quote:

Zaelro was able to sink into a deep and conforming sleep that night, temporarily putting all his commanding business and his agenda into temporary hibernation.

quote:

Finally, an unconscious twitch of the neck succeeded in ending the teen's sleep with an abrupt, sharp and highly traumatic jolt of pain on the backside of his neck.

quote:

as well as the record-length skid along the road as he fell off Steedy were beginning to take their toll on his rarely exercised physical body.

quote:

Understandably, never before had he undergone such pain before.

quote:

Grabbing his blanket, wrapping it around himself and shiver, it then came to the injured teen that the cold air actually helped him a little, dulling his multitude of pains all over his body.

quote:

Even that task was not fully completed - the medicated bandages were nowhere to be found.

quote:

His room didn't have any water to dissolve the painkiller tablet, not even a drop. The next thing Zaelro realized was almost tossing the tablet down the drain in sheer fury, had it not been for his dominant common sense.

quote:

However, the immense pain all over his body called for some painkilling drug, and quickly. Fueled by the pain, Zaelro soon found himself putting on a warm coat, slipping into his slippers and walking out of the room, staggering.

quote:

Were a romantic movie to be shot at that night, the natural beauty would be priceless.

quote:

"Alright, grandpa, grandma. I would like to say that I may not... no, probably will not live to see the end of this," the young vampire hunter said finally, after seemingly wrestled with his own conscience, for good reasons.

quote:

The eavesdropper was promptly answered - by the distinctive sound of a glass object falling on the ground and being splintered in short notice. The sharp, piercing sound of broken glass clattering against the granite ground almost freaked Zaelro off.

quote:

"What... what did you say again, Suuichi?" the grandfather said, half terrified, half furious, and his roaring, yet extremely trembling voice, that sounded as if it could collapse any time now, declared just that.

quote:

"You have always respected my choice in life, and I hope you will my choice in death,"

quote:

Silent sobs in the background told Zaelro that the unfortunate, heartbroken old woman must have broken down at last.

quote:

It was not before a couple more minutes had passed with plenty of sighs and sobs that Zaelro could hear the grandfather's voice, thoroughly distorted by a mental shock not for his age.

quote:

They didn't approve of my ideals in the first place, yet I know that they are the ones who love me with all their heart, and I cannot be less grateful.

quote:

the grandfather appeared to have finally reached his mental limit, and his furious explosion almost knocked the eavesdropped backward literally.

quote:

if anything, the last thing the vampire hunter said could have driven Zaelro himself to tears had he been a girl. But he wasn't.

quote:

Standing up from the doorway, Zaelro walked back along the cobbled path. His injuries still hurt, but the instance that he had just caught was now occupying so much of his sentient mind that he no longer paid much attention to his own physical pain. And those bruises had a precise rule - the more they were ignored, the less they hurt. In due time, the entire attention of the teenager switched completely, just as the sun was rising in the horizon, and the first rays of daybreak shone upon the still dark earth like an enlightening litany.

"I can't believe I will have to fight to defend this beauty one day..." Zaelro pondered as he gazed at the slowly emerging golden disk. He's got to do something... but not with the pain and discomfort he was experiencing.

quote:

He had an important task to carry out in another half an hour, and there was absolutely no way he could miss it out, for all what at stake.

quote:

the teen felt an even more binding responsibility to make sure that mornings as that were not going to be the last…

quote:

To spite the noisy courtyard pretty filled to the brim with groups of students gathering around cracking jokes as he saw when he first entered the place, upon his arrival that day, Zaelro realized that the entire school was pretty much as empty as the streets around it.

quote:

Though a) he had grown quite used to the near-forsaken state of the streets and just about any major public premises during the weekend, it didn’t help his comfort too much. b) Even though a) the sun was shining c)and it was quite warm, Zaelro still felt rather spooked by the thorough lack of human presence in and out of the place. Had it not been for the rather bright sun c)overhead, he would have expected a morbid and haunting air about not much better than the previous day.

quote:

