A Feud Between Father and Son

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My name is Chang-Mi Baek.

I did not want to become strong,

But in this world, it is a necessity.

...

"Oi, teme! Nani shintenda?" ("Hey, you! What the hell are you doing?")

A single figure wrapped in a tattered, brown cloak approached the school's main three-story building without responding to the words. Several meters ahead of her, her interrogators- two rough looking women- stood side as they waited by the front gate, barring her entrance to the complex. One of them had a fierce scar running from the top of her forehead down the left side of her head right through where her eye would have been. She had a cocky glint in her glare as the wind lifted up the short cape on her back, her mechanical last arm eagerly flexing needle-like fingers as her other flesh digits reached behind her back for the two knives fastened near her belt. The other woman, somewhat shorter in stature, simply retained the sullen look on her face as she seemed to stare past the figure and into the distance. On her wrists were the broken chains of huge shackles that seemed more appropriate for a ferocious beast rather than her own small frame, but the way she carried her lithe body gave off a different impression entirely. Both of them bore a small white cross attached to a collar about their necks. The mark of the Kuruda. The branding of confinement.

"Oi, kiitenno?" ("Hey, you listening?") said the taller woman, roughly grabbing the cloaked persona's shoulder and holding her in place as she began to pass by. "I asked you a question, Chang-Mi."

This time, the figure looked up, fierce, cold eyes of hatred piercing through the darkness of the hood straight into the taller woman's head.

"You have no right to call me by my name," said Chang-Mi threateningly as she looked up into her opponent's gaze. "Get out of my way if you know what's best for you."

"You know why we're here," said the woman, the slow ring of steel slicing through the air as she loosed her blade from its sheath. "You didn't actually think Glorii has forgotten what you've done, have you? The Kuruda don't let traitors go quite that easily, no matter what their reasoning is. You're no exception." She nodded to the other woman, and the shorter of the two moved around to Chang-Mi's back, making sure to block off all routes of escape. There was nothing left for her now, nothing but the empty futility that Chang-Mi knew all too well. "You can make it hard on yourself if you want, or you can just let us do our jobs. It's your choice, Chang-Mi. Just accept your fate."

And Chang-Mi only cracked a hint of an ironic grin at herself, looking up into the Kuruda's eyes with a gaze that was no longer looking at the real world.

"Anta no namae wa nandeshou?" ("What is your name?" ) she asked.

The woman only smirked as her fingers wrapped firmly around the knife at her back.

"I am Zan," she said confidently. "You can remember that when you enter through Heaven's Gate."

But Chang-Mi only began to laugh, a slow, painful laugh against the world...

"Muh-ree ap'ah-yo..." ("My head hurts...")

"Hm?" said the taller woman in confusion, the cockiness temporarily falling from her face. But by that time, Chang-Mi was already in motion.

In one swift motion, the cloak was tossed to the side and silver flashed through the air. Zan grit her teeth to prevent the scream from escaping her throat as her opponent forced her right arm up by the wrist and stabbed deep into her armpit with the small balisong that had so expertly flipped out into her hand. And Chang-Mi only continued to stare deep into her eyes with that gaze that seemed to tear apart reality, delving deep into a world that she herself would never know.

"Mao!" shouted Zan desperately. "Kill her! Kill her now!!!"

The shorter woman leapt into motion, rushing forward and wrapping her forearm around Chang-Mi's neck to cut off the blood flow to her head, using her other arm as a brace for the deadly hold. However, a single stabbing motion quickly ended the submission attack as the rebel sliced into her forearm with her short blade and struggled free from the assault, slowly backing away in preparation for her own offensive. As the heavy overcoat that was tied down over her shoulders began to catch the wind, Zan's eyes widened in surprise as she caught a glimpse of dozens of silver sparkles, the morning sun glinting off of the handles of countless balisong knives that were safely sheathed in the inner lining of her jacket.

"Teme wa... nanimonoda...?" ("What the hell are you?") she whispered beneath her breath, but by that time a knife had already left her enemy's hand and lodged itself deeply in her throat. Pulling in her prey by a thin, nearly invisible wire attached to the end of her weapon, a single swipe by Chang-Mi's right arm left two more blades impaled in Zan's eyes. However, the woman had already been rendered dead by a fourth knife that pierced the bone in her skull, twisted with enough torque to turn her brain into mush.

"How did you...?" said Mao slowly, backing away from her deceased comrade as Chang-Mi's wrath-like figure rose from the corpse. It was then that she truly looked closely at the rebel's right arm and noticed something that she had not discerned before. "Your arm, they didn't say anything about---" But Chang-Mi was already pressing her back with a wild slash with her weapon, and Mao forced herself to concentrate on the battle before she too lost her life. A quick feint to the side gave her the opening she was looking for, and from Chang-Mi's rear she pulled her opponent's left arm of flesh and bone back in a binding hold as she used her other limb to hold her body in place. It didn't last long as Chang-Mi quickly overpowered the smaller woman and spun about to try to fill her blade with blood, but that was only the breach that Mao had been searching for. Kicking her in the gut and forcing her to double over against her will, the Kuruda tucked the rebel's skull beneath her right arm as she used her left to swing her up by the belt in a vertical suplex that seemed to suspend itself in the air for minutes. Finally, using the last of her enemy's momentum to complete the technique, the Kuruda spun and brought her enemy crashing back down upon the earth, tearing up the ground beneath them from the mere impact as her elbow landed squarely in the middle of her enemy’s chest. Mao was also slightly fazed as she picked herself up from the cracked concrete of the school foundation, but the damage that her foe had taken had been far worse than her own. Few people managed to get up from that move, and fewer still walked away from it alive. Even with the loss of one member, she had managed to finish the mission by herself. Glorii would surely be pleased in knowing that they had been able to complete their duty even with the given setbacks---

Mao stopped as her entire abdomen quaked in an explosion of pain. Blood sprayed upwards before her eyes, and when she finally managed to gather the strength to look down at the source of her pain, she found Chang-Mi's right arm glistening with her blood as it punctured completely through her lower chest. She tried to say something, tried to give some kind of meaning to the last tragic moments of her life as she watched them flitter away, but before she knew it, it seemed as though she was already looking at her own face from the outside, floating up higher and higher into the clouds above as the last of her spirit began to ebb away. And down below, Chang-Mi Baek stood as if she had not taken a single blow, wiping the rich blood of her prey from delicate fingers with the eyes of a dead soul.

"You..." whispered Mao as she felt herself fading away. "You... really are different from the others, aren't you...? You just don't die..."

Chang-Mi's eyes never changed as all motion left the body of her enemy's corpse, her cold gaze always steady, her fearless resolution always unbreakable...

...

Once again...

My name is Chang-Mi Baek.

I did not want to become strong,

But in this world, it is a necessity.

...

"But yet... what does it mean if I don't have any expectations of you anymore? Does that mean I don't care or anything? Is that really the real meaning of love?"

--- Anonymous

...

...

...

...

...

Wait just a little longer. Just a little longer. And then Edge will die by your hands...

Yujin stood alone in one of the many training rooms in Toy's citadel, a faceless, gray box of smooth surfaces that were constructed from alien metals to endure even the hardest punishment. The only movement in the room came from small particles of dust that lazily twisted in small cyclones about his feet from the pulsations of energy that his body radiated about him, but the light in his eyes burned with fury unrivaled. He had to stay calm for now if he was to be allowed another chance to kill the one who had humiliated him so many times. The scars of Toy's mental rape still lingered in the back of his mind, and he knew that he would most likely not survive another assault the next time he dared to confront his master with such boldness. Patience was not a lesson that grew easily in his philosophy, but he would have to learn it to cleanse his name.

"It's all his fault," spat the general, his huge hands clenching tightly into fists. "You're the one who did this, you son of a bitch. You're the one who's ruining my life!!!"

Even though the chamber had been designed to withstand the toughest of blows, the force of Yujin's anger still smashed a wide crater beneath his feet as a massive shockwave of pure energy thundered out from his body with an eerie scream that echoed throughout the room. The dust moved furiously now, riding upon ripple after ripple of emerald intensity that rose from the monstrous android's form, rising far up to the ceiling high above, gracing the tails of the cape that now flew on the visage of power and strength. How long would he have to endure this agony of delay? How long would he be robbed of his pride and honor at the hands of a pathetic reject prototype? And it was not just a singular instance of shame that weighed him down, but rather something that had occurred twice. Twice! Twice he had been cheated of victory, and for what? A premonition of his master that couldn't even be divulged to his top general? No. Everybody was against him now, even Toy. They didn't want him to succeed. They didn't want to see him bathe in the glory that he deserved. He had fought long and hard for everything that he had become, he had earned it with his sweat and blood. He would not let one boy take it all away from him.

"Edge..." seethed Yujin, and another shockwave crashed through the air as erratic surges of power whipped about the training room and tore open the thick walls with their might. Heavy breaths replace his once calm exterior, and his entire body now quaked with an insatiable urge to murder. To slay. To destroy. "I'll kill you..."

And then louder.

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

"Yujin," came a loud and sudden voice from behind him.

"What do you want?!" roared the general furiously as he reared his head back in the direction of the room's entryway. Few people were foolish or stupid enough to disturb him in the training room, especially on a bad day. Fewer still lived to learn the lesson for themselves.

A single, tall silhouette blocked out the light from the outside hallway, and the heavy clank of metal boots began to reverberate throughout the room as the massive mecha who had called his name entered the room. Unlike Vomisa and Yuusuke, this one's face was completely covered by a mask of metal with just enough room for its mechanical eyes to poke out beneath the brim of his helmet. Yujin could hear the giant gears in the behemoth's arms churning with power as he approached him with strong, confident steps that continued to maintain the cold conformity of a mindless robot. This one was built to withstand the punishment of any war without failure. It only made him laugh.

"Neon," spat Yujin in contempt. "I take it Toy has decided it was about time to dust you off again?"

The lumbering giant said nothing as it stopped squarely in front of the seething general, its chest nearly gracing Yujin's nose as it looked down on him.

"Your services will be required for the following mission," said Neon mechanically as Yujin suddenly recognized a file being uploaded into his memory banks. "The enemy and objective information are detailed within that package. We will leave within the next few hours, so please be prepared to leave at the agreed departure time."

Yujin was barely listening. The sound of his teeth grinding together in fury cracked the delicate silence that had held the air since the newcomer had entered the chamber, and a ferocious thunder split the atmosphere as the general's anger finally took form in a devastating sonic blast that tore through the ground.

"You idiot," he said coldly. "Do you even know what you're asking me to do?"

"These orders come directly Toy-sama. They will be followed without complaint or failure."

"I should tear you apart for trying to take what is rightfully mine!!!" roared the general, and the atmosphere around him exploded again as his power flared, green flames hungrily licking the floor around the robot's boots even as Neon refused to move an inch. "You have no right to do this. Edge is mine to kill, MINE! I don't care about your orders, but if you touch him I will tear you in half!"

"The proper consequences will be dealt to you if you chose not to cooperate with this assignment," said Neon blandly, his emotionless brain unable to register a reaction to Yujin's display of raw power. "Your assistance will be necessary to completing this mission. Please comply with the outline that you have been given in order to allow this task to proceed smoothly."

The general's eyes only narrowed for a moment as his iris-less vision blared with dangerous light. It took less than half a second for him to wheel back his right arm, and another half second to bring it forward smashing through Neon's face. He, the top general of Toy, would not be given orders by this brainless underling. He would not allow the vengeance that was rightfully his to be stolen from beneath his nose for as long as he lived. He was Yujin, a being who had lived for thousands upon thousands of years as one of the most powerful and feared creatures in the universe. And he would be damned if he ever let anybody try to take that away from him.

Though his monstrous opponent had been born to withstand the onslaught of countless human armies, he did not fare quite as well against someone of equal stature. The ground shook from the tremors of Neon's weight as the android smashed against the ground, the entire castle seeming to quake beneath the impact of its body upon the metal floor. And as the soldier methodically picked itself back up on its own two feet, Yujin took the opportunity to wrap his clawed fingers around its head and hurtle him hard enough across the room to drive a crater into the wall.

"Don't fucking underestimate me!!!" roared the general as the air burned with white fire, an invisible vacuum rippling through the air and shredding the edges of the giant's armored hide. "You were only resurrected for a temporary service, but I EARNED my place here and I'm not about to let you take my prize!" His body rocketed forward as his right fist rammed itself so hard into Neon's gut that it lifted the huge mech straight off the ground, suspending him in midair as his fingers spread out and began to slice through its circuitry like butter. "You cannot even begin to comprehend your situation, my life, anything that's going on around you!!! For you to even presume that you could ever be anything greater than me will be your last mistake before I rip you to---"

The words were suddenly stolen from his throat without warning, and Yujin was left gasping for breath as he tried to figure out where his voice had gone. Suddenly, he realized that his limbs failed to respond to his thoughts as well, his shoulder spasming backwards as it dislodged itself from Neon's abdomen, his feet unwillingly forcing his legs to step away from his prey. What had just happened? Why wasn't his frame responding to his commands? Neon couldn't possibly have such an advanced power, even Toy wouldn't dare allow that much power to a non akuma-chip mecha. It was simply too risky. Was Toy himself intervening in his assault? Did even his own emperor seek to humiliate him with the threat of loss?

"... you... Toy..." forced out Yujin as his body began to shake uncontrollably, even as Neon stood to his full height before him with cold eyes staring down upon the general. "... gave... you... lock... ... program..."

