"Neo Negima"

"Dancing On The Void"

By Sweet Heavens

Chapter 1: The Start Of All My Troubles

Disclaimer: If I freaking owned Negima I would also have created Love Hina and if that were the case Mutsumi would have been with Keitaro. I may be a masochist but come on! At least Mutsumi was gorgeous!

Member of "Otaku Town"

XreviewX

Library Island. It was known as the land of books, the greatest concentration of wisdom, literature and knowledge in the whole of the Mundus Vetes or the old world. Whatever your personal preference many considered it the home of the fruits of humanity. Greek philosophy in their original papyrus, Roman scrolls… Almost every book or anything of importance at any one time that had ever been written down was here and likely a first edition. Some would tell you that if the book on the shelf was not an original print then the print was gone from this world forever.

It was beautiful at night. The streetlights from the surrounding main land glittered off the manmade lake merged in harmony with their old style streetlamps counterparts that were peppered around the old fashioned island making the small piece of land a sight to behold from any angle but especially from the air where several specially made observation towers for the tourists gave off some amazing views to enjoy.

A man in a black wetsuit and hauling a waterproof bag raced up the darkened dockside like some timorous mouse and carefully searched with a pocket light for the access route that would give him entrance inside the mighty institute of collective knowledge on the slimy moss sodden sea wall. What he was searching for so intently was nothing more than a seemingly normal circular access tunnel the Mahora magi used for maintenance of the GLCS system, (Global Linking Computer System) an advanced artificial intelligence two hundred years ahead of the nearest mundane effort that ran the Japanese supercomputer network concerning the powers that be of the magi world that controlled and oversaw the magical activities in this world. There was a secondary system but for some odd reason the Shinmei-ryu objected to two such systems being on the same island so the other was built on an underwater naval base facility near Okinawa.

According to the plans the man in the wetsuit had paid big money for the tunnels went down to the lowest levels where a sophisticated motion sensor spell was covering anyone who tried to assault the place while nobody authorised was walking around would alert anyone no matter what he did.

He had been grateful to those plans and the guy with a grudge that had sold him them. They came in handy as they exposed the light reinforcement spells used on the architecture preventing him from trying to use explosives to get in and the surveillance aerial sensor system hidden in a nearby clock tower that resembled a smaller big Ben in London back home that was preventing him from simply trying a parachute or teleport jump from an aircraft. It even made him think twice about simply waltzing in like the other regulars on the long arched bridges that was manned by a guard tower with at least four guards with magical lenses. Even a clearly unused dock for small boats was booby trapped to the nines with magical sink holes that snared anything as large as a pedal boat and so the man had done the only possible means of getting in there and that was swimming.

Even that had not been a cakewalk. In the bowl shaped lake the man had swum across he had to have counted sixty if not more layers of magical trip wires. Hundreds of invisible mines that went off when magic was used bobbed on the surface of the lit up water and projected as a whole seemingly infinite interlinking fields of energy. These acted like pressure sensors that would alert the automated illusion fields to disguise any inevitable explosions if such conditions were met that the mines needed to detonate.

It had been dusk when he had started and checking his waterproof watch on his gloved hand it was now nearing midnight. Still it could have been far worse. In the sky above the traps had been even worse than the underwater labyrinth he had been forced to traverse. Four layers of differing trap holes and flytrap spells were interlaced with only space enough for your average ant if it was careful about how it went about it in between. A single god soldier generator, surplus probably from the war in Mundus Magicus less than twenty years ago was also visibly pulsing energy to any mage smart to seeing it but that was on one of the lowest underground levels and again only because it was emitting the equivalent of the Japanese national grid in power on standby mode.

He was so tired, exhausted nearly for carrying both the oxygen tank on his back and the heavy backpack taped up to his middle but the prize was so worth all the hassle. His paranoia to not being noticed by the local authorities meant he had not even used magic since arriving here yesterday from Narita airport. The damn citywide barrier recorded every use of magic and stored it on a database at their HQ. Just to make sure the cautious type the man had rigged a three pound bomb of plastic explosive in an alley just beside their front entrance just in case the distraction came in handy.

Eventually after some feeling around and chanting a single mantra repeatedly the man disturbed a mirage that gave off the look that his fingers were immersed in water and discovered the circular metal service duct access point he was searching for. He traced its perimeter, disturbing another illusion that revealed to the searcher the keypad for activating the door.

The male removed a small device no bigger than his palm from under his tight wetsuit specifically his right wrist and clipped it to the numerical keypad demanding an access code. With a single press, the small square bleeped red and one by one the numbers of the code were deciphered until finally the device said "code sample stored" in red letters and automatically the door opened for him with a hiss as the rather formidable magi tech security screen, all six layers of it was depressurised.

Inside it seemed to be nothing more than a plain cylindrical tunnel. It was utterly featureless, shiny as if the metal alloy used to make it was polished and lit only by dim scarlet lights.

"A depressing journey just got that bit more depressing." The voice was not his, own inner voice but a woman's softer and sultrier at the same time but at this moment in time it seemed bored. "I've had more fun devouring eunuchs."

"You can go back to sleep if you want Gaia."

"And miss the fun master?" Gaia as she was now identified replied sarcastically. "I want to be there when you find out the rumours of that book being here are false. I mean come on the man was even able to tell you how many levels underground it was. It can't be that safe then to house the book of pure power they claim the tome of Melusedek has within it."

"Go and fuck yourself," Negi said out loud. He unclipped his oxygen tanks and dumped it outside watching as it slid on the slightly raised slippery wall until a splash told him it was in the water where it would magnetically stick to the closest metal object and let off a homing signal he alone could track to find later if he didn't get caught out that is.

"At least I manage my urges before missions," Gaia sniped before going back into the depths of his soul to observe.

"At least I can keep my mind on the job at hand," he spat back murderously.

The entity known as Gaia was a useful demon servant of the highest rank or AA according to the new labelling system for demon rank used by the Paladin army but damn was she a bitch to keep happy.

Negi sat down on the cold steel of the entrance and pulled off his flippers using the sharp edge of where he was sitting on to catch the back of the rubbery material. He then with some difficulty because he had to keep low removed the tight wet suit he was wearing revealing a mane of shaggy red hair with one extra long bang on his left side that had been pleated at the tip. As more of the skin tight one piece suit was discarded it showed he was wearing a black collared shirt with a bulky dark green vest underneath containing many pockets that appeared full. He switched on another pocket light poking out of one such pocket and continued to show off more clothing this time baggy black pants that had some sort of loose belt for holding multiple ammunition clips.