Zaelro had already grown quite used to the near-forsaken state of the streets and just about any major public premises during the weekend, but it didn’t ease his discomfort. Even though the weather was quite warm and cheerful, Zaelro still felt rather spooked by the thorough lack of human presence in and out of the place. Had it not been for the bright sun overhead, he would have expected a morbid and haunting air about not much better than the previous day.

quote:

Taking a deep breath, the teen’s steps became even more invigorated realizing that his tormenting, pressing pains had fully faded off.

quote:

The male figure donned a blue jean and a pitch-black shirt with an overt skull being the most striking feature,

quote:

Discomfort and annoyance soon disappeared, making way for a more positive eagerness, as he cleared off his last yawn and stepped down the bus with the others.

quote:

Just half a minute later, the empty courtyard was timely populated by a single figure – a female maid, or so it seems, judging from her standard dress-and-apron uniform and a lovely pink cap to go with.

quote:

Yet the almost as mentioned cost Zaelro and his mates another five minutes, sixteen turns and around six dozen encounters with rare artifacts before they came to a halt, at which point the English had completely lost his sense of direction.

quote:

Without waiting for an answer on behalf of the awe-silenced English, Nataka opened the door, revealing whatever inside it.

quote:

The air withint he room was strangely stuffy – perhaps whoever staying in disliked, or worse, would be somehow harmed by the cutting wind.

quote:

As they entered the room, Zaelro had a closer angle to examine his new friend

quote:

Needless to say, that joke not only didn’t make the English feel less tense, but rather triggered a glance of reconfirmed anxiety at the speech maker.

quote:

“Just what I needed,” Takashi replied, his face thoroughly shone with a bright smile.

A genuine smile of enlightenment appeared upon the asthma patient’s lips, and stayed there.

quote:

After all, what could be fun when a host of people are around, blocking up all the possible scenic beauty of a new town, and causing huge amounts of noises enough to cut short even the most enthusiastic of conversations?

quote:

The whole trip would have been useless if he could not find a chance to, frankly put it, interrogate Takashi Minamoto.

quote:

“Mmm, go ahead, I’ll see what I can tell you,” nodded Takashi, his smile was still as friendly and childlike as a couple of days ago before it all happened. Zaelro dared not look at those smiles, at least when he was about to pass a certain judgement.

quote:

“Do you know anything about it?” Zaelro asked, stressing each and every word.

quote:

as if the demon in him had awakened, readying its claw for a kill

quote:

Just as Zaelro remembered what happened to the unknown girl and Sergeant Vassiliyevich could also happen to him and was about to withdraw himself, what he realized next was the murder suspect lifting his heads to reach his forehead, squeezing his skull with every ounce of strength he could summon, as if attempting to crush the seed of evil tightly embedded inn his cerebral chamber.

quote:

Having lost a lot of his own strength in the process, Takashi bent his neck, panting, in a complete exhaustion.

quote:

“So you heard of that as well,” sighed Takashi, his voice slowly returning to normal, although the cheerfulness of his speech earlier I the day had been displaced and replaced by an ominous degree of depression. “I thought I could hide this from you…”

quote:

“You would feel more relieved when you have been able to open your heart, a little at a time.”

quote:

Although he knew that whatever unknown trauma Takashi had undergone as a child would not fade away with just words, but he would, now that he know the truth,

quote:

It finally turned out that Zaelro Fastoff did not enjoy a healed body for too long, and by the time he reached bed that day, his entire body was in complete shamble once more from fatigue, overstretched and overworked muscles and an additional sprained ankle.

quote:

The suit of plate armor that he had to wear himself added on to the cumbersomeness of the trainee.

quote:

“What is this made of?” an astonished Zaelro asked,

quote:

“At this moment, you are not yet qualified to use a cavalry lance, sire,” Sieur de l’Aquitaine said, glancing at a struggling Zaelro,

quote:

– the steel plate was blown out of its hand and flew backwards in the direction of the cavalry charge a couple of yards before crash landing on the ground like a tiny flying saucer, wile the iron bar, together with what appeared to be the dummy’s severed hand,

quote:

Amidst the white background and nothingness, after a moment looking around and define the location in his mind, it quickly came to the teen in question that he had somehow entered the realms of dreams once more.