"I have been instructed to enlist your cooperation at any cost," said Neon dully, the hole in his stomach slowly rebuilding itself as hundreds of thousands of nano-machines began repairing his interior circuitry at incredible speeds. "Enforcement of this program will be temporary until the completion of our task. Toy has given me absolute command over this campaign, and I shall thus be the one monitoring your actions. Please comply with your instructions in an amiable fashion. Further rebellion will be countered with the use of force."

The general let out a cry of fury that shook the chamber, his eyes growing wide with absolute hatred as his entire right arm began to lurch forward towards the behemoth's face, continuing to tremble uncontrollably as Toy's program worked to hold his actions in check. Yet, Yujin's strained fist continued its slow path forward towards Neon's skull if only at the progress of a couple inches per second, and the huge soldier simply watched on in bored disdain as his electronically requests were denied without a second thought. No longer did Yujin's mind run on the path of reason, that which defined the barriers between right and wrong. No longer did he try to calculate the benefits of his violent actions against the consequences that his master would impose upon him. All he knew now was that this fool thought that he could do what he himself had not been able to accomplish in the past. This fool thought that he could get away with taking Edge's life for himself, take it away from the one who really deserved it. And even worse, this one could not even comprehend the meaning that taking the life of such a creature meant to the general. That was what drove him to pure insanity. "Kill---you---!"

Yujin abruptly doubled over violently and retched as Neon's enormous fist thundered into his gut, a shockwave rocking the complex as the general instantly found himself smashed near the wall to the entrance and sprawled out upon the ground with bits of rubble raining down towards his face. He tried desperately to stand up again, but that one second of surprise had been all it took for the lock program to slither past his mental defenses and secure his body in a firm stasis, and he was now unable to move so much as a finger against his "commander’s" adamant will.

"You will serve me under the supervision of the lock program for the duration of this mission," said Neon as he loomed over the general, its enormous feet stopping near his head. "Please report to the designated meeting area at the hour given in your orders and you will receive more specific instructions at that time. Thank you for your cooperation, General Yujin. Toy will be elated to learn that you have properly complied to teamwork regulations in this operation."

Yujin's eyes watched the mech lumber out the door, but his body still refused to respond, held fast by chains locked to his joints and gears. No matter how hard he tried, he could not free himself. No matter how deep he tried to dwell into the virus that had corrupted him, he was only thrown out again and again until a foreign, cold feeling washed over his body. It was something he had never experienced before, but it made him tremble and feel helpless in the darkness of his prison. Here, he was faced with a defeat that stared him dauntlessly in the face and mocked his being with its pride. Here, he had been incapacitated, buried beneath a pile of his own unrivaled desire and the impatience of being able to free himself. Here, he was castrated, helpless, weak.

Was this... fear?

You can't do this to me... YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!!!

And deep within the black depths of his own head, Yujin screamed like a wounded animal, tearing at the insides of his mind to find a way out.

...

...

...

I'm falling down in endless space, no longer afraid of the void below because I know that I will just keep dropping forever. There's nothing left for me here anymore. There's nothing left for me in this sad, sad world...

... so why won't you let me go? Why can't you let me cry in peace...?

...

The metallic taste of blood met Fumiya's tongue and a small voice left his still lips as his mind swirled in color. Every inch of his body felt as if it had been burned down to the marrow of his bone, but the ferocious pain that gnawed at his nerves every time he tried to move made him realize that such was not the case. His arms had been spread wide above his head, and a sharp pain in his wrists told him that something was restraining him against the cold wall. Even without opening his eyes, he knew that his new injuries had been more the fault of the sheer force of his father's assault rather than the burns themselves. Nevertheless, he should have been turned to ash by those white flames. There was no reason why he should be able to feel anything anymore. Why was he still alive?

Fumiya tried to lick his lips to clean his mouth its acidic flavor, but a searing pain that ran up his cheek quickly made him realize that blood and saliva had caked over the cuts and bruises on his face. Bubbles of puss began to leak out from the broken cracks that he had ruptured in the half-healed wounds, and he resigned himself to his former position as he felt the sticky liquid ooze down his chin. His eyelids ached as he tried to exert force upon them, but the world flew open before his vision anyways despite the flakes of dried body fluids that had hardened over his visual organs. Yet, all that met his vision was a white haze, a bright light immediately forcing him to sheer away from the world. And even as he instinctively protected himself from the intensity of reality, he felt shame in his heart. Here, he could not move, he could not think, he could not fight. Here, he had been deprived of his only chance to redeem himself and was instead set at the mercy of the man whom he hated the most. Here, he was no longer a man. He was his father's son.

"Fuh... Father..." hissed Fumiya beneath his breath, but his words suddenly caught in his own throat as he violently coughed and threw up a geyser of blood which he heard splatter on the ground far below. Here he was, chained up against the wall like some kind of wild beast, put on display like the trophy of a hunter. Here, he was reduced to nothing, what little pride he had left having already been stamped out beneath the foot of his own prey.

"I... won't let you..."

But he already had, hadn't he?

And just like everything else before him...

... he was not strong enough to push the fog away...

...

...

...

"This is not tactically sound," said Terpfen monotonously over the comm-link. "Fumiya Sang-Wu specially stated that he intended to be left behind at this position after our mission was complete. Regardless of what might become of him, he intended to end his journey with us at this location. It is not logical for us to retrieve him against his will, especially when it puts our own units at unknown risk."

"But this also isn't how we thought the plan would go," grunted Kouryuu to her unseen partner in response, using her elbows to pull her body forward in the narrow air ducts, silently wishing in her head that the nuclear weapon had tried to convince her of the futility of their strategy before they had actually started going through with it. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind leaving that guy where he is now, but none of us could have predicted that things were going to turn into this. He's probably in no position to deserve our help, but our bad luck wasn't his fault and I don't plan on letting him take all the blame. He got us this far and I don't plan on leaving without him. Besides, if I'm guessing right, wherever he is now is where Yoshiki will be too. If we can find him, then there's still a chance that we can finish what we came to do and still make it out in one piece, especially since they're probably not expecting a second assault."

"That, and we can't leave without him anyways," said Double over the line. "The only person who knows this complex as well as Yoshiki is his son, and stepping outside this building would be the equivalent of suicide since none of us know the extent of the base's defense matrix. I don't know what's going on with Edge, but he's a dead weight right now that's going to cripple us unless we know what we're doing. We need some kind of plan before we attempt to move out. Otherwise we're as good as dead."

The rebel grimaced as the truth hit home, but forced herself to concentrate of tracing the position signal of her blades through the complex's vast network of tunnels. She hadn't wanted to justify their rescue of the gangster's son with quite that wording, but she knew as well as the others that they had no chance of making it out alive if they braved the security gates as they were. Edge's strange condition only made their flight worse, but that was something that they were going to have to deal with later. As much as she cared for the young boy's condition, she couldn't afford to let herself get diverted from more urgent matters at hand. They were deep in the territory of an enemy who was smart and resourceful enough to know how to fight them, how to deal with them, how to win. The first time around, they had been ambushed and trapped because of foolish carelessness. If she didn't pay full attention to what happened around them now, then she wouldn’t live to even try to find out what happened to her comrade.

"I think I know where our two mobsters might be," said Asimov over the comm-link. "I tried siphoning part of Zero's energy to see if I could make use of her abilities since it appears that her power tends to make her a bit more sensitive to living creatures around her. I was actually able to widen my sensors to cover the entire complex in a way so that I could read the heat and energy output of every human being in this place regardless of any material objects that were in close proximity, and I've been getting some unusual outputs from the east end of the mansion. You remember how both Fumiya and Yoshiki were able to exhibit auras of flame, right? There seem to be two intense energy patterns in that area that are far higher than anything else in this place, and I'm guessing that that must be caused by the strange behavior that those two have shown earlier. It's not a very solid guess, but I think that it's our best lead for now."

"Good job," replied Kouryuu, huffing a bit as she carefully inched her way under a laser detector, her nose only mere inches from the thin red line. "As soon as I find my swords, we can figure out a plan to finish what we came to do and get out of here. I'll also retrieve Yoshime and Iesu's belongings as well. Just make sure they stay where they're put, Clef."

"Understood," said the mature voice stolidly. "However, I don't think Yoshime has much motivation to move as is, seeing as how fraught she is over Edge's perilous situation. Of course, I'm sure that this is for the best in our current circumstances, I trust that you will be able to remedy the danger more quickly without our presence."

Kouryuu murmured n acknowledgement, but she too was distraught at seeing the girl's spirits dampened. Yoshime had always been one to summon courage forth within their group, no matter what odds or opponents they might have faced. Yet, it all seemed to be sucked so easily out of her ever since Edge went comatose. What would happen if they couldn't revive their friend from his slumber? What would happen to this young girl if what was happening to Edge happened to be something completely out of their hands?

The rebel closed her eyes and gave her head a fierce shake as she forced herself to snap back to reality. She couldn't think about that right now. She had to push all distractions out of her head if she was going to do her work. She would have time to worry about such things later. Better not to get ahead of herself and just focus on one step at a time.

"Kouryuu, there's something else that we're not anticipating," said Double abruptly. "You remember how Fumiya admitted his 'condition' to us, right? He said that it was a sort of sickness that triggered his flames if I'm not mistaken, something that forced his body to react under certain states of pressure. If that's all true, then how do we explain Yoshiki? When Asimov and I saw him back in the volcano where we encountered the Shiken larva, he was using some sort of white flame, but it sure didn't look like he was suffering from the kinds of ailments that our little friend had."

"I agree," said the golden warrior. "I've seen cybernetics and biomechanical technology that would be possible in producing such a phenomenon, but that doesn't explain why the heat didn't affect Yoshiki himself. His body was able to completely adjust to the intensity of the fire, and the temperatures that he was reaching were rivaling that of the volcano itself. Furthermore, his clothes were left completely unscratched by the flames and he took several full-force blows from me without missing a beat. Not something an ordinary human being would be able to do. The only explanation that might explain this is that Toy has granted him a limited amount of power for his services, but even that's stretching more than a few presumptions since I doubt Toy would dare trust someone that unstable with so much ability. The thing I'm most worried about is why Fumiya didn't tell us this before. Did he not know about it or was it intentional? There's a possibility that he could be playing us for fools again and this is just be another trap."

"I'm not sure if that's the case," said the assassin in low tones, half to himself and half to his comrades. "We've already seen him go to extreme measures to try to take down Yoshiki, measures that put a lot more than just himself at risk. If he had planned this far in advance to trap us at this location, why take such a risk? It doesn't make sense. I believe that Yoshiki's newfound skill is just as much a mystery to Fumiya as it is to us. We just need to find out how far the limits of that skill go if we're going to fight against him effectively."

"If he was able to hold his own against Asimov, Yoshiki could prove a bigger threat than we first presumed," mused Clef. "And if Yoshiki has been able to display this kind of power, we must also consider if there are others who possess it as well."

"Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of time, Clef," grunted Kouryuu, closing in on her homing signal. Approaching a grate in the floor of the narrow ducts, she peered down into a sparse room where three soldiers lazily slouched over in chairs around a small table, throwing down cards and money to pass the time away from their dull occupations. The rebel's eyes narrowed as she spotted a large metal case about half the size of a car in the corner of the room, and she quickly glanced back to the guards in an attempt to calculate just how much freedom of movement she was going to have. "It won't be long until they discover we've left our cells, and you can bet that they'll comb every inch of this damned fortress if they have to in looking for us. Maybe Yoshiki did get some kind of ability along the way, but we're going to just have to deal with it for now if we want to get out of here at all."

The shaft grate fell to the floor with a loud clatter as the rebel abruptly kicked it open and dropped amongst the astonished sentries, but they didn't even have the time to reach for their weapons before their enemy was in motion. One quick flick of her arm lashed out a thin laser wire that twined itself around one of the men's necks with ease, a second motion whipping his head forward smashing his face against Kouryuu's knee.

"Intruder!" shouted one of the guards as he backpedaled into the wall behind him, trying to find the emergency warning button with his hand while doing his best to make sure that he wasn't the next victim. "Intru---"

He never got the words out as the rebel’s right leg spun up into his face and a vicious roundhouse kick sent him sprawling into the corner. With two of her foes down and the last one too far away from the emergency alarm to actually be a real threat, the rebel allowed herself a lengthy stare over her shoulder at the final soldier as he nervously looked about at his disabled teammates in despair. She wondered if he would try to run. Instead, his hand darted out for his rifle against the wall.

With a sharp kick to the table leg, Kouryuu broke off the small stave and twirled it into her hand before the guard could even get his fingers wrapped around the trigger. Two wide steps was all it took to close the distance between the two, and a single, solid blow to the back of his head was all it took to render him motionless on the cold floor.

The rebel simply sighed as she dragged her opponents into the corner and focused her attention on the large case in the room. A quick palm blow cracked the lock off the top, and Kouryuu let out a breath of relief when she saw her trademark weapons safe in the bottom of the chest.

"I've recovered my swords," she said into her comm-link. "It looks like they were keeping Yoshime and Iesu's stuff in here too, so I'll take those back to them so that Yoshime can give us tactical support during our assault. I know that Clef can probably cover the majority of backup if we need to disable any of their infrastructure systems in a hurry, but one more person certainly won't hurt."