He was quick to retrieve his bag and carefully he put on some dark blue trainers, tucking away his long hair hiding his blue stormy eyes then carefully extracted the device that had been used to open the door for him and rolled uncomfortably backwards to avoid the door eviscerating him when it closed.

"Part one of operation "Steal magic book" is complete." He gauged how big the tunnel was and felt happy he could at least crawl with relative ease.

Negi rustled inside the bag and efficiently wrapped two hand gun holsters to his thighs. He added two black handguns with screwed on silencers to each and tightly bound them to his sides to stop them from hanging and getting caught by either himself or the tight environment he was about to enter. On his back he placed another holster gun belt that held an old looking long barrelled single shot pistol. Mustard in colour and in the style of the old six shooters of the wild west, it was comprised of several cylindrical sections with a short trigger and butt perhaps indicating how it could be taken apart. The barrel chamber itself was of a great size and took up most of the gun's diameter. It looked to be currently loaded with an egg cup sized round.

Lastly he unearthed a large sack bag holding something bulky inside and ditched the last part of the waterproof bag which appeared empty except for one last parcel in this case another bomb. He primed it and set it off for it to go off if his magical signature flared like it would when he unsuppressed it. The resulting echo from the shockwave or maybe even the explosion itself though in itself highly improbable with all the magic geared towards damage control in this complex could cause chaos for the GLCS system and buy him some additional time to swiftly retreat the hell out of there.

Starting on his journey he had memorised the route and most of it was downwards.

"Want to play I spy while we do this?"

"What about playing dead?" Negi suggested innocently. "Or maybe we can play at you shutting the hell up before I forget the way to wherever the hell we are going to game."

"Why didn't you bring a map?" she asked casually. She was a veteran at ignoring his barbs or loosely veiled demands especially on missions like this.

"No room for it after I put in the extra ammunition." Negi was not a man to simply run out of something. All his demon gave him was a sigh before going silent.

He began his long and arduous crawl across the access ducts. At every intersection he past he left a small laser like sphere that projected the way back out when he used a switch on his watch to activate it that also handily doubled as an explosive when someone tried to tamper with the innocent looking devices.

For what felt like hours but was no more than fifty minutes since he roughly knew the way Negi navigated the long tunnel ways, stopping at twenty minute or so intervals and carefully checking his course and sometimes backtracking when he made mistakes. His laser pointers showed him where he had went before and of course he collected them on occasion taking care to disarm them as not to cause an accidental explosion that could potentially reveal his position and oh yeah possibly kill him.

Negi eventually reached something that was not on the map he had memorised. It was a dead end. Someone had clearly modified the network in the two year old plans and now it proved an issue.

"What floor are we on master?"

"The fiftieth underground level I think," Negi answered uncertainly, "There should be no blockages at all in the network."

"I should have stayed awake when you were plotting this," Gaia said exasperated, "I forgot your sense of direction is worse than a blind dung beetle after it has had a few beers."

Negi growled slightly. "Are you implying I have gotten us lost?"

"No master," Gaia replied, "I am telling you we are lost." Negi sat down on the cold ground and took a sip from his bottle of water.

"Whatever. It's not like this is a major issue if we just think about it." The red haired mage examined the obstruction and grinned in satisfaction. "It's newer compared to the walls around us." It would be simple to remove if he could use his magic. "Should have learned that kanka trick Takamichi knows but oh no I had to be a freaking hero and stay loyal to magic."

"The man respected you when you turned him down."

"I just didn't want to spend hours listening to him again about getting a normal job," Negi retorted before adding, "Don't tell him I said that." In one instance to bad mouth the man in private was good but Gaia had a skill in remembering conversations like this years down the line and using it to stir chaos and most of the time Negi did not mind this. It had its uses but this was bloody Takamichi Takahata, a gentleman Negi knew was a legend on par with his own shishou. Being on his bad side could and would stir trouble for anyone like him who was used to regular travel between worlds.

"A nice espresso might buy my silence."

"Fine you have a deal." It was the best deal she was going to get too. Negi was not in the mood for her antics especially when a fault had formed in his plan. After debating for a few seconds on how to proceed he checked inside his pockets for a small device with a hook on the end.

"I'm going to head back to that last grille we passed and step into library 143 just by the cooking section and continue on."

"What about the traps? Why not just use the explosives you have on you?"

"The last vault has no passageways and I have no idea if the main barrier door is magical or covered in guardians plus like the updraft might burn me to a crisp."

"I like your suggestion better," she hurriedly agreed. "Messy death to you means messy death for me you know…" The nervousness was justified. In his time roaming around he had once gotten briefly earned the nickname of "Insane Boy" for his recklessness before said moniker was wiped out when the beast man in question who made it up in his native language was vaporised by a magical explosion.

Negi backtracked quickly while following and collecting the pointing lasers on the way until he came across a man sized grille again shaped like a circle and smooth with no indentations to indicate it was even what Negi knew it to be. Below him was a looming darkness, permeated only by his small flash light. Before making the leap of faith downwards Negi had to first press a button to slide away the sealed safety glass his knees were using for support so the mage could use a tiny spy camera attached to a robotic arm he had to assemble to check for people mingling around outside even if was unlikely considering how sensitive some of the information inside was this far down.

Unsurprisingly the camera showed a library but with features that never should belong in a room filled with paper. He saw a waterfall in the centre of a pavilion of books all huddled together by a spherical bookcase. Around it was carpeted floors that looked new and a huge well hole that led to the lower levels that used a spiral staircase to allow someone to climb down.

Only issue was there were at least four separate barriers with spells buried into their matrixes on that hole that even the boy wonder here had not seen before.

"Wish I had brought a reference book along," he said resignedly to himself. He was a fighter by trade and obscure magical defence systems were not his speciality. This was going to be tricky.

The red head stalled to wait for a sarcastic comment to come but when it oddly never came true the magi leapt down gracefully onto the nearest bookcase stopping where his final destination was supposed to be only at the last minute. Negi had gracefully taken out and shot a small grappling hook he had examined earlier to slow his descent.