quote:

As he looked, the teen took a few unconscious steps in various directions, and in due time, realized that the walls and ceilings were moving the opposite direction of his footsteps and at exactly the same speed as his own wherever he moved.

quote:

Zaelro turned back and forth at the realization, trying to see for himself the source of the sound, but it wasn’t until the applause had ended could the teen in question figure that out.

quote:

when the warp finally closed, materializing from it was a winged, heavenly being, with dark brown hair and a smile of implied comradeship, stepping into the white room with the demigod teen.

quote:

With winds neatly folded and in a rather diplomatic trance, the angelic being stepped towards Zaelro, each steps he took embossing a glowing golden aura of its own on the ground.

quote:

“Yeah, I don’t feel too sympathetic to a traitorous fool either,” Zaelro nodded.

quote:

Reading these two chapters made me note one thing. I mentioned earlier that you might be stressing too much how certain characters and events are far from normal. Another thing, that I found a little repetitive as a means of narration would be the portraying of Zaelro's amazement. Especially in these two chapters, where we have him dropping his jaw at the Minamoto palace and at the cavalry training. Imo, it's somewhat taken into extremes there, and further underlining the thing by telling it many times in each scene makes it lose its effect. I personally feel that he has seen so many things now as a demigod, that he should start to be less awed by novelties by now. Then you could spare portraying the extreme shock to highlighting some of the scenes. But if you highlight everything, then they are not really highlights anymore, but became the norm. Am I making any sense?

spoiler:

- Fastoff-san grows up in an upper middle class family, almost from a much wealthier background than the vast majority of his peer, to the point that it could have easily spoiled him (luckily he wasn't). Instead, it leaves him with two impressions and attitudes: Love for the finer things in life, as well as huge, astonishing disbelief when he sees any household more lavish than his own.
- Well, when you play an RTS and send hordes of cavaliers to their death without a second thought, never would you have the impression of how hard real-life training would be like. Zaelro had to learn the hard way.

spoiler:

- The Fastoffs have a flair for controlling people. When I say controlling, I mean each and every of them knows and exercise pretty EVERY SINGLE THING in Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people perfectly well. Although this may add on much more to the Mary-Sue gauge, Zaelro's father was a very successful entrepreneur - among the lesser businessmen who built his career from scraps - whose charisma and people-influencing skills had won him millions through the years, while his mother's charisma won her his father. He inherited a majority of those skills, together with his bookwormy nature, he logically entitles himself to a very advanced means to pry information when he wants.
- Naturally, when you commits a crime and another person knows it, but does not tell the cops, there are only two solutions: Either that witness wanted to blackmail a little quid out of you, or genuinely wants to help. And from one's attitude it is easy to distinguish one from the other.

spoiler:

Zaelro Fastoff's very personality is a mild counter-parody of Japanese manga character crafting? He does not like drama too much, and his reactions whenever such dramas arise would either be "Let's check it out" or "Alright, time to toss this aside and get going".

spoiler:

In the Fanfic version, Zaelro's archers totally owned Nero Chaos because they cheated - Viridium-infused longbows against a creature of pure chaos means gamebreaking. He gets owned after only a couple of volleys without even having to resort to using Golden Plate, and had to retreat, getting killed by Arcueid and Shiki in the getaway.

In the Original Fiction version, his archers are simply a beefed up version of the run-of-the-mill Age of Empires English Longbowmen with 50% more ammunition, faster firing rate and a couple of centuries more in terms of experience. The table is turned completely in this case, and even the Aurora couldn't save him from a forced retreat.

spoiler:

Shows that certainly Takashi Minamoto is more street-smart, more initiative and a whole lot less emo than Shiki Tohno. Maybe not - he will get really emo into the second book and especially the end of the third. But it's gonna be at least a year before those two comes out, don't worry.

spoiler:

There are three known types of vampires: Black, White and Chaos.

- Black vamps are the novelty. Edward Cullen, Dracula, <insert random non-True Ancestor here>, and much more, be my guest. The ones that drinks blood and all that.

- White vamps are those who belong to the same species as the Black, but does not use blood as a staple diet.