"Good," said Asimov. "I've been able to roughly pinpoint the chamber that our two gangsters are hiding in, so I’ll send you that information. It's rather vague because Zero's magic is far more receptive to living things than inanimate objects, which is why I wasn't able to completely map out a safe passage from your position. But I trust that if you could find out where they were hiding your blades, you'll be able to get to the location of the assault easily enough as well."

"Thanks for having confidence in my abilities," smirked Kouryuu. Somewhere else she heard Double snicker with amusement and cursed that she wasn't near his location so she could smack him upside the head. "Double, where are you right now?"

"I've been scouting ahead thanks to Asimov's guidance," said the assassin. "I haven't made it to Fumiya's room just yet, but things are already looking bad. Even on low-level radar, I'm still picking up a lot of outside signals in this area, and they look like the kind that are normally transmitted to corazon chip mecha. This area is dense with activity, and whether or not Yoshiki is expecting us to drop in, it's not going to be easy to pry our ticket out of here away from his grasp. What the hell is he doing with Fumiya anyways?"

"I doubt it could be anything good," said Asimov slowly. "If Fumiya dislikes his own father so much, just imagine what Yoshiki thinks in turn. I don't think that our problem is getting out of here before they find out that we broke free. I think the big issue now might be rescuing the only man who can help us escape before he gets killed."

Kouryuu tried not to curse under her breath as she pulled herself back up into the air shaft, dragging a bag of Yoshime and Iesu's belongings behind her. Things always seemed to get more difficult than they needed to be. Then again, if she knew Double, he would probably just argue that that's half the fun.

"Okay, give me five minutes to get this extra baggage off me," she said hastily, already pulling herself through the narrow tunnels with her elbows. "Asimov, I want you to keep track of everybody's position around the target room. We're going to need to synchronize this assault well if they have as much security as Double's predicting. Double, I want you to try to find a position to attack from the north end. Asimov, Zero, try to cover the east and west points. I'll take the south once I'm done with this. Give me twelve minutes to finish this up, but if you see an opening that needs to be taken, do it. I'll do my best to cover backup if something drastic does happen, but remember that our first priority is making sure that Fumiya stays alive. Otherwise we're all screwed."

The rebel flipped out of the duct opening barely even giving herself the time to check for guards, but she couldn't afford to waste time at the rate they were going. If Fumiya died, there was nobody else who would willingly help them around the gangster's security grid, and they would most likely die in crossfire if they tried to make it out on their own. Surely the human guards who patrolled the complex might know something useful to them, but if Yoshiki's reputation held true, then they surely would not talk for fear of something far worse than the simple ending called death. This adversary was well armed both in mind and in his battalion, and he had already shown that he excelled well at mixing the two in tactical combat. And if Toy was indeed the one financing this madman's interstellar cartel, then there still might be something far worse than they could ever imagine waiting for them at the end of the road. Yet, she had to take that risk if they were going to get anywhere. She didn't have time to think about the consequences. She didn't have time to feel fear. She had learned long ago what it meant to take responsibility, to do what one had to in the heat of battle. Time was often scarce then. But as long as she could still lift her blade, then there was still a chance to win...

...

...

...

"My son..."

Fumiya's ears rang from the deep voice that reverberated through his head like a gong, but his hands refused to budge when he tried to move them to cover his ears. Dried body liquids caked his dry and cracking skin and trails of puss and blood still remained on his cheeks from his earlier wounds. Something stiff and strong abruptly grabbed his face and firmly jerked it forward by his chin, and he felt like crying out in pain as every inch of flesh that was touched burned in agony. He did not want to face this horrible force who manhandled him so easily, who mocked his helplessness as he was held chained and powerless against the wall, but slowly he forced himself to open his eyes and stare the monster in the face. Slowly, he forced himself to look into the mirror of his past.

"I see that your body has healed faster than expected," said Yoshiki grimly, his slightly smiling visage floating just in front of the mercenary's vision as his fingers held him in place. Fumiya's skin still cried out in pain from the touch, but upon sight of his father he realized that the man was only stroking his cheek endearingly, not abusing his position as he had once thought. "In fact, I did not expect you to wake up at all, but as you have done in the past, you continue to exceed my expectations again and again."

"Y...You... little..." hissed Fumiya violently, blood dripping from his mouth as he sputtered out the words. "I'll kill you..."

"Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be able to make it that far," said the gangster. He did not smile as he said the words this time. "Even if you are my son, I cannot tolerate your behavior if you refuse to stop attacking my business. I did not build this empire by letting fleas continue to bite at my hide while I stood idle and endured their blood-sucking abuse. Like the ones who have so violently and foolishly resisted me in the past, I must make an example of the error in your ways to all who might consider such a path."

"You're... not human..." said the mercenary slowly, forcing his body to straighten, forcing himself to gather dignity against this monster whom he hated so deeply. "You have no soul..."

His lungs tightened sharply as his father's fist solidly connected with his gut, and a second punch to his cracked face was the only thing that kept him from throwing up bile.

"Your justice is not the only right one in the world," said the gangster coldly. "We, like all organisms on this planet, exist only to survive. To believe that we are special or unique just because we are human has been one of the biggest mistakes in our philosophy for eons. I did not ask for fate to deal me this lifestyle, but I was not about to sit around and let my existence be controlled by it either. I did what I believed to be best for you as your father, and still you rejected my consideration despite the fact that all of my actions are indeed warranted by the very domain you reside in. Perhaps you are the one without a soul, Fumiya, for you are the one who is still unable to grasp the extent to which the world around you revolves."

Slowly, the small platform that the gangster stood upon hovered away from his blood, and the rest of the chamber began to slowly open up to Fumiya's failing eyes. Sterile white walls curved up from the ground far below and met with one another high above his head in a massive dome, the only infraction on the flawless surfaces being the massive steel beams that supported their weight. In perfect rows, dozens of armored soldiers- both human and robot- lined up down below in perfect formation, their straight, rigid bodies only blurred dots in the mercenary's poor vision. He himself was not on their level, but rather held high above them exactly between the ceiling and floor, suspended in midair and strapped to a wall that he could not see. Yet, he remained in a position to see that the legions of drones that his father governed were lining up here today to witness a spectacular event, one that was meant to partially entertain them, and partially put fear in their hearts. The chamber, spotlessly clean in its symmetric perfection, were to be his grounds of execution, and Fumiya was somehow suspended in the very center of it all, chained to a massive pillar that was meant to be the last place where he would ever see life again.

Something in the back of Fumiya's mind spasmed wildly, and his eyes grew white as he let the shackles at his wrists bleed and he fought to get free with every ounce of strength that he had. Something in him suddenly began to unravel, starting slowly at first, and then moving faster and faster until the end of the string was weaving in and out of the knot so fast that he could no longer tell where he started from and where he would finish. In his mind's eye, the moon's shine that had always protected him before slowly became obscured once again. Yet this time, somehow he knew that it would not come back. Somehow he knew that what took away his solace this time were not clouds that would come and go, but a roof that had been built over his head by man and not nature, something that existed only to keep him from gazing upon that very thing that he wished for. This time, the fog rolled in thick and gray until he could not even move his limbs from his side, the sheer weight of the viscous substances binding his arms to his abdomen, for now he knew something that he had been cheated of before. Now, he became aware of the lies in his life, things he could no longer deny with greed and hatred, things that would not go away in the face of his petty human emotion. Now, he became aware of the reality that clawed at his naked flesh, trying to sink its insatiable teeth into his hide to eat him alive. Now, he knew that those dreams he had lusted for so feverishly for in his youth would never come true. That was when he slowly began to realize just how much nothing he had ever done in his life mattered at all.

He would not die like this. He would not be chained and displayed like a trophy. And he certainly would not let it be done by the one whom he hated the most.

He had been robbed of his only truth.

There was nothing left for a man like him...

... except the concept of death.

A scream tore from his throat as he flailed wildly upon the monolith, and dark patches of blood splattered against the pristine, smooth surface. He felt his knuckles and forearms bruise as he flailed savagely against the cold slate, but he could not control the indomitable inferno in his head. Even though he could still see through his own eyes, his vision was misty, and his movements felt dulled and fruitless even as he felt his balled fists smash into the concrete slab that he was lashed to. It was as if he was watching himself from the outside, unable to touch or make contact with his body, unable to control its outrageous tantrum of sheer passion. Something in him had broken when he woke up from that horrible nightmare, when he realized that the phantasm he had thought to be false had crept up upon his shoulder to haunt him in his physical existence. Something in him had fled and hid when it realized just how lost he had become in a world of lies of deceit. And now, as he watched himself in fear and loathing, unable to stop himself from going insane, the child deep within his heart finally began to shed tears of pity for himself, pity because he knew that his wishes could not ever come true. And as those red tears dripped from the cuts on his hands and the scars on his cracked face, they were hungrily devoured by the cancer that erupted in his gut, eaten and digested by the monstrous beast until his essence was slowly whittled away to nothing at all. And slowly he began to grow up...

...

Yoshiki looked on as his son's limbs finally grew weak and limp, his bloody image on the white cross that he had been chained to finally growing silent and serene as the gangster's legions watched in fear of this prey whom their master had captured for display. Deep inside, he had hoped that things would not turn out this way. He had wanted their reunion to be one not in which they sliced at each other's old wounds, but instead one where they would help one another stand on equal terms. The reunion had been the only request that he dared make to Toy at all for fear that anything further would only displace his mysterious benefactor, and he did not wish to risk such an abominable outcome for anything. Yet, it had all been in vain in the end, hadn't it? Fumiya was adamant in his beliefs and refused to acknowledge the efforts that he had made in the boy's youth. The gangster had once thought that perhaps there was a chance that old wounds could be healed, but as today had already proved, some only grew defiled with age, and such brutal damage could only be cured by severing the tainted limb once one was sure that there was nothing left he could do to bring it back from the dead.

"He lived an eventful existence, Master Yoshiki," said Seth in polite tones as he folded a warm, wet towel about his master's hands to wash away the stain of blood. "I believe you should have no regrets in ending his life today, sir."

"And I do not," said Yoshiki mildly, wiping his fingers clean of his son's life fluids. "There's no point in pursuing an empty desire that cannot be caught. This is the way he wished his life to be finished. The only thing I can do is give it to him." He stared out at his soldiers down below, wordlessly watching and waiting for the time to come in which the victim on the wall would perish. Usually, their main purpose was to guard and protect his investments, to ensure the safety of his union. However, today they stood there only as witnesses by his request, spectators of the grand execution of his own blood.

"Seth, inform my men that we will be starting shortly," the gangster said coolly, the heat having died from his fiery vision, the only thing left being the cold logic of a man who understood the importance of acting on necessity alone. "I will not be completely robbed of victory by this setback, my friend. In this business, one can show no weakness lest the beasts tearing at his heels overtake him and conquer the gait he once held. This way, even if I can't have my son by my side again, I will let them know that I have no mercy for those who violate my principles, no matter who they might be."

...

...

...

"Kouryuu! Are you there?" hissed Double urgently as he lay quietly in the air duct. Down below, he watched through the metal grate as a frantic parade ensued and hundreds of soldiers filled the clean white dome with their numbers, their eyes all focused upon the bloody spectacle of a prisoner who now lay dormant on the center stage. Unfortunately, it was this man whom they all watched that they needed to get out alive, and now things seemed to be in an even bigger case of peril than he had first thought as he watched small puddles of crimson splash upon the floor down below. "Kouryuu! How much more time until you can make the position?"

"I'm on my way there right now," answered the rebel over their line. "The ducts are a little more complicated than I expected, so maybe seven, eight minutes at the very least. Why? Is something going on? Where are you right now?"

"I've taken the liberty of finding a high-vantage point in the room that Asimov found for us, but it looks like Yoshiki has some personal plans that we knew nothing about," he said in a grim voice. "Fumiya is here all right, but he's tied up on a cross in the middle of a dome that's big enough to be a coliseum. I can't see a lot of detail since I'm directly above his position, but there's blood everywhere and at least three hundred guards standing by, both the standard types as well as mecha. Security is tight down there, and I'm beginning to wonder if we even have a chance at cracking these numbers."

"Don't worry about that for now," said Kouryuu. "We'll have the surprise advantage, and that can definitely count for more than enough if we plan it right. Even if they outnumber us, it doesn't matter how many of them there are as long as we can make the first strike. A four-pronged attack from all sides could easily take them off guard. Corazon mecha could pose a problem, but if that place is as big as you say it is, we'll have the advantage in being able to work in a larger arena this time. Asimov and Zero can perform some fancy tricks if they have enough room. Yoshiki is the only one who I would mark as a real danger to us right now. We're still unsure of his limits, but I don't think even he could stand up to us if we team up to keep him off balance."

"You haven't even given me a chance to tell you the bad news yet," snickered Double somewhat bitterly. "What's going on down there isn't a show. It's an execution. Yoshiki's going to kill Fumiya, and when he does, then our safe trip out of here dies with him. I think that there's a slight possibility that four of us attacking from different vantage points might keep them distracted enough to possibly pull off this insane plan, but decreasing that number by even one lowers our chances by a lot. We could end up being the ones executed if we move too fast, but then we also risk the chance of sacrificing our target if we don't. I don't know how long this guy is going to take to finish his business, but if there's blood already on the floor, I don't doubt that the final stroke is far behind."

The line went silent as the assassin watched the mafia leader's platform slowly close in on his son's limp and motionless body. Androids like himself did not technically need to breathe. The action only served to intake and analyze outside particles in the air around him for abnormal foreign substances. However, he realized that he held his breath in anticipation nevertheless, and he had to force himself to exhale out again as he tried to keep himself focused on his job.