To only immediately afterwards have to snatch an arrow out of the air and to have to use it as a makeshift weapon to deflect the path of four others before finally a final barrage from above from god knows where in the eternal black above him came showering down upon his position.

Negi dropped the arrow, released himself from his support line onto the shelf, drew and took aim with his handguns to shoot each projectile out of the sky until none remained but splinters. He smirked at his excellent performance before spinning them around his index finger and blowing on their muzzles. He ejected the spent magazines from both of his Heckler & Koch USP Expert pistols and after using his harness to help slap new ones in, Negi holstered them with another spin.

"Oi John Wayne!" Gaia insulted, "You could have just let them bounce off your vest you know." It was followed by mumbling about him wasting ammunition when he lectured her not so long ago about it himself.

Of course the so called master ignored her.

"No sense of style," Negi said to himself, smacking his head soon after for making an audible noise that some trap could have been laid for. Then again his guns were still echoing around the underground chambers even with silencers after their use. Maybe it was safer than he thought.

"No shit Sherlock," Gaia said as if reading his mind.

Negi used a small combat knife in his sock to cut away the wire grappling hook that unfortunately had fallen prey to some unseen structural charm that was assimilating it to repair the crack it had made in the ceiling. He watched as the wire was drawn up too until finally it vanished completely along with the crack.

Negi took the time to be impressed with this self repairing library then went back to his business. He adjusted his torch, setting it for full illumination and casually looked for confirmation of where he was with the books beneath him.

"The magic of cooking Chinese and other magical delicacies of the orient?" the red head said to himself amusedly. He was in a magical section but having to land here on a bloody cook book shelf was quite amusing almost fate.

"Get that one for me."

For the first time the magi actually let out a deep chuckle at his servant's remark. The demon was truly the worst entity he had ever met at cooking. She could burn water. The mage was used to ordering in food or cooking it himself just to avoid eating something that a health inspector would order to be incinerated in the name of public health.

"As long as I am not the one who has to eat it," Negi japed back. He reached down and picked up the small leather backed volume from the shelf. It took some effort but he was just in reach of it without climbing down and risking the chance of the rickety shelf tipping over. "I`ll try it after you promise to have it tested to make sure its fit for mages to consume."

"Wise move master," Gaia whispered when he slipped it into the bag he was carrying that briefly exposed a round cylinder before he hid it away again. "Still I will make you eat what whatever I prepare."

He perused the titles some more, looking for some clue to confirm the floor he was on but found nothing. The sealed staircase was proving frightening to him to try and break down. He had some spell breakers, a sort of ball bearing sized magical dissipation device in a baggie in one of his pockets but they were expensive and hard to come by since you could only get them from the magical world.

Negi reassessed his options. He had a ton of ammunition so his stealth mission was still ago but he had other options too like he could always use those spell breakers to destroy the spell sealing off the staircase and then fight his way to the book then fight his way all the way back out. The bombs he had planted would come in handy but the only drawback to this plan was that Mahora city was no small beast man village with barely any trained defences or magical defensive systems. It was laden with more than Ariadne had just on the lake outside.

Option three was to find another way downstairs. That too presented the issue of time and the chances of being discovered by the watchers so ominously noted on the plans given to him and lastly option four was to simply abandon his mission and he was not going anywhere after getting so close to his goal.

"Stubborn to the end will be what they put on your gravestone master," Gaia sighed. "I suggest option one master."

"Really?" Negi said suspiciously. That was too easy. Gaia, the ever cautious when the chips were down had actually agreed to an assault.

"Or you could knock one of those bookcases over into the staircase and see what happens."

So he had an option five, a luxury for someone who lived a life like his and as expected it was a genius idea. These shelves were old and rickety. What would happen if one just so happened to fall into the staircase? It wouldn't be hard to knock one down and then see who came to investigate. Another plan could present itself.

"Have I ever told you I love you sometimes Gaia?"

"Makes a change I suppose."

"So you want biscotti to go with that espresso?"

A deep feminine laugh was all he received in an answer. Now he really owed her that coffee.

Negi reached for his spare grappling hook and as casually as anyone could be when they were freely letting themselves freefall jumped off the bookcase and again like he had done to descend into this darkened room he shot out the delicate looking grappling hook to slow his fall.

The red haired mage tapped his landing point on the olden stone floor with his toe in case of traps. To his luck at being so cautious the stone did depress and a square pit opened where below was an array of very sharp spikes.

"Overkill much?" Gaia quipped.

Unlike before the grappling hook was not assimilated by the wood of the book shelf above him and so he was able to swing himself from side to side like a pendulum until he had gained enough velocity to reach over to the other side. He barely made it to the perimeter by a few inches and yanked the hook free with a fierce tug before he was pulled back over again by his own momentum and just heard the sound of splintering wood as he did so.

Negi focused his light on the foundations of the massive shelf he had just been atop of. A solid barrage of gunfire looked to be the easiest method of dislodging the book laden piece of furniture. If not Negi was sure he could sacrifice a tiny piece of his explosives.

Negi was already missing his magic. One magical arrow could do the trick so easily compared to a barrage from his firearms.

Before the magi drew a pistol and took aim he was careful to throw a single book into the trap to make any patrollers who might come down here later to think a heavy volume of "Frogs and the best parts to eat from them" had caused the trapdoor he had sprung to spring. He could only hope the arrows went unnoticed until he was long gone from here. Upon using up a clip he was successful in making the shelf shaky and quickly discerned that after applying a well timed push the bookcase would collapse like a house of cards. With a hard shove at the right moment Negi resisted the urge to shout "timber" to dash out of sight when the bookcase loudly disappeared into the abyss.

For three seconds after he heard it hitting the bottom and being destroyed into a millions pieces by the stone walls Negi heard and sensed nothing. The spells keeping guard over the top of the staircase had collapsed from the weight as spells of that nature did for a few seconds before they reformed. Each second in wait for something to happen seemed to take forever until at last the place was suddenly illuminated by about a million burning candles from all over, hurting Negis eyes from the sudden brightness. His instincts told him to load in a new magazine and hide better among the undecipherable texts of some Armenian textbooks with his torchlight switched off.