- Chaos vamps shall be discussed in later chapters. They are a twisted specimens of the Blacks, turned into a one-man sadistic army with little to no conscience whatsoever. Think of a Starcraft Marine addicted to Stim Packs - in the novels, not the games.

quote:

"Wooy, I've got things to blow up!"

spoiler:

- Argeus - Aegina
- Zaelro - Mina
- Takashi - Florine
- Nataka - Tsubame

quote:

In a split second, the air in a three-meter-radius of Zaelro seemed to have abruptly transmuted, as if some hyperactive catalysts had taken its due effect.

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“Chances are you would not make it through the day in that club.

quote:

Takashi’s voice was as serious as it was light-hearted, and needless to say from that kind of tone Zaelro could hardly understand a thing.

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Simply put, the ladies in this Akari High has interests other than cooking.

quote:

Consequently, any boy who attempt to take membership in that little group, for as long as Mina-senpai is here,

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“You sound as if it is serious,” Zaelro said, shaking his head in an attempt to shrug the notion off his mind.

quote:

and failed, she would make every lawful and annoying attempt to make sure that any guy who registers would quit after the first day.

quote:

he would give no second thought to entering a fenced up place with a Danger! Do not cross sign painted in bright red block letters.

quote:

And the fancy tales Takashi had painted was as good as a warning sign in red block letter in this case.

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”I should ready some more painkiller just in case…”

quote:

Even though there was no class after lunchtime, his constantly watching for the two events seemed to have made time pass by in a snail’s pace, and only when lunchtime was over and extra curricular time started did Zaelro breathe a deep breath of relief.

quote:

Had he appeared at any point along those timeframe, Zaelro would have had a huge difficulty fending him off while maintaining the secrecy of his mission or his secret identity.

quote:

Naturally sliding the door sideway and promptly stepped in, his sport shoes making rather loud noises against the paved ground in the meantime, the English was duly amazed for good reasons.

quote:

Whoever had designed, or rather, refurbished that room, must have been a master architecture, a well-conceived artist, an arrangement adept, or all of the above.

quote:

Originally, those must have been prepared to cater to the cooking need of a dozen or so users,

quote:

If anything, the culprit was the young lady seated at the table at the opposite end of the room from where Zaelro stood.

quote:

the lady sat there, seemingly reading attentively.

quote:

That was a sign of explicit rudeness in Oriental culture, judging that Zaelro’s approach was noticeably noisy.

quote:

If Mina Misagi would want to shake any and every guy off her club, that behavior was quite understandable.

quote:

If there was something Zaelro explicitly expressed his dislike when he was back at home,

quote:

As the sound of his footsteps cracked rhythmically following his empowered pace, the English smiled especially triumphantly.

quote:

Without looking up, the girl in charge took her time to fold the newspaper in half, revealing her face little by little in the same time, and spoke.

quote:

Beneath the superficial spiny layer, Zaelro recognized a warm, passionate voice, like the invigorating chirping of spring nightingale, one that had apparently made his day just a few days ago, one that he swore he would never forget although the name of its owner he had failed to get.

quote:

The resulting meeting of the eyes resulted in the duo each getting an equal share of the suspense and surprise, and simultaneously gave out a gasp of thorough disbelief.

quote:

The beautiful wounded vampire slayer clad in the heavy trench coat smelled of blood and mothball at the same time,

quote:

As much as she had put up a scornful face, beneath it the English could not miss out the crystal clear eyes whose innocence was somehow tainted with tragic premonition or the repressed smile of a kind nature hidden beyond the purposefully twisted lips to give an impression of disdainful disrespect.

quote:

Her hesitating eyes and the rapid looks that she threw around at random suggested a visible distrust, and having known how important it is for a person with an important mission at hand to keep his or her secret identities from the public, Zaelro realized that he should acknowledge his share of

quote:

Did the normally alien and unknown element of love entered the life of the English teen?

quote:

Zaelro now could still make out a pair of vengeful eyes shining threateningly at all who behind the veil of the black hood.

quote:

Even before any logical sentience came back to him, he could see that the appearance of that new figure was anything but good.