"... continue with the plan as it is," said Kouryuu stolidly as she finally answered him over the comm-link. "I'm recalculating my route to come in through the exit closest to my current position and I'll join you in the assault as soon as I arrive." Stillness ensued as the line briefly grew quiet, and the assassin could hear a heavy sigh from his companion as she made a decision that he knew she didn’t like. "Are there humans in the area?"

"Yes," answered Double slowly, knowing why she asked the question. She would spare them if she could. It was just another part of her rebel background, something that he personally did not agree with as an assassin. Yet, somewhere along the line even he had grown to understand her at the very least. It was not so much that he was willing to change his ideology for her sake, but rather that he had grown to respect her enough to admire her way of thinking as well. "If I'm reading the body heat trajectory correctly, there are at least ninety-eight human soldiers in the area, most likely Yoshiki's elite guard who have been allowed to witness this ceremony."

"... contact Terpfen in advance. Even though he's with Yoshime and the others, he can still teleport nuclear units into the area as long as he is given the proper coordinates. Link him to your global positioning system and make sure that he can have a clear view of the area. He should be able to give us backup in that manner. But tell him not to attack until after you've started your offensive. Otherwise they'll detect the immense energy signature that his nukes put out and we'll be discovered before we have a chance to utilize our preeminence."

"Kouryuu..." said Double. "Combat makes no preferences in the pain it inflicts, and the decisions made therein are often done so out of necessity, not compassion. You can't make yourself regret what you're about to do now. Just finish it, finish your duty, and we'll all get out of here alive."

She did not answer, and even though Double had killed thousands with a cold heart within his lifetime, he did not blame her.

...

...

...

Yoshiki took up the cool wooden scabbard by his side as he floated high above his soldiers to address them. By his hip, he held an ancient relic of the nuclear age, a real, steel samurai sword constructed by masters of the era, a weapon of a quality and elegance that could not be duplicated even with the magnitude of excellence that modern technology could cover. It was rare that he showed this to the public and even rarer that he put it to use, for this blade was one that he used only in ceremonial executions of his most dangerous and respected enemies. He rarely found the need for such rituals in his earlier years because he had been smart enough to befriend his most menacing foes rather than oppose them without reservation, but every once in a while he found it necessary to make a strong example of a particularly influential traitor to his cause. For years, he made great efforts to exterminate those who would dare to oppose his empire, and eventually the underworld grew to respect and fear his very name. Today would mark the last triumph in his reign of warfare. From this day forward, his life would be complete.

"My friends, today I have called you here today to witness a distinguished event," said Yoshiki to his audience, his voice filling the chamber with his deep brass. "Today, the last of my adversaries shall fall and the business which I run shall be able to continue completely without opposition from this day forward. This is a great day not only for me, but for you as well, because your futures will hereby be guaranteed to the same wealth and prosperity that I reap from our fields. From here on, nothing will stand in our way of claiming a good life in this dismal world of ours, and we shall rise above the corrupt governments of the world to live a lifestyle full of peace and contentment." A mild applause met the tail end of his speech, and Yoshiki allowed himself to smile. Soon, everything would finally come together. Soon, he would have everything that he ever wanted.

"It is to my regret that I could not prevent this unfortunate act of violence that must take place, for my actions are not done for the sake of bloodshed, but for the sake of creating peace in this world gone mad. However, I will not let this fact set me back, for sacrifices must be made if we are to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves." The thin blade silently hissed in hunger as the gangster gently pulled it free from its scabbard and raised it high above his head. "This is not a tool that I wield with ignorance, but rather one that I take in hand with only the greatest consideration. When this blade has returned to its sheath, the last of our troubles will have dissipated, and our first steps into the future will finally begin."

He turned to Fumiya's limp body as the precise lines of soldiers below began to clap once again, and he slowly brought the blade of the sword just beneath his eyes as he prepared himself to make the blow against his own blood.

"If I cannot have a son who will love me, then I cannot have a son at all," said Yoshiki coldly to the mercenary, gently running a finger along the steel. "You can be replaced, after all, and I can merely create a new successor to join me as the ones who inherit the earth when the human race has died out. But regardless, you are still my first-born son, and I will not abandon you until the very end. I give you one final chance now to accept my offer, and we can wipe the slate between us clean. I still stand by my affection for you, my son, and I do not want to see you go if I do not have to."

A long moment passed and Fumiya finally raised his tired head to meet his father's proud gaze above. But now his eyes were blank with insanity, his movements painstakingly torpid with apathy. And as blood and saliva ran down his chin and a thin drop of the thick liquid dripped off the end in a slow descent to the soiled floor below, his vision flared with an ancient antipathy and loathing as he met the gangster's gaze, his body coiling in on itself as his lips peeled back and his throat opened wide. Human words had escaped his head long ago when his last hopes to live life the way he wanted it to be had been beaten out of him by the truth, and now the only thing that remained was a hollow, pitiful creature who continued to hang on to old desires even though he already knew that they would never grace his fingertips. The result was nothing more than a slowly turning, brutal circle of unfound justice, and the beast now found itself unable to do anything but retrace its steps along this endless cycle of grief and cry at its own impotence. And suddenly noise filled the room, and Fumiya's body was no longer lifeless, but screaming maniacally and tearing at his bonds with enough force to tear at the bolts of the chains that held him down like an irrational freak. Yoshiki could only shake his head in woe as he readied the sword high above him with both hands, watching the madly thrashing creature howl before him as he prepared to end its piteous existence.

"So be then, Fumiya," he said, his eyes growing cruel, his own heart finally making the acknowledgement that this thing could never be what he wanted it to be, what he had hoped it would be. And as he steadied the sword above him in a jou-dan stance, he took in a full breath as prepared to look upon his only remaining kin for the last time in his life.

"Farewell, my son."

...

...

...

In the midst of the perfect, attentive rows of androids that had dedicated their meaningless lives to serving a nameless master, the air began to mysteriously congeal in upon itself, wrapping around and around as molecules began to be pulled forth from a small ripple in space. It was a miniscule disturbance in the atmosphere, and a few of the robot constructions who were close enough to pick it up on their radar turned their heads in a mockingly curious fashion towards the source of the disorder. Slowly, the particles began to form a solid, round object that floated gently in midair, the comforting glow something that the war machines had never seen nor sensed before. It was a foreign object, but not something that they recognized, and thus they were not aware of the danger as they continued to observe it in hopes of discovering the strange orb's intentions.

"Die," said Double curtly with a smirk, and a single electrical message flew from his brain at the speed of light to the one who had created the devastating weapon of destruction.

Sensors roared in the minds of the robot creatures as they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a massive hexagonal energy shield on all sides that reached from the floor to the ceiling, trapping them in a vertical shaft from which they could find no escape. The barrier's gentle blue glow bathed the dozens of guards that it had ensnared in its soft, soothing light as their computer systems began to desperately parse apart the code that held the construct together in desperate hopes of escape. Yet, another signal went off as they did so, this one far more urgent in its outcry. The small globe had begun to glow brighter now, the intensity within the core growing fiercer as chemical reactions began to tumble together like an unstoppable avalanche. Finally, when the sheer amount of force was too much to bear, the sphere burst from the sheer amount of brilliance that had accumulated within its tiny space, and the shaft was filled with a glow of brilliance as the nuclear device tore apart every single bit of matter in its prison and rocked the chamber with the howling voices of pure chaos.

...

...

...

"WHAT--?!" exclaimed Yoshiki as a violent crash rocked the room, and he brought his arms up just in time to shield his eyes from the blinding tower of light that had suddenly erupted amongst his troops as he turned to examine what had caused the unwanted disturbance. On the ground below, he watched in disappointed dismay as the units madly rushed about the glowing wall that had erected itself in their midst, scattering to all corners of the room as they began to realize the severity of the situation. The gangster himself felt his fists grow tense as his teeth began to grind together in growing rage. Somebody dared to disturb him today. Somebody dared to intrude upon one of his most triumphant moments and make a mockery of his success by trashing that which he planned to establish through this ceremony. For years, he had sought to tie up this final loose string of his life, to bring an end about to the son who was lost to him. And mere seconds before he was to finish the job, his procession was brought to a halt by an unknown assailant. It was not often that he felt real anger. However, the fury was also something that brought out a rage rivaling even that of his immature offspring.

"This..." Yoshiki silently slid the expertly crafted sword back into its scabbard and gently placed it in the outstretched hands of his trusted butler who floated up near him on his own platform to accept the unused weapon of war. "... will probably have to wait for another day."

"As you wish, Yoshiki-sama," said Seth with a bow. "Would you like me to alert the elite guard for you, sir?"

"No, that won't be necessary," said the gangster stiffly as his eyes grew narrow. "You may take your leave now. Please notify security to seal off this room once you have made your safe departure. These people will learn not to disturb my private affairs. I will deal with them myself this time."

"As you wish, sir," repeated the butler with another bow, and his platform abruptly dropped down below and off into the commotion taking place on the ground. Yoshiki's eyes only remained rooted upon his son, now completely silent, as his thin bloodshot eyes pierced into his very heart. Yes, he had just been robbed of completing the ritual that would have finally separated him from this spawn forever. He had just been robbed of the final thing that he needed in order to wash away every single taint in his life. For that, they would do more than simply die. Today, these brave fools who dared to infringe on his desires would suffer in ways that not even the human mind could conceive.

And as he raised his eyes directly above him to watch the explosion's trails of whispy smoke twine up towards the clear ceiling, he grinned savagely as a red streak darted down towards him from the heavens with bladed hands meant to kill, the first of the violators who would be crushed beneath his hands, the first of the sinners who would die for the successor to the human race.

...

...

...

Double was stunned by how easily Yoshiki was able to predict his dive. He had thought that the man would have been easily distracted in the middle of Terpfen's explosion. Yet now he could only stare into the man's psychotic gaze as he descended towards the madman, the soft glow of warmth wafting about his being suddenly exploding into a raging inferno of hatred.

"Damn!" cursed the assassin as the gangster's flames rose up to lick at his hide, and even his malleable form began to bubble from the high temperatures. Blinded by the white fire, he swung around wildly as he fell through the pyre, hoping to score even a random hit on their target. But it was all in vain, and his gut caved in as he felt a thundering punch connect with his chest, his body flying straight out of the inferno and smashing hard into the once perfect white wall of the dome. He forced his systems to stay online, but the damage was severe and he had already used up what he thought would be a preemptive attack. His limbs ached as he picked them from the craters that they had left upon impact, his eyes desperately trying to analyze his situation. Already, he was at a loss against the one man who they had feared would hold the most danger in this mission. Already, his energy had been drained by a single, perfectly executed assault on his being. And perhaps worst of all, already he was beginning to have doubts about just how much of him would make it out of this fight alive. If any.

"You've come back for more, eh?" boomed Yoshiki's voice as the smoke began to clear, the man standing between Double and the battered mercenary whom he had come to save. The air began to quake beneath the gangster's very presence, and just as suddenly as it had disappeared, the holocaust of white brilliance leapt out once again from every pore in the man's body, thrashing the hover platform that he stood on to dust, surrounding him in an aura of deadly elegance. "It was a pity that I did not have the time to finish you off earlier, assassin," he said, his tight fists loosening into sharp claws. "But I have all the time in the world now, and I will show you that to personally offend me is to be rivaled only by the devil's wrath itself!!!"

Double's body nearly melted as he struggled to remove himself from the hole in the wall, and only a mere second after he leapt out and began his descent to the floor, Yoshiki's flaming body collided with the space he had filled only a moment before in a fiery comet that set the air itself on fire. Double's eyes narrowed as he scrambled to the ground and backed away from the hail of debris and flame, his hands tensely flexing in between various forms of sharpened weaponry. This was not the type of enemy who he could handle on his own. He personally excelled in the art of killing, of taking lives before his victims could even realize that they were prey. However, his fighting expertise could not deal with someone who held this much raw power, especially once his enemy was already aware of the assassin's presence. He was going to need backup, a lot of backup...

"Terpfen!" said Double quickly over his comm-link. "Patch yourself into my visuals and target Yoshiki's area with one of your explosives. No delay on the trigger. Do it now!!"

"Acknowledged," came Terpfen's impassive reply, and a second later a cylindrical tower raised itself around the gangster and filled with the bright light of an atomic bomb. Even though the assassin knew that his enemy had just been bombarded with enough force to destroy an entire city, his instinct refused to calm itself, his body remaining taut and coiled, unsure if his prey had really taken any damage at all.

"I'm right here!!!" roared a voice from behind him, and Double turned about just in time to see the gangster raise his fist high above his head in preparation to strike a killing blow. Even as his body slowly whirled about to meet the man's offensive, his mind creaked to a halt as he tried to figure out how his opponent had been able to circle around to his back without him knowing. How had he managed to recover so quickly only seconds after pulverizing the wall where he had once been? After being shot at point blank with an atomic weapon? Something about the man began to scare him as the assassin slowly began to realize how badly informed he had been of this creature's true ability. Something inside began to see that this was not a human being as he had once presumed, but something much, much more, something with more power than he ever could have anticipated. Had he known from the beginning, he probably wouldn’t have attempted such a poorly planned assault, but now it was too late for any regrets at all.

The killer raised his arms up above him in mock defense, knowing full well that this man who could crush steel would have no problem breaking his limbs. Yet, the blow never reached him, and he was surprised to suddenly find Asimov standing tall before his eyes, holding back the gangster's fist in the palm of a single, quaking hand.