He was rewarded with the appearance of a single man, tanned in skin colour that happened to be wearing the same brand of glasses Negi used to before getting contacts and a sharp suit floated down from above to rest on the floor. He was carrying a small firearm likely a nine millimetre in one hand and a ceremonial knife in the other. His short spiky dark hair almost hid away a headset that he was speaking into.

With help from the echo the newcomer`s conversation was loud enough for the boy mage to listen in. "Gandolfini reporting. It looks like a bookcase was the cause of the alert. Yes I think we can reset it in ten minutes when we recover what was left of it and the books themselves will probably be fine. I will begin my investigation to the cause of the collapse immediately. I'll meet Toko-sensei and Kataragi in the vault chamber."

Negi knew an opportunity when he saw it. Taking aim he waited until the man was done and fired a precisely targeted shot. It hit the man in the shoulder and right away he dropped his gun. Another well aimed shot hit the handle of the knife and knocked the blade out of the dark skinned man's hand. Negi stepped out of the shadows of his hiding place enough so his face could not be seen whilst making a noise to gain the man`s attention. The red head shot off one last round at his feet when the man went for his radio.

"Who are you?" asked Gandolfini dangerously.

"Doesn't matter," Negi replied. "Tell me something," the mage drawled trying to sound cocky, "What are you hiding in that vault and where can I find it?"

"As if I would tell a thief…" Another shot knocked his glasses off his face. The man touched his ear where it was now bleeding.

"Showing off gets informants killed master."

"I ask the questions," Negi warned, trying to sound ignorant of the likelihood that what he was looking for was what they were talking about. "What is in the vault?" Negi knew damn fine what was meant to be in the vault but having it confirmed from one of its guards made him feel more at ease. Most of what he had heard had been rumours, hearsay but it was better than nothing.

"It is nothing that would concern you!" Gandolfini said, remaining defiant. Negi responded by shooting him again, this time in his knee. He crumbled, groaning and muttering about being in pain. His cream coloured suit was now dashed with the colour of crimson.

"At least he isn't like Wilhelm or Gaia and just pretending to be a human." Demons of the higher orders were annoying with those powers. It was his first encounter with the former that made Negi when using guns use scarlet anti-demon bullets as standard. "Want to try that again?" Negi asked smugly, "Or do I just kill you and take my chances with your friends?" He had to have some sort of item that let him just appear like that through all the security. His interrogation was going nowhere and with his discovery his time here was running out. Negi looked for a ring or something equally as inconspicuous but at first glance nothing stuck out.

"Never!" he snarled, wincing when he aggravated his wounds. Scarlet rounds released a solution of unicorn blood that slowed down demons and acted as a very slow acting sedative to human targets as well as complicated the healing process.

"Let me snare him," Gaia said. Demon energy wasn't magical energy like magi used but there were wards that detected it when in use outside of this building. The magi hadn't included her in his plans pass the worst case scenario in case those wards worked inside buildings as well.

"I can't risk it when I have the advantage." Negi whistled at the knife the man had been holding that had become imbedded in the uneven floor and unluckily for Gandolfini who was looking on lamentably at it, the beautiful piece was being assimilated by the same reinforcement spell that stole the invader`s original grappling hook from him. "Tough break and all but now are you going to talk to me?"

With textbook precision the bespectacled magi replied, "I will not surrender anything to you so shoot me."

So Negi did what he was asked to do and emptied a clip around the enemy's feet. He made the combat mage dance like someone had drowned him in itching powder for his boring attempt at bravado and to cause him more pain from his original bullet wounds until the man was so shaken up he hadn't seen Negi throw a small round pink ball at him. It hit the dusty ground next to him and released a pink cloud of smoke that enveloped its nearest target and rendered him unconscious.

The boy mage changed the magazine once more and loudly clicked it into position. "It might invalidate whatever you use to move around here if I kill you," Negi whispered, removing the radio the man had and clipped it onto his own head. Negi didn't kill just for the hell of it. He was a seasoned mage of sixteen years of age and knew the lengths they went to secure this place would extend to the access control methods they implemented. To kill someone like a guard or an assistant in the big temples in the magical world always either set off an alarm or destroyed or rendered inert the magical stone or key card they needed to move around unchallenged by the magic running the joint.

The boy mage waited until the paralysis parasites in the gas were safely inside the magi's body before he approached. Holstering his silenced weapons he checked with his magical aura sight to see the parasites inside the mage eating away at his magical energy so when he woke up the man known as Gandolfini was powerless and likely going to be nauseous from the dead bodies of the artificial life forms floating around in his body. Negi collected the vanquished man`s gun and stored it into his bag so he couldn't be shot at later.

Negi rustled around in the man's clothes less than politely, searching every part of his body carefully and found nothing. Another two searches revealed nothing to indicate the man was carrying anything to control the security system.

"Try looking underneath the underneath. I remember a former master who used to have his magical activation device disguised as a shirt button."

So Negi did just as suggested. The wise demon had centuries of experience over him and this worked a treat when eventually the dark skinned man's belt buckle caught Negi`s eye. It just stood out as it was coloured ruby red in comparison to his cream suit.

"Sorry but it's advantageous to catch a man with his pants down." Gaia loudly groaned at the terrible joke. "At least all my jokes don't involve sex all the time."

"Sorry for being a succubus master," Gaia retorted.

"You are better than Rubicante at least," Negi said, playing nice.

"Being compared to something that stays sealed in a talisman until its needed is such a huge compliment master."

"You could have ended up like Wilhelm before he got loose." Negi flipped the man upwards as he removed his belt less than gently. "To be spend eternity stuck in a jar with no means of escape possibly for all eternity if the last idiot who owned it was smart enough to throw it into the bottom of a lake or canyon."

"Point taken."

Negi examined the belt he had acquired. It looked normal enough apart from the belt buckle. Negi`s senses detected nothing. Was it some kind of passive lock? Or did it need a voiced phrase to work or worse maybe even blood or something more ingenious like a magical signature that right now was being digested by an infestation of parasites? Going through the realm of possibilities one by one he pushed it in innocently and discovered the wards at the staircase flickered until he let go.

"It can't be that easy surely," Negi said to himself. As he walked forward holding the buckle in the wards flickered more and more until finally when he approached it the wards vanished and were sealed in by temporary floodgates or seals that only appeared when storing unused magic in the circuit they made.

