for its simplicity. "T...Tsukune?" Mizore asked quietly.

"Yes, Mizore-ai?" Tsukune replied, tabling his mahjong game but keeping the counting of cards going in the back of his head.

"You're here… You're alright…"

"Yes, that I am," he replied.

"She said you would be, but I didn't believe her…"

"Well, now you know what happens when somebody openly doubts anything Akua says. She automatically assumes you're accusing her of lying and summarily takes it as an insult, and she punishes insults with extreme prejudice," Tsukune explained with a mirthless little laugh that told her he was speaking from experience. And now, having experienced Shuzen Akua's rage as she had, she could do the same.

"I was so frightened for you…" Mizore said somewhat defensively.

"Mizore, my father told me something a long time ago: I was created to be the perfect vampire, and I carry that title for a reason. I can take care of myself," Tsukune said, and then laughed as he comprehended the enormous irony of the situation at hand. "So please, don't worry about me." He brought her up to the level at which he could embrace her properly, and then continued. "Mizore-chan, no matter what happens to me, I will always return to you. Okay?"

She nodded mutely.

"Good," concluded Tsukune as he slowly helped Mizore up to a seated position, and then, after standing himself, he helped her the rest of the way onto her feet. "Now, let's get this dorm room back together. I'd imagine we have our work cut out for us, but with a lot of lubricant and a little effort, all things are possible."

"Like anal sex?" Mizore deadpanned.

Tsukune sighed, placing his face in his hands. "Yes, Mizore, like anal sex," he replied. "Walked straight into that one, I suppose…"