"Sorry," said the golden warrior apologetically, his eyes never leaving the gangster’s. "But I still have some unfinished business with this one before I can let you have him."

Yoshiki only smirked.

"You're both foolish if you think you can kill me," he said coldly. "You couldn't do it before. What makes you think you could do it now?"

"You and I both have something in common," said Asimov smoothly, his eyes narrowing, and suddenly his body boomed with a power that exploded from within his shell. "We both worked for the same man, and seeing as how highly your services were often regarded, I'm sure we both did our jobs to a very capable degree. That job had its benefits, but also a heavy weakness, the dependence that we grow to have upon our superior. The difference between you and I was that I was strong enough to break free from that safe haven. You still lack that, and thus you lack your own confidence to fight a real battle."

"Then you were a fool," said Yoshiki. "If you have really lived for as long as I've heard, then I can't believe you would forsake your master to live in this middle ground between heaven and hell. To reject strength, whether or not it is your own, is to resign yourself to the reaper's mercy."

And without another word, the air exploded between the two in a haze of fire and kinetic energy, the very ground beneath them being torn to shreds as they shattered the air with their rage.

...

...

...

Asimov's body raced along the surface of the wall as a sea of flame leapt up behind him in a tidal wave that threatened to swallow him whole. He leapt towards the floor and tried to draw his enemy out towards the middle of the room, but Yoshiki suddenly burst free from the surge of fire and sliced downwards with his hands in the golden warrior's direction. Massive, curved pillars of white brilliance flew from the arcs that his limbs has traced into the air, and chunks of the floor began to give way to the indomitable force as the heated blades tore through everything in their path. Asimov braced himself on the floor as he stopped his retreat with a hard heel on the ground and narrowly slid through the towering knives that threatened to slice him in half, his body glowing with the incredible kinetic energy that the heat's accelerated molecules were giving off. Bringing both arms in front of him, he unleashed a powerful energy blast towards his foe, but the gangster only smirked as knocked it aside with the back of his hand and retaliated with several flaming projectiles of his own. Asimov's absorption field quickly utilized what little he knew of his enemy's flame to create his own small inferno and harmlessly absorb their heat, but the man's power was far more complicated than he had first expected. Usually his ability could parse together the components needed to duplicate the ability of any mechanical creation. It was only a matter of time that determined how fast he could accomplish the task. Skills enabled by non-mechanical means- such as Zero's black magic- generally took longer to build because his body was not built with such tasks in mind, but he could still fulfill such actions if needed. However, he could only scratch the surface with Yoshiki's flames, their intensity a mere fraction of the ones the gangster swung about, and he could not figure out why. His foe’s body not only appeared to be able to produce and withstand temperatures that could destroy even the hardest solid matter, but he also appeared to have been granted a physical prowess that matched even his own. No matter which way he looked at it, the figures didn't add up. No human being could possess any of those abilities without some sort of mechanical or biological modification, and yet it didn't seem as if Yoshiki had had any such surgery done upon his body. Even if he had done so, there was no way he could have applied so much pressure to his frame. His muscle tissue simply would have not been able to stand the strain before breaking apart. Yet, here he was breaking the assumption that Asimov had made, and he could not figure out what the mystery was behind his strength. Could he have struck a deal with Toy? Something that delved beyond the powers of science? No, that couldn't be it. Toy had done many things out of desperation in his lifetime, but he had never seen it fit to give such a magnificent endowment to a human being. He simply did not trust them enough to be able to wield such power with good discretion. No, it was something else. Asimov could summon the flame up easily enough, but it was wild and did not obey his desires. It was if it was still an immature babe, needing time and patience to cultivate it to his own requests. In his hands, it seemed like nothing more than an untamed animal, and he knew nothing of how to bring it under his will. It was almost as if control of the flames themselves was not something natural, but rather something that had to come with time. Like an infant learning to walk, it seemed as if it was a talent that had to be learned and not inherited.

Asimov nearly missed a beat as he suddenly turned about in shock, staring at the gangster as those last words flittered through his head. Something... natural?

He erected an energy shield to buy himself some time as several more blades of fire tore through the air in his direction, their ends breaking into ashes as they smashed up against his barrier. However, the warrior's mind was no longer on the battle, but on something that scared him far more. If he could not assimilate with Yoshiki's ability easily enough to use it to the same extent as the man himself did, then it meant Yoshiki's aptitude with the flames came not from the ability itself, but from a maturity that came over time. Asimov could not reproduce the same effects as he did because he had only been in contact with the skill for a fraction of that duration. However, how long would it take to learn how to handle such a weapon? A month? A year? A decade? Perhaps he himself was no expert with the given weaponry, but he had read many things from Toy's vast library over the eons covering everything much of the universe's history. Mechanical and magical skills did indeed take time to learn to use properly, but that time was invested not in developing a certain art, but rather learning its inherit qualities. Once one learned a spell, there was only so much one could do to expand within its limitations. The same when for mechanics. If one built a basic car for example, he could do things to it to make it faster, but there was little he could beyond its initial purpose of transportation without modifying the instrument completely. Therefore, if he himself could only use the gangster's flames at a nearly insignificant level while the man himself was able to create destructive forces that rivaled the power of entire armies, how long had he had such a thing? How long had he possessed such a deadly force? How much time did he have to learn how to use it? Or perhaps the smarter question was how long the fires had had to use him...

"His body has completely adapted to using the flames," said Asimov. Why? No. He didn't need to ask that question. As much as he wanted to deny it, he already knew the answer. If this was the true nature of his power, that the fire was something that the gangster did not inherit, but rather earned, then it meant that there was no augmentation. There was no surgery. The man's strength and resistances must have came naturally, built upon years of using such a force, not as a result of some kind of steroid or mystical artifact. He knew how to shape the inferno because he had learned how to, not because that was the nature of the power itself. And if there was nothing foreign in his body that could have possibly modified his natural physical abilities, then it all had to come from something else, something that was not artificial, but as intrinsic as everything else in his frame.

"Kouryuu, how much longer until you get here?" said the golden warrior quickly over his communications, blocking a roundhouse kick towards his midsection and pressing a blast of force into the gangster's gut. Yoshiki only grinned as the white fire began to curl about his fingertips again, and Asimov forced himself to bounce back in retreat to try to put some distance between the two. The more he realized the truth about their situation, the more he realized how dangerous the situation was the longer they stayed in the mansion. Time was running out. They were going to have to make a break for it before the rest of the gang lord's legions caught on to what was happening. Otherwise they'd just become rats stuck in a maze just like before.

"About two minutes," said Kouryuu over the line, her voice somewhat unsteady from her hurried movement. "Why? What's the situation there?"

"Yoshiki's power is a lot more powerful than any of us thought it was," said Asimov, swatting away another fireball. "I just tried to use his power with my own field, but the results were far less than I thought they would be. I've been in his vicinity long enough now to absorb at least 77% of his potential ability, but I'm still having difficulty even summoning it up at all."

"What the hell are you trying to say?" said the rebel.

"I'm saying that this isn't something we can disable or shut down. His power is inherent, and should be considered at +a superhuman level at that!" he said quickly. "It doesn't behave as if it had been given to him, but like he had been born with it from the start. And if there's no possibility of 'shutting him down,' then the longer we're here the more trouble we risk. Yoshiki can already dominate us with numbers, but if he himself possess a strength that maybe rivals even Yujin with equal knowledge of how to use it, then we're risking more out here than we bargained for. I have more than enough confidence in you and Double as fighters, but I won't lie in saying that you two won’t be able to hold your own against this monster."

Silence. Asimov wondered what must have been running through the woman's mind. Kouryuu was surely a woman of stronger will and courage than he possessed, and it almost frightened him to think that she hesitated under such a dire predicament. Yet, just as he wondered if she would ever answer at all, her voice came in clean and clear once again, refusing to back down to any challenge.

"How well are you and Zero holding out?" she asked.

"She's doing well against the soldiers, but there's only so long she can go at full speed for and there will surely be re-enforcements coming soon," he said. "As for me, I'm not quite sure how long I can hold out for as of yet. I've only established the minimal amount of contact with Yoshiki to analyze his abilities thus far, and I don't know how much energy I'm going to need if we need to get out of here in a hurry."

"Then we need to plan for an escape. We're not going to have the power to beat him at this rate," said the rebel. "Where's Fumiya right now? Is he still alive?"

Asimov skidded to a stop and spared just enough time to glance at the enormous, glistening crucifixion in the center of the room upon which the mercenary had been laid. His head bowed, his arms limp with inactivity, the man looked as if he were already dead. Yet, traces of life continued to flicker on Asimov's monitors, and he quickly spun back into motion as the gang lord continued his brutal assault.

"We made our move before Yoshiki got a chance to kill him, but he still got beat up pretty badly," he said hurriedly.

"Then we need to get him out of there now while Yoshiki's distracted," said Kouryuu. "I'll be there shortly. What's Double's situation right now?"

"He took quite a bit of damage when he tried to take our gangster friend by surprise, but I gave him enough time to get out of the way before he could take any serious injuries."

"Okay, tell him to get Fumiya out of there at any cost," she said. "Fumiya's our best chance to get out of this deathtrap and if he expires before we do, then we could all be screwed. The soldiers might not be a problem as long as we can keep them at bay until we get out of the room, but Yoshiki could pose a major threat if he figures out that he's not the one we're after. You need to distract him until we can get Fumiya out alive or he might just try to massacre him along with the rest of us. I know that's a lot to ask of you, but---"

"Don’t worry about it," interrupted Asimov with a slight grin. "Let me worry about him. You just hurry up and get here so you can help get the bastard out of here alive." He could almost picture the expression on Kouryuu's face as he said the words. He doubted she would have ever expected to work with an agent of Toy this closely. Then again, he didn't think that he would have expected it either if he were in her place.

"Okay, gotcha," said the rebel. "I'll be there soon, don't let me down!"

...

...

...

"Retreat?" repeated Double to himself as he received the message from Asimov.

"That's the best thing we can do right now, Double," said Asimov to him over the comm-link. "Think about it. You know how badly we're out-manned and out-numbered, there's no point in making a last-stand if we don't need to. We came here to get Fumiya, so let's get him and get out!"

"But what about Yoshiki?" questioned the assassin. "We've already made our presence and our intentions blatantly present. If we don't take care of him too, then he's sure to follow us on our way out, and you know how hard that's going to end up being since we already have one man down."

"I'd love to take care of that problem if I could, but he's stronger than any of us ever expected, and I don't think even I can take him down," said the golden warrior. "You tried to hit him point blank with one of Terpfen's nukes, right? That's probably the most powerful weapon we got on our side right now, but if Yoshiki's quick enough to avoid it, it isn't going to help us much at all."

"Okay, but how about if you and Zero teamed up against him?"

"We don't have the time or manpower for that," said Asimov. "Kouryuu's on her way, but we need Zero to take care of the other soldiers while you rescue Fumiya. Otherwise we'll all be overwhelmed."

"It's a chance I'm willing to take if it could ease our escape," said Double coolly. "Just let me worry about the guards and Fumiya. If Yoshiki's working with Toy, then I'm sure you know just how hard he'll make our breakout if we don't take him out before we leave."

"That's a big gamble you're taking there," said Asimov sternly.

"But you know I'm right," said the assassin with a grin, and he heard his comrade audibly sigh over the line.

"I'll give you one minute, but if it's any more than that, chances are Zero and I won’t be enough to get the job done anyways. We'll just be putting our mission into more peril than need be."

"One minute is good enough," said Double. "I'll get my half of the deal done, I promise you that much."

...

Double faced the lines of enemy soldiers just as Zero broke away from their scattered ranks. As their eyes swerved to follow her flight, the assassin merely threw his arm out to the side, catching their attention with his confident motions and his cocky grin. He had to act like he knew what he was doing. If he didn't, then they would tear him apart in an instant.

"Terpfen, can you read all the enemy targets in this room?" he said quickly over his comm-link.

"Affirmative," said the nuclear weapon. "Do you wish me to target a lock on them?"

"Don't count Yoshiki. Asimov and Zero will take care of him for the time being," said the assassin, but hesitated at the end of the sentence. Even though he knew perfectly well that this was the best way to take care of the situation, something continued to bug at him in the back of his mind. He knew he shouldn't listen to it, it would only make his job harder than it already was. Yet, he continued to heed the message nonetheless, and even as his plans began to reassemble themselves to accommodate for the modification, he began to realize the rise of a change in himself. And he began to realize that it had already been happening to him for some time now.

"Terpfen, how many bombs can you direct at once?"

"I can accurately create, direct, and detonate up to twenty units with maximum accuracy, though detonation strength will be somewhat sacrificed in the process," answered Terpfen. "I can also forgo my recommended limits. However, the consequence will be that the accuracy of my payload has a higher percentile chance of misfiring, regardless of power reduction."

"How many units would you need in order to take out all robotic units in the vicinity?"

"By sectioning them into groups, I will only need fourteen units to eliminate the enemy's robotic soldiers," he said stoically. "Because the number is under twenty, I should be able to retain maximum accuracy if they stay within relative distance of their current position. However, according to my calculations I could eliminate all soldiers regardless of make in the area with only three units. I would highly recommend a change in tactics to maximize efficiency."

"Negative on that one, Terp," said Double, staring down his quarry. "Just go through with the layout I gave you. I'll take care of the rest."