quote:

and winged longsword of the same material, in the color of the purest of lights. Adorned with multiple references to the knightly lion and the celestial angel, with lion head decorations and an angelic, winged longsword tucked at the side, even going as far as including a set of golden wings whose feathers were golden as well,

quote:

From the interior of the plate, Zaelro could somehow sense immense power

quote:

Interfere and your fate would be no better than them

quote:

If anyone at school were able to catch a glimpse of what happened next, Zaelro and his horses could have made headline the next day.

quote:

”If there is a next life, please let me have a master whose berserk button is not a beautiful girl…” sighed Steedy as Zaelro grabbed the rein forcefully.

quote:

his horse still panicking at the loss of understanding of what having just happened as well as his rider, the English cavalier was now as clear as could be, defenseless.

quote:

“So… this is getting a little more interesting, doesn’t it?”

quote:

Once more leaping on horseback, Zaelro got himself back to battle-ready position, although, as obvious as could be, his bruised shoulder added even more to the odds against him, is if it weren’t biased enough.

quote:

- with the kind of attacks she was carrying out from the beginning, unless something dramatic happens,

quote:

“Let us just see who would slaughter whom,” Zaelro said.

quote:

Had it not been for the fact that school was half-empty at the time of battle, and that most of the students had been dispersed onto other buildings to participate in their own extra-curricular, that kind of noise would undoubtedly attract his schoolmates in droves to the sight.

quote:

“Let us see how you fare against this!” Zaelro said, brandishing the weapon, spinning it above his head a few times, letting lightning bolts rain upon his form in a highly intimdating manner, before whistling to Steedy once more, “Steedy, let’s do it again!”

quote:

“Keep in mind that the power of all the Prime Treasures would fade in comparison to the Will of the Gods!”

quote:

before he could effectively murder even a vampire…

spoiler:

is a homage to the popular game Command and Conquer: Generals Zero Hour and the Chinese Dragon Tank.

spoiler:

You'll see how Mina herself practically owned both Florine and Takashi AND Oredin and Sir Jonathan in Chapter 29 or 30. That chapter would also serve to see how Argeus (both the character and the author [/joke]) owned her in ONE HIT.

spoiler:

If there is no Deus Ex and Steedy dies, then the rest of the story wouldn't go well (as Steedy was designed to be Zaelro's war steed for the duration of the SAGA!). Also, it would be pointless for Zaelro to begin hating one of the people who would help him the most throughout the rest of the saga.

quote:

This is the Beginning of the End.

spoiler:

- A small note of Takashi's ancestors and how they got that ailment.
- How Takashi managed to control his own demon in Florine's presence.
- Suuichi's Shrine Maiden lineage.
- And, as Fabula said, how Mina could friggin' own everyone except for Argeus, who, in turn, owned her with Sword of the Five Armies.

quote:

The first problem soon came into sight - his brown hair and his Anglo-Saxon appearance was more than a sticky note "I am a transfer student who came from the country famous for yeomanry, Sherlock Holmes and the Industrial Revolution" pasted on his face.

quote:

"Ug..." his tablemate raised his head a bit, and spoke as he tried to smile, "Yeah, I'm Takashi. Minamoto Takashi"

quote:

Takashi would have slided off the table

quote:

"Oh, there he goes again. Better take him to the clinic," The teacher shook his head in disappointment as he looked at a particular student sitting in the above table, "Shion-san?"

quote:

"I don't have anything in mind on THAT for now.

quote:

Carefully, the Spartan warrior unwrapped the package, layer by layer. The more he removed, the brighter the light grew, and until the last level was finally removed, what appeared inside the cover emerged with such blinding light that Zaelro had to cover his eyes.

quote:

We are unable to reveal, sire," replied the armored man persistently

quote:

"Yes, sire, we are on our way," the armored man stood up, bowed once more to Zaelro, before getting on his horse again.

quote:

"Okay, give me a proof," Zaelro said impatiently, "Once you do I'll take your words for granted. And remember, nothing Harry Potter-ish has happened to me since my birth."

quote:

Yet, the kind of weird things that had happened that day had gone so far off his wildest expectations, to such an extent that he could no longer shrug it off

quote:

For that was exactly what he thought happened to him earlier on.

quote:

No, he didn’t remember clearly anything happening since he took hold of the majestic Mjollnir and leaped on horseback.

quote:

It was all just like a dream.

quote:

Had he been afraid of blood like many girls he knew was,

quote:

There could be just no other sensible explanation for him, a total greenhorn in terms of battle, to completely crush a menace that had killed, maimed or otherwise injured almost a dozen of the Valhallan Regiment’s professional celestial warriors with ease just now.

quote:

Having no knowledge of or capability to control the destruction in him?

quote:

Zaelro’s every muscles numbed as he stretched himself on the warm mattress.

quote:

Regardless of what power took over him, the amount of physical activity he took that day was far beyond the acceptance of the body of the teenager he was.

quote:

The now familiar spherical space filled with the color white signature of the angel Argeus made itself presence before Zaelro’s sentience no sooner than his consciousness in the material world temporarily ceased to function.

quote:

In due time, the gate opened and closed, leaving in range the winged figure of the higher being who now watched over his every steps.

quote:

As Argeus stepped towards him, Zaelro’s heart felt as if a weight was lifted from his heart.

quote:

And then, without giving the angel a time to let a word in, Zaelro immediately emptied his mental weight on his guardian angel, on how he actually had to resort to using the mystical Mjollnir to defeat Frasden, and what happened to him as a result.

quote:

an instance that brought back anxiety to the story teller rather than take it away.

quote:

“No, never. I was a perfectly normal schoolboy until just a week ago, mind you, sir!” Zaelro almost yelled in dismay.

quote:

As much as I am proud that my knowledge of ancient lore is exquisite among my peers, what I know is a tiny portion of the mysteries that encircles my world,

quote:

Only the most knowledgeable of Elven Loremasters would know of this sort of secrets, or so it comes to pass

quote:

Because of Frasden Laslow’s attack, the Culinary Club meeting room was battered beyond short-term repairs, with all but one tables and chairs smashed into pieces, walls broken and dented in, ground tile smashed and smeared with blood, as well as a whole lot of other irreparable damages that anyone could see just be a gaze.

quote:

And superheroes comic had taught Zaelro all too well that anything along the lines of police or official investigators could mean nothing but more trouble and the threat of blowing up his cover.

quote:

The immense amount of lame and the loud bang,

quote:

Before his more subtle consciousness could tell him to stop, Zaelro found himself running after her subconsciously.

quote:

“Are you alright?” asked him, genuine anxiety glared as he gazed at her face.

quote:

Mina replied, and although her voice was rather harsh, the light smile that accompanied it suggests otherwise.

quote:

Even now, sitting alongside with friends and in the safety of the classroom

quote:

Tsubame shook her head violently in extreme denial

quote:

It was not like he ran away from his responsibility, or did not apology, or just shrugged everything off.

quote:

The notice was far from importance, but it managed to divert the attention of the duo

quote:

”I haven’t forgiven you yet” gaze, that somehow sent a chill of sort down his spines.

quote:

As much as his anger has been far from quenched,

quote:

I’d be unable to sleep for a good couple of month myself!

quote:

That is not the fate anyone would want, isn’t it?”

quote:

The only comforting sight was that there was yet any confirmation that anything absolutely horrible had happened to him, and in cases like this, no news was good news.

quote:

Or maybe not, in the just case that the missing person was a chronic asthma patient with an almost dysfunctional pair of lungs that would stop working at any time.

quote:

But right then, Zaelro had other things to keep in mind.

quote:

There was a brief, two-second moment of utter silence as everyone in the ground floor of the hotel attempted to figure out what had happened. And then, when they finally managed to understand what had happened, the next thing that Zaelro and his comrades could hear was a terrible, grotesque, trembling scream of both unspeakable horror and a gruesome experience, originating from the hotel’s reception lounge just downstairs. No doubt, whatever was happening down the ground floor must have been so out of the ordinary that the people involved were hardly believing it was happening to them.

quote:

His bewildered eyes opened widely even as he lay there dead

quote:

clearly what terrible fate having befallen him must have been so sudden and out of the blues

quote:

Just next to the corpse of the unfortunate receptionist, he saw a faint, shadowy figure with an almost blinding aura of complete darkness encircling his origin, holding another receptionist up into the air by the neck, almost choking him, in an attempt to extract some answers.

quote:

In just mere seconds, the place had become more like that of a human slaughterhouse than a hotel where people went out and dine.

quote:

And the kind of power he demonstrated was not one a normal human could stand up again.

quote:

This was one such time when a full battalion was needed to prevent further loss of life, Zaelro thought.

quote:

Promptly, Zaelro turned back about to run back into the bar to inform his generals of the sudden development.

quote:

the gruesome actions of the merciless killer had given the phalanx enough time to assemble around the stairway,

spoiler:

Mina badly owns both Florine and Takashi, and then went on to own Zaelro even when he wore Aurora Set. Seeing that the battle was not getting anywhere, Argeus descended, and, ignoring Aegina's warning about a potential breach of angelic and diplomatic code of conduct, took the Grungedale into his hand, possessed Zaelro, and proceeded to own Mina with Sword of the Five Armies - the ultimate in terms of Hadrian Paladin techniques. bad luck was with Zaelro, however, for immediately after Argeus the Powerhouse had ascended back to his place, the said 500-men-strong Black Vampires army led by the Faceless One arrived at the very location, immediately attacking the fighters battered from fighting one another. In a risky and questionable move, Zaelro ordered his current army to stand ground to protect his downed friends, resulting in the almost annihilation of the outnumbered strike team. However, Sieur de l'Aquitaine and General Peshkov arrived on time with the reinforcement, resulting in a full-scale clash in the schoolyard. in the middle of the battle, Illus Grungedale appeared to Zaelro and told him that he had passed his final Grungedale task, for being the thoughtful, friendship-honoring and kind heart he was. The Grungedale was then assembled at the spot, and with the new Paladinian Cross Zaelro was able to unleash the Devastator Spirit (in Adventure Quest language, Death) against the dreaded Faceless One, defeating him for the last time in the book and the second time in the saga. As the battle closed, a ghastly figure of the Black Emperor appeared, taunting the demigod and challenging him to a Total War: "If you were just a human I'd devour you. If you were just a general I'd honor you. But since you are both, I challenge you to a war, a war we both know you can't win".

In the last chapter, Zaelro and Mina went on a date, only to be disrupted by the appearance of the Elven Loremaster/Foremost Paladin/Chief Necromancer Argeus was talking about earlier on, Ghoulein Suncrown, the Elven Prince of Westeria, who primarily cloaked himself in a cloak of feigned hostility. Zaelro got owned badly once more, and the elf hinted that with the current power he would not do well against any opponent at all. The date ended in a partial failure, as Zaelro left shortly later, looking for the elf for further training, and his closing words were "I want to be a Paladin, too!"

spoiler:

Her mother is a Japanese human, effectively making her a dhampir. When she was young, she got her basic martial art training from soem of Reglay's best generals (Fencing from General Gearfried of the Dullahans - you'll see him in Book II, and assassin's art from General Elena - you've got a glimpse of her position in C. 10), and was the first in line to the throne of the Blacks. However, when she turned twelve, her mother died a mysterious death, allegedly at the hands of General Elena, who was (also allegedly. Whether this is true or not, I'll think about it) having an affair with the Emperor. This angered the young girl, who then fled from home. She was picked up by a priest (as you know it, the Bishop), who taught her that it was not right to drink blood, and that humans are neither slaves nor "farm animal" for anyone, as common belief among her kin. It was this very priest who converted her into a leading vampire slayer that she is now.

And so she shares a double hatred for her fater - as the ringleader of the immoral bloodsuckers, like the rest of her colleague, as well as the personal grudge of the one who killed her mother.

spoiler:

There is not much mystery around her, except that she hated the Black Emperor's General laglace Entgegen even more than the emperor himself. This is a major spoiler for Book II, but I've hinted enough for you to speculate in the last two chapters.