"Yes sometimes even we get a break," Gaia said in a monotone. Usually their luck ran out at the entrance to these sorts of high security installations. "At least the motion sensor on the bottom levels won't trip anymore."

Negi eager to clean up before moving on speedily bound his enemy's hands with some wire he had brought along. He made it so tight it drew blood when it came into contact with his flesh. Next he caught his dangling grappling hook, reeled it in then fired it one last time and stopped from dangling out of his grasp by burying the firing mechanism into a big dusty tome. To add further insult to injury he set the firing device to stuck mode stopping the wire from coming loose again and dragged the dark skinned man over to the edge of the pit. The red head tied the man's bound hands around the firing mechanism and pushed, leaving his once proud enemy dangling over the spikes.

"You stay there and play nice," Negi advised to the unconscious warrior.

"Aren't you being a little sadistic master?"

"Will he try going anywhere in that position?"

"No…"

"That's the point of it. Nothing sadistic about it."

"Okay…" Gaia was to say the least a bit reluctant sometimes with the way Negi kept people hostage.

Negi collected himself, checking to see what equipment he had left and then casually with both guns in hand he started his descent down the stairs once he was clear of the rune shield.

It took him an age to climb down and worst of all at least in his opinion nothing happened on the journey. His paranoia, battle senses that he had gained from years of all out combat both in urban and countryside battle fields were being put to use and the red head had found that the longer it took for something to happen the more agitated he would become. By the time he had passed through the spiral staircase with its uneven stairs, faded almost forgotten paintings on each of the levels and moss growing on all the walls everywhere the red head wished something had attacked him only to cure him of his stiff shoulders.

It hadn't helped when Gaia said nothing either as she probably was just as wary and more likely trying to help by keeping a watch herself.

In the end Negi entered a narrow corridor filled with bookshelves. The languages had become more obscure. Some Negi could read like ancient Greek and others he had barely a clue other than he recognised the various deities or old gods painted on the covers to recognise it from. It was another of the libraries interesting characteristics. Bookshelves seemed to grow in every nook and cranny not occupied by filth and booby traps.

"I think the people who built this place were morons with nothing better to do with their time."

"Magi in the past tended to be frivolous master. Modern day magi tend to be far more conservative."

"What did the old magi you knew do with their time exactly?" The book he had found her in mentioned one of her former masters being the legendary king, Solomon of the Israelites who used a magical ring to summon her and about a gazillion other demons with a mere rub on the black speckled pearl.

What Negi would do if he could get a hold of it but it was rather famous in mage lore about how he had thrown the damn thing into the mouth of a Cerberus in a fit of rage when it wouldn't obey him.

"Mainly orgies and boozing master. They didn`t have much self control but magi seldom did in those times when all magical learning to you was just new to them."

"I bet sometimes you wished someone like them were your master don`t you?"

"It gets boring after the 1500th time," Gaia answered truthfully.

Negi completed his trek of the long and narrow corridor until finally he entered what wouldn't look out of a place in a computer game. A solid thirty foot curved shaped wooden door with more runes and defensive spells than anywhere else in this building stood. It was coloured copper, almost like dried blood and appeared impregnable. The stone block floor about 10 block by 12 blocks in diameter was flanked on all sides by a drop that was so dark that Negi`s powerful light couldn't see the bottom. On the walls were parallel silver candlesticks burning candles made from some sort of fat which really left off a stink reminding him of the medieval styled archive in the Paris catacombs that Negi had visited once when a tip off had said Nagi, his father had visited them at one point and Negi had been curious as to why.

"I am so glad I didn't use my explosives," Negi said, feeling satisfied. He dropped his bag, holstering one of his guns and placing the other on the floor beside him. The mage rummaged inside for a large pack of plastic explosives wrapped in stasis paper coloured blue that prevented accidental explosion even if an ignition source hit it. He unwrapped it, stuck in a detonator, in the form of a tube with a transmitter that he primed by turning his watch a 180 degrees anticlockwise then casually as you liked he used his baggie of magical dissipaters by slapping them into the mushy material.

"I'm so glad you can't make me do this."

"Any other time I would."

"Evil bastard," she murmured affectionately.

The boy mage carefully walked across the safe stone floor, making sure no hidden alarms or detection devices were in any of them then as he walked up the small missed at first glance stone steps he cursed when he nearly stood on the final stair that had been connected to an alarm.

"For the ones who get too cocky," Negi complimented the ingenuity being of a similar mind set himself. He reached over and pressed the bomb onto one of the structural supports on the frame.

"I'll get myself ready for the summoning master."

Negi approved silently of her thinking. The radio chatter had been nonexistent telling Negi that this was an exclusive network few had the privilege of listening into. It also meant a tightly knit group that would see them noticing a missing comrade faster than say an army unit made of many men or women. Negi could hear the tick of a clock in his ear. He knew he had little time left.

Negi reached his safe point and pressed one of the three nubs on his watch. Negi ran back into the corridor, collecting his dropped gun and bag before shoving himself against the wall for cover and concealment.

When all the smoke cleared and the bomb had detonated and it did take a while with all the dust around the neglected building his luck had ran out. The door had been utterly decimated, leaving an angry line of Greek letters burning into the frame of it. A fucking alarm and a damn well concealed one at that!

"I'll use up my surprise and keep using it until I run out of ammo then after the first spell emerge and assist me."

"I understand."

Negi unzipped his bag and holstered his gun. Inside was a compact machine gun, slim with a butt shaped so his fingers could be wrapped around it with ease. A laser sight that only he could see was switched on along with a sensor that detected movement. Negi slapped a clip into the underside near the strap he pulled over one shoulder and cocked it.

With the sensor to warn him he ran through the blackened remains of the doorway, past the scorched stone work and frazzling malfunctioning runes into an even larger chamber.

Negi balked at what stood in front of him. A small shrine with two stone statues potentially golems of some sort stood guard over a long stone altar holding a book. A long pedestal light shone over it making the pages sparkle like they themselves were magical.

"No fucking way." It was real. The book was here. He looked twice, admiring the plain ceiling. He couldn't believe it. No guards! No defences or spells waiting for him either. It was like the book was so holy that using such spells was an insult to its greatness. Negi`s feet moved before his brain engaged and he ran over to the shrine.