"Affirmative," said Terpfen, and the line went silent once again. As energy shields abruptly shimmered in around the android guards of Yoshiki and bright bulbs of light began their deadly decomposition within the sealed chambers, the assassin let his body flow as several small globes of mercury the size of his eyeball began to form in the palm of his hand. By his count, there were currently forty-seven humans in the room who posed a potential threat to their mission, the others having already been killed or brutally wounded by Zero's savage assault. Even he had to admit that Terpfen was easily correct in stating that it would have been easier and more logical to have let him take care of all of them at once. However, something within didn't want to let him take that particular road today. He knew Kouryuu had something to do with it, but it was still something that he didn't want to admit to himself. Not yet, at least.

"Hmph," he huffed irritably as he watched the explosives break open into brilliant shafts of light, the scintillating glory temporarily blinding the humans with its glare. He was only doing it because he knew he knew that he was that damn good, that he could afford to take such a chance in battle. Besides, if Kouryuu had been by his side, she'd have spared that many anyways.

"Don't you get weak on me," muttered the assassin to himself, and seconds later his feet were already flowing across the floor as he raced up to meet his enemy in the confusion. He balanced nine balls in total in his left palm as he used his bladed left arm to tear into the hamstrings of several guards who strayed from the larger clusters. Forty-three left. Making his way into the larger groups, his arms began to work quicker, severing muscle and bone, but only in the limbs, never once making a fatal wound. Thirty-five. The surprise of the initial distraction was starting to fade now, and the visual enhancements in the soldiers’ armor was beginning to parse out the ocular confusion to detect the killer within their midst. Twenty-seven. They quickly became aware of the killer as he weaved between their numbers, and he began to shift gears as he used his fists to physically stun them with a primary blow before disabling them completely with a second. Twenty-one. Five soldiers attempted to flank him from the side as bullet shells nearly clipped his head, and he threw several of the spheres he had fashioned in their direction as the small projectiles expertly smashed into their trigger arms with the force of a cannonball, shattering bone upon impact and loosening their hold on their weapons. Fifteen. A following roundhouse kick was all it took to loosen their hold on their consciousness as well, and a supporting legion of defenders was similarly taken out with several quick strikes to the back of their heads. Nine. Only ashes remained of the robots now, the barriers fading away into fading shafts of light, but that meant that the leftover humans had more room to work with and were no longer hampered by the visual spectacle that had left them sightless only moments ago. Seven. A few shells met their mark in Double's forearm as he desperately tried to move between his opponents' spread out members, and the last four of his pellets hit their mark as they deftly crashed into their target's heads with enough force to shake their consciousness from their bodies, but not their brains from their skulls. Three. He began to get sloppy as a soldier nearly got the drop on him from behind, but his forearm morphed into a sword and swung back just in time to tear off his leg and bring him tumbling to the ground before the guard could put a bullet through his head. Two. A quick punch to the face ended the man's wakefulness, and Double leapt up just in time to dodge a hail of bullets falling in his direction. And that was when he realized that another soldier was holding an automatic rifle directly to his forehead in the place where he had just landed.

"Ch!" cursed Double, already aware of the second man that approached him from behind. In any other situation, he might have been able to find a break in their defenses and get lucky. However, he could already tell from their trigger fingers and tense movements that he wasn't going to get that chance. Usually he wouldn't think of dying in such a situation, but the blow he had taken from Yoshiki earlier had already administered considerable damage to his shields, and these guards were packing high-powered rifles with enough strength to punch through a tank. A point-blank shot to the head would most certainly not be very welcome by his cpu. These men were intent in killing him, and he had been just a little too slow in looking where he was headed.

A gunshot went off, but the bullet never met Double's head. Terpfen's glistening barriers had abruptly erected themselves around the two soldiers, and as the men quickly began to realize the condition they were in, panic began to visibly overtake their bodies as they watched the small, glowing balls of destructive force grow and thrive in their secluded chamber.

"Terpfen!" shouted Double desperately, but just as he was about to berate the nuclear weapon for his actions, the walls dropped themselves and the spheres of light fizzled out into the air, leaving two very confused soldiers looking around and wondering if they were still in peril.

"That slick bastard," said the assassin to himself, but he found himself grinning in amusement a quick chop to one foe's neck took him to the floor and a heavy kick to the top of the other's head finished the job.

"I hope I was not out of line," said Terpfen. "I am not programmed to kill innocents unless I am ordered to, but you were in a tactically unfavorable situation with no viable escape routes. I used our current sensor link to calculate an alternative to the current situation, as damage to your form would have surely been unfavorable in any case. I hope this did not interfere with your original intentions."

"Don't worry about it. You were perfect," said Double with a smirk, setting his sights towards the center of the room. Fumiya was the only one left on his agenda now. Time to make sure that that part of the plan got wrapped up as well.

"I need to get Fumiya out of here. Then we can think about getting escaping. The only problem is that Yoshiki probably isn't going to let him go easily, so I need you and the others to be prepared for when we make a break for it. How is your current position?"

"It appears that there is little surveillance in our part of the base, as we have yet to encounter any major security obstacles," said the nuclear relic. "What is your suggested plan of action once you have completed the mission objectives?"

"We don't know which way we're going to have to flee until we get a hold of Fumiya himself, so I don't want to give you orders to go anywhere just yet," said Double. "However, see if Clef can hack into this place's computers and plan as many escape routes as he can before we get there. With luck, we can put one of them to use once we start moving." Luck. A lot of luck. "Just leave the rest of it to us. I'll be at your position within ten minutes."

...

...

...

Yoshiki huffed in disdain as he slowly began to pull back from his ferocious onslaught, realizing that while Asimov didn't seem to be able to establish his own offensive amongst the storm, neither did he seem to be completely susceptible to its fangs. Something was wrong, and suspicion clouded his mind even as the gangster purposefully began to leave small gaps in his attack to test his opponent. As a soldier trained under the wing of Toy, he should have been able to notice those openings. Yet, he continued to favor a short retreat instead of taking advantage of the opportunity. Why? Why would he do such a thing? And then for a short second, Yoshiki swore that he saw the golden warrior's gaze avert itself from his own. It was sudden and certainly not enough time for even his own heightened senses to pick out what he was trying to look it, but it had been there nonetheless. The robot had not been seeking him all along. There was another target in the room, something whose importance superseded his own. But what could these people possibly want in this mansion of his...?

His eyes abruptly picked out a sharp, darting motion from below, and looking down, he saw the red streak that was the assassin dash across the floor towards the last of the guards, finally skidding to a stop as he put himself directly between his elite soldiers and his son. They had not come here to kill him as he had first presumed. No. These fools sought the very thing that had taken him years to acquire. These fools sought to rob him of his only peace. And only these fools were stupid enough to not realize what the repercussions of such an imbecilic act was.

"You..." seethed Yoshiki as the air around him suddenly flicked from the rising heat that began to flare from his body. If nothing else, the oxygen in the air that burst into white flame seemed to grab Asimov's attention fairly quickly. Yoshiki knew the importance of intimidation in confrontation. However, he didn't even care how much he was making the poor idiot worry now. "Enough games. Enough of this nonsense. The only one who will claim Fumiya Sang-Wu will be ME!!!"

A deafening boom rocked the chamber as his body shot off like a rocket towards his bound son, the ground beneath him splintering and shattering from the sheer force of his body moving through the atmosphere. Had Asimov not quickly put himself between the two, he would have blown the pillar the boy was strapped upon in half. Finally, the golden warrior finally seemed to want to play seriously as he held the gangster back with two outstretched palms, his body trying to absorb as much of the flaming bullet's kinetic energy as possible, the two bodies quaking in the air as Asimov sapped just enough force from his foe to instantly stop his murderous charge in mid-flight. Yet, it only took a second for it to become painfully obvious that Yoshiki's flame was easily the stronger of the two, and the gangster grinned widely as he watched the android's body begin to buckle under the pressure.

"Why do you even bother?" he sneered. "You should know that your power levels come nowhere close to mine. Why do you risk your lives for a man you hardly know?"

"This... said from a father," said Asmov shakily, struggling to brace his palms out before him. "... who only wishes to save his son... so he can kill him himself..."

"SILENCE!!!" roared Yoshiki, a sudden burst of energy breaking through Asimov's petty defense, a heavy backfist quickly following to smash the warrior into the ground far below. "For you who have lived your life out as a heartless shell and will end it the same way, you could never understand what it is like for a father to be loathed by your own son." His right arm began to glow as the white fire licked his outstretched limbs, and the gangster's narrow eyes refocused themselves on Fumiya now, growing more bitter with every passing second. "It has been said that humans are inefficient creatures because their judgment becomes clouded by the inexplicable concept known as emotion. You should consider it a blessing that most of your kind does not have to suffer that pain!"

His arm gently brushed a smooth arc in the air before him, and from that motion erupted an enormous glistening wave of silver fire that tore through the air from the ceiling to the floor. The projectile hurtled towards Fumiya with the force of a freight train, but mere feet from tearing its target apart it shattered upon a blast of crimson flame, splitting in two and ripping huge holes in the sides of the dome as it narrowly missed its intended mark. The corners of Yoshiki's mouth twisted only slightly in anger as he watched the smoke begin to clear, the dark shape of a hunched-over pigtailed girl protectively hovering where his assault had been split apart.

"Now, how about you test your fire against the real thing?" she said in a deep voice, her demonic influence sparkling in her eyes as the red tongues continued to lick her fingertips. "Spare me your theatrics as well. None of it is going to matter in a couple minutes anyways."

The gangster's eyes only flared white as his body was suddenly covered by the white blanket of burning fever, his arm raising up into the air perpendicular with his body and pointing his index finger directly at the demon.

"What makes you think that any of you can stand up to me? My power is something that your technology cannot define. It is an inherent biological weapon that has been bestowed upon my being as a natural ability, as a part of my very existence, not the result of some enhancement or spell. I am already something that you could not possibly defeat or understand, so why do you continue to try the impossible?"

"Maybe my technology can't kill you," said Asimov as he rose up besides his partner, wiping the dirt from his lip with the back of his hand. His golden aura suddenly flared crimson as he neared the Demoness, and the gangster's face began to contort in confusion as the flames that once only danced within her hands now spawned from the golden warrior's. "But there are darker things in this world that even you cannot decipher, things that haven't been seen on this planet for millions of years..."

Yoshiki actually blinked in surprise as the two suddenly disappeared from his vision and landed simultaneous kicks to the small of his back, their strong bond enhancing their already heightened abilities as they somehow circled about to his rear faster than he could see. Asimov quickly swung his other leg around and caught his opponent in the side of the head with a solid cracking noise before the man could recover from the quick assault, and before the gangster realized what was going on, Zero had already circled back around to his front and landed a solid front kick to his groin, easily doubling him over with the first look of real pain that the golden warrior had ever seen on the man. Even though he was still a robot in all due theory, he knew enough about human anatomy for even him to wince at the vicious blow.

"Dirty--!" sputtered the gangster, violently coughing up blood as he bent over in pain.

"Ch! Don't give me that," spat the Demoness, grabbing him by the neck and watching his face tighten as she began to choke him with her claws. "You give plenty of talk about strength and winning, but real war doesn't distinguish between victory and your petty code of justice. That has always been the problem with your race. You let your ideals get in the way of your goals."

She suddenly tossed him high in the air as the ground beneath her began to split apart, the flames of another, horrible world leaping up to envelop her in a glow that made her look like an angel of death. "Asimov!"

"I got him," he said, and as suddenly as Yoshiki had flown up towards the top of the dome, he was suddenly spiraling back down as Asimov's kinetically charged blow crashed into his body and sent him reeling back down towards the widening ravine. Zero did nothing as she watched him plummet towards the fiery pit, but a circular rune seal abruptly wove and dispersed itself in the air before her eyes as her cold stare followed the man to his doom. Upon the demon's silent command, several long, oily tentacles of pure darkness slithered out from the depths of the endless cavity and wrapped their poison-tipped spines about the gangster's body, tightening their crushing grip as their prey began to realize the severity of his situation. White fire began to bloom from the center of the chaos, but the Demoness' eyes only narrowed at the attempt to escape her trap.

"Hou... a valiant effort, but I can't let you do that," said Zero coolly, and as her hands traced out the shining blue lines of yet another rune in midair, azure rings of energy flashed about her foe and tightly held his limbs together in a powerful bind. "'They often grow angry if their calling is used in vain, so accept your fate in peace rather than struggle against your inevitable death. Perhaps they’ll grant you a slightly less painful death before they feast upon your flesh."

A cruel smile spread out across the gangster's lips as he was drawn in deeper and deeper into the chasm, and suddenly his clenched fists loosed their grip, and his eyes grew cold enough to quench even those fires that rose up from hell.

"Do not underestimate me," was all he said, and the crater suddenly erupted in a fantastic column of white light as clear, glistening flame spouted from its mouth like a geyser. As Asimov shed back from the brilliance, shielding his eyes to protect his optics from the extreme illumination, the Demoness simply held her ground, watching stolidly as Yoshiki shot upwards like a rocket and stopped once he had reached his foe's eye level, drilling holes into the backs of their heads with his death-like gaze.

"I will not let my life be ruined by a mere tool. I have worked too hard and too long to see all my progress be destroyed by your intrusion in my business." The fire gathered easily now, fueled by the rage that he refused to openly show in front of his prey as it grew in strength and intensity. "I can see that you are both seasoned warriors, you, having been a former soldier of Toy himself, and you, who wields power that surely was never meant to be unleashed upon this world. Therefore, I will have no regrets in showing you my true gift, for if you are you who claim to be, then you have already learned to prepare for your own collapse long ago..."

And suddenly the room was filled with light, and sheer force that emanated from the man pulsating in massive waves that nearly tore the foundation apart. For a moment, it seemed as though nothing else in the world existed except for this brilliance, as though from the center of the maelstrom was bright enough to birth a new world upon their own. However, when the darkness began to finally return to the world of reality, the only light that remained was the white fire of the gangster, his body glistening with the cleansing inferno of the heavens, the glow of a star surrounding his form as he floated high in the air.

"I refuse to believe that I have been born into this horrible world to die a miserable death. My purpose has been shown by the power given to me, and I will use this blessing to carve out the real life that I was meant to live..."

...

...

...

Double abruptly stopped as a blinding flash wiped across the room, and he forced himself to skid to a halt as his visual system temporary shorted out from the sheer intensity of the unexpected burst of light. As his internal computers struggled to readjust themselves to the new environment, the sound of a massive explosion hammered through the air and he forced his shaken eyes to look skyward to find Zero and Asimov in the middle of a ferocious battle with the gangster. Even though it was two on one, Yoshiki held them back. He looked far different than he had before. The heat levels that the assassin's computer read were incredible even with the distance between them, and it seemed to exponentially grow in fervor the closer to the source one was. His durability and stamina also seemed to be high enough to easily withstand most of the attacks that the couple threw at him, and if the man could continue staying on the offense until his backup arrived, it wouldn't be long before they all gave out under the pressure. He needed to get Fumiya out before his two comrades above buckled down under the gangster's brutal descent, otherwise they would all surely perish.

Double turned back to the giant cross that graced the center of the room and sank his sharp fingers into the cold, hard substance as he began to scale its side with lightning speed. Reaching the mercenary in a matter of seconds, he whipped his right arm back as it melted into a huge axe blade to cut free the man's bonds, his other arm still embedding spiked fingers into the cross to hold his position. A quick chop was all it took to sever the metal chains about the man’s feet, but just as the assassin was about to cut free his arm constraints as well, a dull moan managed to escape from the prisoner's mouth, his head rising only slightly as his bloodshot eyes managed to look up into his savior's.

"You..." sputtered Fumiya dimly, the tip of his mouth curling up in a smile that could have been mistaken for a sneer. "Leave me, you fool. This is where I belong."

"Don't give me that kind of crap!" said the assassin, gritting his teeth as he sliced through the shackles, quickly changing his free limb back into a normal arm and catching the man about the torso before his limp body could fall to the ground. As he held the mercenary tightly with one appendage, his other one morphed into a hook that dragged on the side of the cross as the two of them slid down to safety. "We got to get out of here, and you're the only one who knows the security grid well enough to lead us to safety."

"That is not the life that I was meant to live. Can't you see it? This is the only place where I can be, where I ever could have been..."

Landing on the ground once again with his target in his grasp, the assassin abruptly lost his patience as he collared Fumiya by the neck and stared daggers into his eyes.

"If you even think of saying that again, I'll kill you myself, goddamnit! We've gone this far for you already, and we went out of our way to save your ass from this psycho even though you probably didn't deserve whatever fate he’s cooked up for you! We're down one man already. Edge is comatose after the trap that we ran into. We can't afford to screw up with this much liability or we'll all die!"

And suddenly Fumiya seized him by his front as well, grabbing the killer's scarf as his eyes and body suddenly filled with vigor and hatred once again.

"I have no destiny beyond this prison!!!" he roared furiously, small sparks of purple flames managing to ignite about his body despite his near fatal condition. "I came here expecting to finish a nightmare in my life, and yet I come only to discover that it is endless, something that I can never escape from. I am and have always been the thing that I sought to destroy, the thing I hated, the thing I feared. And now that it is too late to go back and change anything, what can I do? Live the life I've loathed for my entire existence?! No, the only thing left for me is to kill my father if I can, or I die trying. This life no longer has meaning to me! Whether I kill or be killed, I must die in the end! I must---"

"Quiet," said Kouryuu sharply, coming up behind the man and cuffing him hard in the back of the head with the handle of her sword, her comrade looking on with a genuine look of astonishment not only her sudden appearance, but also her actions. "How dare you act so high and mighty when you still can't even think outside the boundaries of your own life? Do you think you're noble because you can throw yourself into a life and death match with your father? How about when you consider that we're with you here too, that we helped you get in here, that we even thought enough of you to help you escape!"

"You don't understand..." said Fumiya groggily as he held his cranium in pain. "None of you do. You don't know what I really am. I can't be out there anymore..."

"You haven't changed at all," said the rebel coldly, sheathing her blade. "You still run at the sight of danger, of confrontation, and even though you think you've made it out without a scratch, all you're doing is leaving others to deal with your problems. Though I cannot fully say that I know the extent of your troubles, I still know that you've already given up on escaping. Your eyes say it all. You don't even care anymore."

And the mercenary simply stared at her with his tired, slack face, all while the deafening noises of a horrendous battle echoed over their heads.

"Life does not go the way you want it to, I'd have thought that someone like you might have realized that by now," she said. "But there are people who have seen and experienced far more horrible things than you have who still keep on trying. I thought we needed your help because you were strong enough to understand that, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe I would have been right to let you die. Then again, maybe someone like you doesn't deserve that kind of release from this world."

Fumiya said nothing this time, and Double was so entranced with watching him that he almost forgot where they were until his friend called out for his attaention.

"Leave him, Double," she said callously. "We can't afford the extra baggage, so we'll give him what he wants."

"But we've come this far!" protested the assassin. "He knows what we ne---"

"He's not going to give it to us," said Kouryuu, but she couldn't face him this time, refusing to stare him in the eye as she turned her back on the man. Double could see the fear that gripped her body now, even though she forced herself to look tough, to look as if nothing was wrong at all. And he admired her for it, for the courage she held on to so that she could carry them all if she had to. "If he no longer cares, then even threatening him with death would do nothing to get the information we need." She put her hand up to her face and covered her eyes, and for the first time ever, Double swore that she was breaking down beneath the heavy burden put upon her back. "I'm sorry... we should have left while we had the chance."

"You and I both knew that this was our best chance to get out. There's nothing we could have done about it," he said coolly, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "All we can do now is leave. There's nothing left for us here."

"I know," said Kouryuu, and she looked up to the sky of the dome as she watched flame dance across the sky, the battle between the Demoness and the gangster escalating to a fearsome level of destruction that raged across the room. "Contact Asimov and Zero. Tell them we're going to start pulling out. I'm going to contact Clef and see if he can---"

"The southeast end..." said Fumiya abruptly as he sat upon his elbows and knees, and Kouryuu and Double both stopped what they were doing and stared in his direction.

"What?" asked the assassin.

"The southeast end..." repeated the mercenary weakly. "Take me there and I will show you how to leave this place..."

"Why should I even believe you're serious?" asked the rebel, and Fumiya forced himself to look up into her eyes as sparks of purple flashed before his vision.

"I will not take back what I said. I no longer have a place in this world," he seethed. "But neither is my purpose here over yet either. The existence of my family little more than an endless cycle that started before I was born and will continue to run after I die. I came here to stop that by killing my father. Until that day comes, my life will still have at least that much purpose..."

The rebel only stared at him for a minute, studying his silent fervor as he hunched over on the ground, trying to raise himself up to his feet again managing only to look like a wounded animal who was trying to imitate a human being. And for just a second, Fumiya's eyes began to soften, no longer obscured by the purple flame or the endless storm of anger. For just a second, they were clean and clear, asking for mercy, asking for a chance.

"Please..."

Kouryuu only sighed above her crossed arms, and as she turned to leave, she raised one hand towards Double and unsheathed her blade with her other.

"Can you carry him?"

"Easy enough," said the assassin, and the rebel nodded with a grim look on her face.

"We'll pull out now. Hopefully Asimov and Zero can keep up their diversion for a couple more minutes so we can get a head start on our escape," said the rebel. "First we need to regroup with the others, but I'm betting that Clef might have been able to hack enough of Yoshiki's computers by now to at least give us a little cover from the backup that I'm sure is already on its way. We've already risked far more time than we planned for and there's a good chance that we might be gunned down by security at any point during our escape. Let's just hope that this was all worth it." She stared down at Fumiya for a moment that seemed suspended in time, and then looked back up towards the heavens as the sky destroyed itself over and over again. "This is our only chance."

...

...

...

...

...

The noises fell like raindrops now, and slowly the rest of the orchestra began to join the somber strings. Yet, they did not climax as sharply as the music has done so before, but rather accompanied the active players in a slow recession as the abrupt crescendo fell near silence. Slowly, ever so slowly, the harmonies drifted away on invisible winds, but with this new lull also came a vacuum that seemed to absorb the tension in the air upon itself, bringing only greater anticipation for the things to come. Even the distant sound of the piano's droplets soon fell away to nothingness, and soon the sound stopped altogether as the musicians prepared themselves for the second movement.

...

...

...

...

...

Edge could not help but cringe a little at the darkness that surrounded him as the dull crunch of dry leaves sounded beneath the horse's hooves. He and Mikaeru had long since fled the village where they had met, but the dark forest around them seemed just as menacing as her earlier descriptions of the soldiers who would inevitably follow their path. He was often used to observing his environment in a very stoic manner, but tonight the black shadows seemed to leap out at him in ways he had never noticed before, the sharp, leafless branches of the trees lurching in his direction as if to tear his body apart. It was not a feeling that he was used to, nor did it make him any more comfortable in his already unpleasant situation.

"How much further until we get there?" he asked, trying to cover up the quivers in his voice as best as he could.

"Just a little more," replied Mikaeru, seeming not to notice his irregularity. "I know it must seem a little out of the way, but Shin would surely discover us if we made this camp any nearer to the towns. There's a rumor that he even has a ‘watchdog,’ someone who has the ability to track us. But nobody's ever been able to confirm it, probably because they were killed before they would escape with the info."

She abruptly stopped and dismounted from the ride, approaching one of the thin trees that cast shadows about the forest and tracing the edges of her fingertips along the bark's rough hide.

"This should be it, if I'm correct..." she mumbled, and Edge suddenly heard a small click as she stopped the motion of her digits and smiled with victory. "Got it!"

The ground started to shake, upsetting the previously peaceful beds of leaves that rested at their feet, and the young boy quickly leapt free from the animal's back before it grew upset from the unexpected movement. To his surprise, it remained perfectly still as it awaited the transformation to complete itself, apparently having experienced this phenomenon several times before. Slowly, a nearby patch of ground started to lower itself, sinking in upon what seemed to be a hole that appeared beneath it. When Edge looked closer, he discovered that it was actually only being dropped by an elaborate set of pulleys and winches, sliding away to reveal a steep path that led to steel gate hidden beneath the earth. Yet, before he could even react to the hidden passageway, several rough looking men burst from the gate's doors and threateningly pointed crossbows in his direction, the coarse look in their eyes similar to the bloodlust that he had seen before in Shinnuki's men. Deciding that retaliation to the threat might lead to unwanted results, the young boy patiently kept still as one of the newcomers approached his traveling companion.

"We told you not to bring people here, Mikaeru!" he said sharply, stabbing his index finger in Edge's direction. "You don't know what you could be getting us into."

"We didn't have time to take the safe route today," said Mikaeru calmly. "We were being followed. We needed to lose the heat before anything serious happened."

"Serious?!" said the man coldly as his voice rose in anger. "There's a reason why we screen people who potentially need sanction, a reason why we screen them away from this particular location! What if he's a spy?"

"He's been branded, Scion!" said the windrider irritably, pointing towards Edge's forehead. "You should know what it's like to bear that mark. Besides, if Shin was really going to send a spy, would he plant him in the middle of a town at the mercy of its citizens? This one would have died unless I saved him, and that's not what I call a very good expense of resources if you ask me."

Scion grimaced but held back his words as he whipped about towards Edge and walked forth until the boy could feel the man's dirty breath on his nose.

"What's your name, kid?" he said.

"S... Shizuru," said Edge somewhat carefully, unsure of what to do. It made him only more uncomfortable that the man continued to stare deep into his eyes for what seemed like hours after he had answered, and he began to wonder if he had really made the right decision to go along with this woman. Finally, Scion huffed and turned his back towards the gate, the rest of the men following in tow.

"You can explain this one to Falcoon, but he's your responsibility, not mine!" said the man bitterly, waving his hand in Mikaeru's direction dismissively. "Things have been bad enough lately, so I'd suggest you proceed with caution if you plan to try his patience today."

...

...

...

The complex was far larger than Edge could have imagined it to be, easily matching the size of a common government storehouse that might have existed in his other reality, and that was only how much he was able to see with his own eyes. People milled about everywhere as they moved crates of supplies and honed their weapons, seeming to prepare for a battle that he did not yet fully understand. Many of them lent a curious stare in his direction, but most of the eyes were not ones of friendliness. In fact, more often than not he found himself to be the center of some sort of suspicion, as if he were an unknown infection within their unit and they were just waiting for the moment that his presence corroded the walls so that they could purge their sanctuary free of the plague. Yet, Mikaeru didn't seem to be worried in the least, and she calmly led him through the bustling compound to a narrow hallway at the rear, finally bringing him into a much darker and much simpler room where several men and women talked in low tones beneath the dismal illumination of a single lantern attached to the ceiling.