His sensor beeped and Negi turned and fired off a burst of bullets at a sword that nearly decapitated him. Blades of slicing wind from his left made him roll to the side hard onto the floor and shoot off another few rounds in retaliation.

"They concealed their presence well master but remember we heard that Gandolfini telling them to meet him here."

Negi bit his lip at that amateurish mistake. The book had excited him so much that he had forgotten all his training. Negi turned and readied his gun while was facing down the two threats he now had to deal with one he was familiar with.

One was a woman with long blonde hair, glasses and a look of anger in her eyes. She was slim, tall like Gaia in her true form and carried a specific kind of katana that made him immediately smell a Shinmei-ryu was standing in front of him. Negi had unfortunately went one on one with three of them at the same time once before and had been forced to flee. The suit combined with her hair and glasses were classic tell tale signs that she hadn't expected a battle.

The other guy covering her rear was a dark glasses and beard type resembling Takamichi. Well the guy and his dead master had made the look popular among mages. Dressed with an equally dark suit and reserved manner Negi knew his type. The wind blades had to have come from him.

"Surrender now and tell me what happened to my…"

Negi answered with gun fire. He was far too close to have to give up now. He released the blue locking spells overlapping his magical activation device in the form of a black spiral tattoo Gaia had made with him so his fighting wasn`t affected by a ring or by holding a cumbersome wand on the small of his back. It spread out to make bird like raven wings all along his midsection.

The woman valiantly deflected or cut the bullets in half with her superb swordplay but the speed he was firing and the rate too soon meant she was cart wheeling to stop herself being riddled with bullets.

Negi kept running into her path, cutting off the spell caster who was meant to be providing support by matching the swordsman`s movements so he could use her body as a shield. The boy mage had to switch clips twice but did so with an improvised sort of hand to hand combat where he used the butt of the gun as a spear at the woman's face aiming for her glasses. Her distracted state made it simple for him to shepherd her the way he wanted her to go until he was reloaded and they resumed their dancing.

"As long as I can keep the gap between us short and stop her from using any of her techniques then I might not need to use magic at all!"

The moment he thought that Negi`s vest was clipped by a blade of wind. The red head hissed that the woman had worked out his plan and had pulled a shundo to make extra ground before he had seen it. He forced the man to abandon his position with some shots and resumed his hassling of the woman with a more aggressive plan in mind.

He parried right from a swipe at his torso with her blade by putting his gun between the sword and his head, spun on his feet to get round to her side and punched her in the shoulder, following through with a sweep of her legs and a finishing manoeuvre when he brought the butt of his rifle down to land on her nose when she hit the ground.

Negi was blown hard into the pedestal of the altar before he could finish his routine. Damn the old man had adjusted his tactics as well. Negi had been so focused on his task the woman that the man had stopped firing wind blades and waited for either the swordswoman or the magi to make a mistake.

"The book master!"

Negi stumbled to his feet, his back killing him as he did and took the book from its pedestal and waved it in front of them like a shield. Naturally they stopped and looked hesitant but like any trained soldiers they regrouped.

"Now what?" Gaia asked.

Indeed that was a good question. The book was too big for his bag to carry and his machine gun was useless in one hand. The kick and propulsion of the recoil would tear his shoulder to shit without magic to cushion it.

"Look thief," the woman said hesitantly. Negi moved the book up so it obscured his face even if there was no point to it anymore. "Just hand me that book and we can talk about maybe…" Negi lowered the gun planning to lure them into a feint and beard made a move. "Kataragi wait!" the woman swordswoman warned, "If you hit that book our lives won't be worth living."

"Smart woman," Negi said, drawing a hand gun and aiming it at the book. "Allow me to go or you lose the…"

The man made a move anyway and tried a disarmament. He partially succeeded. Negi threw the book to the side to avoid it being destroyed but he was stripped down to his t-shirt and his blue briefs for his troubles. He cursed at their risk taking as well as admired the man's balls as his guns went flying everywhere. The clang of the odd shaped pistol that had been on his back clattering to the ground stirred something inside him. That gun was not cheap to find or maintain...

Without skipping a beat Negi rapidly summoned magical arrows, slinging dark arrows in a wide dispersal pattern before they converged upon impact. He was no idiot to assume such simple projectiles would finish them but the explosions and the dust kicked up would surely disorientate them. Another brief unincanted spell kicked the dusty debris up a tad longer.

"Where is he?" the blonde woman asked herself while Kataragi was spluttering. "Be more careful Kataragi! All you have done is made the situation worse."

Negi`s arrows landed constantly in the route to the book, Negi dived forward and felt the stirrings of a summoning taking place.

Around the mage a summoning circle glowed and grew until it was three times its original size. From within its interior three circles formed orbited by a depiction of the sun and the moon moving anticlockwise to the circle`s counter-clockwise. These circles, the middle representing the earth was burning a fiery red in colour and just as if the red light was guiding the way his faithful servant emerged from Negi`s body. The first thing that appeared was a transparent pair of bat like wings that was followed soon after by a slim body glorified with a feminine muscular copper skinned figure with an equally womanly femme fatale face. Her rouge lips and eyes blacker than coal made her silver hair contrast even more than her skin did. She wore what looked little better than rags that barely contained her ample assets both above and below.

"How may I serve you master?" She was giggling at the shocked expressions on their faces. "Do I kill them?"

"Leave them to me. Get the book Gaia and don't mess about this time."

"Yes master." She took off and zoomed out of his peripheral vision to skirt along the ceiling.

"I never thought I would get to meet a demon this far in the library," dark glasses remarked casually. He had taken control of the surrounding dust by calmly displacing it with his own wind spell and about time too since it would have been the first thing Negi would have done if their roles were reversed. He was trying to look cool too but that kind of magic any first year could perform with ease. Intimidation belonged to people who could make a man tremble and so far the teenaged mage had seen nothing to warrant this. They were good, gutsy but guts did not win battles.

Negi didn`t answer him. Instead he drew energy within himself and used a shundo to land in between his foes. Two magical arrows, one to each side of his head emerged and shot perfectly parallel to the other into the path of his foes faces. As predicted they parried, the mage foe merely parried by tilting his head with ease while the swordswoman did another of her elaborate cartwheels to reposition herself.

The red haired mage unincanted a single spell and a barely noticeable gust of wind blasted from all around him. The misfired projectiles stopped erratically like fish caught in a net and then bounced back in the opposite direction back towards their foes.

Negi jumped in the air and swung back with a flying roundhouse kick. The enemy mage proved he was only good for long range combat as he sluggishly blocked the offending kick only for a moment later to realise a magical arrow, the one slung at his partner earlier was heading back towards him and in turn the bearded mage forced his personal barrier fully forward to both push Negi away and block the blast.

He screamed when the arrow he had parried earlier hit him in his mid section, forcing him to topple forward. Negi dashed forward the second he landed, shattering the faltering barrier with a shape change of his own personal barrier to resemble a battering ram and followed through with an elbow to his exposed stomach. As Negi restored the shape of his shield, the red head completed his attack with a violent gust of wind that went off like a cannon blast sending bearded mage flying alongside his cigarette that the red head caught between the fingers of his right hand before crushing it in his grip and discarding it.

"And that is how you use wind magic bitch," Negi thought smugly.

"Master!" Gaia called out from above him. Negi looked up and winked when he saw the book snuggled between her breasts. Her translucent wings glimmered in the candlelight. "Please finish this up so we can leave already!"

Her plea was just in time for his senses to pick up on the attack of the recovered shinmei woman who had drawn a tantō from somewhere and tried to literally cut him in half. Negi stepped back one foot to dodge the katana and rerouted his personal barrier solely to his fist to parry the smaller blade. With the opening he made, he jumped into her personal space, magical arrow of ice surrounding his fist to make it harder and took a swing for her nose.

The swordswoman lurched backwards gracefully, her head touched her ankles as she turned her evasion tactic into a back flip, using her free flying leg to send a kick towards Negi`s face. Negi caught the offending foot clad impressively with a small heeled shoe on her small delicate foot and pulled her forward to lose her balance. Acting exactly the moment she stumbled, the red haired mage unincanted a blade of magical energy about the size of her katana over his right fist and took a swipe.

The woman seemed to have sensed it as a chi coated tantō miraculously blocked the blow before righting herself. He spun round and thrust it at her and again but this time her katana sheathed in her life energy stopped the magical blade.

"You are very good," Negi complimented. He was so into this fight he didn`t notice his demon`s increasingly loud insistence to finish things until a foreign feeling entered his mind. The damn demon bitch was draining away his enjoyment and the emotions surrounding it. Like he was swatting a fly he waved his hand at his demon to stop what she was doing while holding down the shinmei woman with his blade. He had the range factor as the tantō was too short to reach him. "Let me finish it! Stop bugging me."

He flinched at the small spike in killing intent from the woman. She was staring so hard at him, the killing intent was visibly shaking her glasses and a vein by her left eye was bulging from the effort she was putting into the act but it had to be exhausting for her if the woman was not used to employing it.

Negi grinned, performed a reverse shundo so his back was to the pedestal the book had been laying on and returned the gesture in good faith. His "intent" as no actual emotion was projected along with the pressure sensation caught her off guard. It was hard enough to do this with emotion but simple empty intent disorientated even the most hardened or murderers or the most saintly of good men.

He attempted a plucky disarmament spell and even Negi was amused when he connected. A thin layer of ice devoured her clothing, disarmed her of her swords and left her in nothing but her plain plead bra and half torn g-string. Negi showed his disappointment audibly with an irritated sharp gasp. He had been enjoying that fight too.

"Not bad," Negi whistled, dissipating the sword of magic blazing from his hand. The woman had the decency to blush and reached desperately to hold her lower undergarments and her pride together. She glared at him increasing her killing intent and only getting more flushed with the mage she was in battle with when he responded in kind. It was not surprising she was losing her self control. The magical incantation used had been only a simple magical attack he had employed to catch her off guard. He shrugged to himself and decided that he had better end this now the excitement had passed. (Latin) "Rastel Maskil Magister, Heaven`s voice, blow ill fortune upon the sinners that dwell within your domain. Render body free from soul and shake the foundations of the living. Frost god`s shivering breath."

For all its fancy Latin wording this magic merely struck the person attacked by it with a horrible chill like one was being buried in an iceberg. The woman shivered from the temperature of the molecules of water present in her body being lowered to such an extreme low so quickly she passed out from the shock with her body laid prone and her tenacious hold over her compromised undergarments torn away to reveal the normally shy Japanese spirit in their maidens did not extend to this bold specimen.

In fact his succubus, a master of seduction and charm said it best. "Hey she`s smoother than a good whiskey down there master!"

"And you said this trip was going to be a waste of time?" Negi joked to his demon. "Is the book safe?"

She held it out in front of him with a dirty smirk on her face. It was like she was a saucy kindergarten student showing off her "A" she had gotten in a pop quiz while expecting a reward.

"It`s all safe and sound my master." She flew down so her legs were at his head level and brushed off some imaginary dust with her clawed fingers. Her head suddenly turned towards the end of the room, scowled bearing her demonic fangs and did an elegant aerial forward flip on the spot to dodge a fast moving projectile of wind.

Negi followed her gaze and grimaced at the sight of the beaten bearded mage he thought he had taken out earlier. The man was wobbling precariously on his feet, most likely from a concussion and his hair was matted with blood from a head wound.

"I will take care of this," Negi stated. The mage summoned a hexagon shaped army of ice magical arrows around him, pointed with his hand imitating a gun and then paused for a second to take in the utter bewildering look on his beaten foe`s face who was really going to need a good tailor with the way his suit was torn and unleashed the battery of projectiles.

They impacted all over the stone floor, tearing the ancient stone into rubble and kicking up dust from years of unattended grime into the air like before. It was his cover to make his escape. He had dawdled more than he had expected he would for him anyway and made his escape, abandoning what was left of his attire. All that mattered was the tome held in his demon`s arms. Anything else was inconsequential.

Negi started to sprint towards the exit to the chamber. Gaia flew low to help him on his way and keep the book the teenaged mage desired so much in view in the dust storm covering their escape from the lowest level in case anyone else turned up to reinforce the guardians he had neutralised. If someone like Takamichi turned up he would need all the help he could get to get the battle concluded swiftly.

Then suddenly the moment his foot touched the border of the blasted security door a weird for lack of a better word at that moment chill filled the air. It was like intent but this went deeper. It caressed your soul and made his heart rate double, his breathing heavier and every biological noise his body made drowned his ears.

He was in the presence of a powerful mage. It felt like staring into the eyes of his shishou moments after releasing the power that Negi would one day call his greatest power. If he was an initiate at this point he had no doubt in his mind he would`ve been pissing his underwear at this moment in time.

Suddenly Gaia screamed. Negi turned round and found she had been impaled by glowing spears of confinement. A second later when the book she had been carrying banged heavily into the ground the same magical field used to summon her reappeared and the same circle that had glowed earlier burned again momentarily a fierce red.

"I am in so much pain master." Gaia`s limp voice inside his mind told him all he needed to know that her sentence came off as unnecessary.

"I owe you that espresso for all your hard work Gaia. Now leave this to me."

"Yes master."

"Who the hell is out there?" Negi picked up the book of Melusedek Gaia had dropped and opened to the index. He cursed when he couldn't read the strange symbols of the civilisation that wrote it straight off the bat and shut it. It was truly at least for the moment worthless to him until he could translate it but that would be another piece of the puzzle. Where was he going to find a translator for this? Still he had bigger problems at that moment that being the magi who stood in front of him under the veil of dust.

"I would have liked our first meeting to be on better terms Negi Springfield," an old man's voice asked in the dust field. "Your father was an outstanding individual so instead of all this tomfoolery could you kindly return my book to me. I have no desire to harm you."

"Fuck." Not exactly the most intellectual thing to think but it suited the occasion. (Latin) "Rastel Maskil Magister, Showers of air descend and wash me clean of impurity. Purifying shield!" Around him an air current whirled up around him in the opposite direction of the air drafting in from the unseen vents. He added (Latin) "Envelop" to push the air field that had been freezing his balls off outwards so he could knock the dust away.

It was not Takahata Takamichi. That man was preferable to the being that was in front of him. He recognised the man creating these powerful spells floating in the air at least from a picture he had seen in a newspaper once back in Megalosembria.

KonoemonKonoe, master of Mahora city's educational institutions and Library Island to the mundane populous of this town stood before him. To the magical world he was one of the most powerful magi of the Orient. The idea of fighting him was like Negi saying he could fight the Crimson Wing on his own with both arms and legs broken. He looked harmlessly enough with his unexplainable long white coloured eyelashes, beard and moustache. The ponytail despite the rest of his head being bald making him looked like the backend of a thoroughbred. He didn`t even have any great deal of height to make Negi feel intimidated and only wore loose hakama clothing. If he wasn't floating as if it was as easy as breathing you would think he was an eccentric, batty old man with funny shaped ears.

Negi Springfield knew better. Negi was strong, hell even being modest as he was Negi had rarely fought an opponent he did not believe he could lose to one on one but mere speculation and reputation this man had earned over a lifetime warned him not to act rashly. This mage had sealed the rift mainly between the Kansai and Kanto magical associations when the two sides had been tearing each other into bits since ancient times for the longest ever recorded period until recent times. He had slain several powerful demons, brought western magic to prominence after centuries of it being ignored by even his own people in favour of their own magic.

Negi had been given one piece of advice should he be in hostilities with this mage. Run the fuck away and never look back. The red haired mage had no desire to lose his book either and obeyed his warning. Still a plan to get away from this super mage was not forthcoming. He had to stall him.

"How do you know that name?"

"The database just informed me that one of Nagi Springfield's blood relations had used a spell in here and on this level. It doesn't take much to put the information together Springfield-san. Can I call you Negi?"

"Um," Negi said intelligently. This was not what he was expecting. Usually there would be a fire fight by now or some insults traded. An enemy being civil was just as nerve jarring as the emotionless intent he was generating earlier would have been for that fallen swordswoman. "Sure if you want um Konoe but since we both know I need and want this book let`s get the nastiness over with." He sounded confident but he was not fancying his chances.

"You have one shot at this master," Gaia said weakly to him. Just speaking to him was going to be draining her energy she should be expending regenerating those horrifically painful wounds she was bound to be rolling around figuratively in his soul in agony. "Use him."

"In such a tight space?" Negiasked uncertainly, looking at the ante-chamber closely, "Surely his emergence alone would tear this place apart?"

"With any luck your barrier will hold off the falling ceiling enough for the weakened shields to wither sufficiently for you to teleport to the higher levels. From there it should be easier for us to get some momentum to escape among the confusion."

"I`ll trust in your judgement then," Negi stated pooling his great combined power within himself. His aura started to flare as the same magical circle he had used to summon Gaia started glowing again red. However the circle this time representing hell was illuminated.

"Can't we just let this end peacefully?" the old man diplomatically asked. It made Negi stall what he was doing but the circle stayed around his body, rotating clockwise as it was supposed to do. He was willing to listen for a secondary plan. It bought him time to think about what he was up to. "Gandolfini-san is recovering and I know that if you had wanted to you would have killed him and these people here I sense will survive from their ordeal. I know you merely desire my tome to revive your village but it is a magical book with far too much power for one of your age to possess. If you surrender we can just walk out of here and discuss this in my office Negi."

"What do you think?" he asked inwardly. At the corner of each eye he spotted movement then just as suddenly out of seemingly nowhere the two golems guarding the pedestal for the book were right in front of him. He stepped backwards, his magic started to pulse as his personal barrier was reinforced with all his might.

"Master," Gaia piped up weakly, "Magi of his class can use buildings under their power to do literally anything. Teleporting large enchanted objects like this are child's play to him. He did offer the option of surrender to you. I suggest you take it."

"If you think he`s on the level I`ll do it."

"I feel he isn`t lying to you and this is your best option. He could beat you six ways to hell and back and still wouldn`t be winded." She let out a yawn that simply sounded like she had just finished a cat nap. "I have to sleep before I start latching onto your magic for support."

"Good night Gaia," Negi said sincerely. He stared up at the golems who had just acquired a sword and axe from somewhere and had no mood to mess around. He dispelled his summoning circle, dropped the book on the floor and slid it to the old man on an ice float provided by the boy magi. The old man warily picked up the volume with a pleased look underneath that giant moustache.

Negi put his hands into the air and sat down on the hard stone with his knees. He was surrendering.

XreviewX

Dudes the (Greek) and (Latin) are just to tell you what language he's using for the spell as I have no time to translate every single one of my spells so live with it. Next time the adults have a meeting.