"Falcoon," she said as she entered. "I brought in a new guy today, I found him being harassed on my way back from Bushi. Scion said I should talk to you about it before I go any further."

The conversation died down as the windrider spoke her words, and a man with dark eyes at the end of the table folded his hands beneath his nose as he sighed and looked to his partners.

"Please excuse us for a moment," he said. "This should only take a minute."

The other people silently nodded in understanding and began to file out of the room. Yet, even as they left, Edge could feel their prying eyes peering at him, judging him, estimating as to what somebody like himself might want. A shiver ran down his spine as an uncomfortable feeling lodged itself in his throat like a poisonous ooze that had risen up from his gut. Ever since he had set foot within the complex, he had received the distinct feeling that he was not very welcome. Whether or not Mikaeru had saved him from those mercenaries earlier and whether or not her seemingly friendly exterior was genuine, his body was reacting now the same way it had to Shinnuki's soldiers. Danger seemed to permeate the air all around him, and he suddenly wished that he had chosen to part separate ways from this mysterious woman rather than accept her offer. But what could he do now? He was already deep within his opponent's operations, surrounded by people who were already suspicious of him from the start. Deprived of the abilities that he so freely exercised in his other world, he would surely not be able to escape by force if their intentions did turn out to be malicious. For now, it was probably best to see how things would go as they were. It was not as if he had much of a choice.

He was so preoccupied with the rejected welcome that he had received that he didn't even notice that Mikaeru had shut the door behind the departing group until Falcoon himself began tapping his fingers on the desk in impatience.

"You interrupted my meeting for this?" he said coldly.

"Hey, I was just trying to help someone out," said Mikaeru. "It's not like---"

"There's a reason why we've made procedures around here," cut in Falcoon, his fierce glare never wavering. "Help or not, we've had incidents before where enemy units have infiltrated our operation under the guise of someone in need. It's cost us a lot to recover from those occurrences in the past and I will not stand to risk it again."

"Falcoon, he was going to be killed if I didn't do something!" pleaded the windrider. "I realize the importance of keeping our group a secret, but I refuse to let somebody die just because we don't have the time to put him through a screening before the local villagers chop off his head!" Walking up the table and rolling up her sleeve, she vehemently pointed at her scar as she stared him in the face. "You should know what it's like to have one of these! Nobody cares about right or wrong if they see you. They just want to get you out of their face so that they don't become victims of Shin too."

"Those 'people' could have been planted as well," he replied.

"But I can still feel the magical residue from the brand!" she said. "Why would Shin do that to one of his own men just to take us out?"

"You and I both know what he thinks of human life. It's nothing more than another tool to serve his goals. I think he's already proven that countless times with the ploys he's exhibited."

Edge only watched them argue as he grew more and more uncomfortable, his situation slowly growing more dire by the minute. Whether or not Mikaeru had meant well, it appeared that this Falcoon did not agree with her decision one bit. He personally did not pride himself on being a good judge of character, but even he could see that he was not welcome in this group. With things getting this ugly, it might be best for him to try and cut his losses while he could. There was no point in waiting around if they only planned to kill him in the end.

"Ah, it... looks like... maybe I shouldn’t stick around here," he spoke up timidly, garnering the other two's attention long enough to cut off their conversation and draw their eyes in his direction. "Look, I didn't mean to cause any trouble, and I appreciate everything you've done for me so far, but maybe I should just leave so that I--"

A silent whistle of metal hissing through the air caught the words in his throat as a knife solidly fixed itself in the door arch near his head, narrowly missing his right ear. The young boy held his breath as he watched Falcoon huff and draw another blade from the pockets of his overcoat.

"We're not finished discussing what to do with you," he said bluntly.

"Goddamnit, Falcoon! We're not here to scare him to death!" said Mikaeru, but her words were ignored as her companion circled about the table and planted himself in front of Edge, his steel gaze never wavering.

"Please understand that I'm not doing this to harass you, but rather to test your loyalties," said Falcoon smoothly. "From what Mikaeru tells me, you claim to know little about Shin and his methods, which does not make you a very convincing ally in my eyes. Our purpose here is to take back what has been stolen from us, what has been unrightfully usurped by the dictator that "rules" over this land. If you are who you claim to be, then maybe you were not aware of this or our existence. If you aren't, then maybe you're just playing me for a fucking fool and waiting for---" Mikaeru audibly growled in the background, and Falcoon grimaced slightly as he forcibly corrected himself. "... at any rate, I must know who you really are before you can be allowed to stay here. Why did you come here in the first place? What did you hope to gain?"

"Shin has taken my wife and child," said Edge solemnly. "I just want to get them back."

"I see," muttered the rebel. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid that I find this hard to believe since Shin has not exactly been one to take live prisoners. At least, to my knowledge. And I presume that from your general lack of belongings, there's no way that you can prove this to me with physical evidence. You can’t even prove the existence of your family, can you?" Edge shook his head, and Falcoon nodded in understanding. "Then please see my position when I say that I'm not sure who you are and what you might mean to our organization. It's not that I don't want to trust you, but rather that I don't want to hurt our union."

Edge silently nodded as he took in the explanation.

"I understand," he said. "There's been times in the past when I've had to withhold judgment myself until I was sure in my decision. I won't hold it against you if you do the same thing."

"Good. I'm glad that you're at least level enough to conceive that logic," said Falcoon. His eyes stared deep into Edge's for a second, and for a brief moment, the young boy swore that he saw a sparkle of fascination within his eyes. "We still need to discuss some details concerning your status, so wait outside in the main holding area until we've come to a decision. However..." His hand abruptly whipped out and snatched the knife away from the wall, holding it mere centimeters from the young boy's throat. "... if you try to take leave prematurely, you will die. Keep that in mind before you make any rash decisions."

...

...

...

Edge found a couple stray chairs near the wall of the gigantic chamber where he had been told to wait until further notice, purposefully setting distance between him and the others who seemed to regard him with such hostility as he pulled one to the side before plopping down. He hadn't noticed it before, but the whole facility seemed to be fairly crude in construction considering its relative complexity. There were hundreds of people milling about in every direction, ducking in and out of a series of corridors and carelessly thrown together tents all around the base, but the young boy doubted that the only serious thought that had gone into the fabrication of the fort had been in the entrance, which was put together well enough to fool even his eyes from the outside. Maybe these were the effects of the losses that Falcoon had mentioned earlier. Maybe they were only recovering now from an earlier deception.

The stares he garnered from those strolling near enough to realize that he was not a regular were just as harsh as Falcoon's had been, and he began to wonder if he had made the right decision. It was one thing to be hunted by Shin's soldiers, but it would be far worse if these rebels also decided that he was a threat. Every second he spent sitting still was just another second that he could have been using to search for Mu-Lan and Sannjuroh, and now he was trapped in this hidden fortress unit they decided what to do with him. But how could he argue? He had neither enough knowledge of this land- or even his own identity- to prove his innocence, nor did he possess the raw strength to forcibly escape. An incomprehensible frustration began to build in his gut and he had to force himself to calm down as his hands began to clench tightly with anger. If he lost his composure here, he may also lose his chance to regain his family. Mikaeru had said that they could help him, so there was still a possibility that he might actually come out of the predicament in better shape than he had started. All he had to do was be patient and wait... wait. Yet, it seemed so much harder to actually endure hardship as a human, for no longer could he simply isolate the information in memory, but rather the enigma continued to rise to the surface of his mind again and again, refusing to be put down by sheer willpower alone...

"I am glad to see that you are unharmed, Edge."

Edge's skin prickled at the voice, and his entire body grew taunt as his eyes widened in fear. Though it felt oddly comforting to hear his name again, he knew that nobody knew him by that moniker in this world. Nobody should know him by that moniker here. And it was with a cold fear gripping his heart that he turned in his seat to meet the eyes of the man who had spoken his appellation in this foreign land.

At first, he was surprised and under-whelmed by what greeted his vision. A single, tall figure stood over him wrapped in a simple, tattered cloak with a long hood that covered his entire head, the cloth being more than sufficient to conceal his body despite the torn ends of the aging garment that seemed on the verge of falling apart. He stood straight and tall, but not in a threatening manner, and the movement of his body did not seem to convey that he was a danger at all. Yet, when Edge peered closer at his face, he began to notice something strange. Originally, he had only perceived his facial features to be obscured by the shadows of the person's cowl, but now he could see that he had no distinguishing facial features at all. His face was completely smooth to the extent that the young boy almost expected it to glisten like the finish of a metal surface, and his empty eyes refused to blink as they endlessly stared into his own without a hint of feeling. Not even the tiniest emotion crawled across his stoic features, and even as the thing adjusted its head to stare into the young boy's eyes, he could only feel as though his sight was being sucked away by the creature before him, falling and tumbling endlessly into the face of this man who possessed no expression.

"We have been worrying about you," said the mysterious figure in a somewhat dull and unfeeling voice, keeping his volume low so as not to draw the attention of surrounding people. "Our situation has been desperate enough as is, but it has only lowered spirits further to see you incapacitated."

Edge curiously cocked his head for a single second as the voice resounded through his head a second time. The more he thought about it, the more familiar it became, and suddenly his eyes lit up in recognition as he realized whom he was speaking to.

"Clef...?" he asked cautiously. "Is that you?"

"I see that you at least have not forgotten my name," said Clef, his voice still patterned with dull simplicity. "It took me longer than I anticipated, but I was finally able to contact you. I can't maintain this form for long, but I've come to convey some important information."

"Wait a minute, how did you get here anyways?" asked the young boy, gingerly getting up from his seat now that he knew that this person was not a threat. "What is this world? How did I get here in the first place?"

The cloaked figure only put his index finger to his lips, signaling for Edge to calm down, using his other hand to gently press on the boy's shoulder and guide him back to his chair.

"Please sit down and calm yourself before we talk further" he said coolly. "The first thing you must realize is that my presence here is not welcome, and if anybody learns of my existence in this realm then I will be forced to withdraw before I can tell you what I have come here to divulge. The second important detail I have come to pass on is that none of this is real. This entire world is nothing more than a hallucination occurring within your own mind."

Edge could only look at him blankly when he heard those words, almost expecting the man to tag an extra line or two on his sudden revelation. He didn't quite know what to say for a moment, the smile of elation on his face from talking to a familiar companion again still painted on his face despite the fact that its meaning was already crushed out by the new information that slowly began to register in his head.

"... what...?" he said carefully, still not sure if he had heard correctly. "This place isn't... real?"

"At first, even I was unable to determine your condition when you passed out during the ambush in Yoshiki's mansion," said Clef. "Things were made more difficult when we were imprisoned in separate units, but after I freed us from the cells, I was able to study your cpu without obstruction and determine the cause with relative speed. Although I am still unaware of the cause, it appears that there is some sort of viral program in your system that is interfering with your normal train of thought to the extent that you are unable to function in our reality and are instead ‘existing’ within this other reality that you see before you. However, this existence is a superficial creation that seems to be disguising a secondary function of the program that I have been unable to define as of this time. Yet, regardless of whether this is dangerous or not, your presence is far more necessary in the real world as we are currently undergoing an operation to break free from the premises. It is imperative that you return as soon as possible."

For a long moment, Edge could only stare at his companion, stare at the unfeeling face as he tried to take in the explanation that he had just been presented with. And yet, even as he did so, even as he listened time and time again to that voice repeat the child’s explanation inside his head, he simply could not bring himself to accept it.

"What are you talking about?" he said, grabbing the chair he sat in and shaking it around with his right hand. "Look, this chair I'm sitting in is as real as anything else around me. I can touch it, and it responds to whatever I do to it. I don't see what you're talking about here."

"While I'm sure that you yourself are able to register that you're touching and moving the chair, it is all merely an illusion that is created within your computer," replied his companion. "To me, I can only see you rearranging certain numerical patterns within the code, but I'm sure that you are indeed registering a physical action upon the object you hold. In fact, this program is so complex that it's even activated various sensors throughout your body when you come into contact with various environments or people in this realm so that you actually experience the actions and sensations that you do here. This thing that is deceiving you is designed to make you believe it's real, but the real objective that it seems to be bent on is keeping you out of action in the real world. We need your assistance to help us escape, Edge, and I can't help you get out without your own consent."

"Can you prove any of this?" said Edge as worry started to cloud his mind. "If this program really does exist, then it's preventing me from realizing what kind of state I’m in. As far as I know, everything I've done here and everyone I've met is as real as you or Yoshime. I know that I'm needed elsewhere, but how can you ask me to risk so much when there's no way I can tell if I'm giving this up for nothing?"

Clef simply stayed silent for a short moment, leaning forward to look deeper into the young boy's eyes. Even though he could not express emotion in his static shell, Edge could still feel the doubt that emanated from his being, and suddenly he began to realize that he himself was not as eager to return to his own life as he thought he was.

"Why are you so hesitant about leaving this place?" asked the child curiously. "It is nothing more than a sheet pulled over your eyes to hide the numbers that keep your from performing properly in reality. The only thing that is waiting for you here is unneeded risk, I need you to come with me now so that we can figure out how to break you free from this tra---"

"But you can't prove that it isn't real?" asked the young boy calmly, and Clef slowly stepped backed again as he realized what was going through his comrade's head.

"You want to stay here?" he said. "You want to stay here after everything I've told you?"

But for all the intelligence that Clef held, he still lacked to ability to disclaim the validity of this dream. Or rather, perhaps it was more than that he couldn't. Perhaps Akuji was the real nightmare and he had merely awoken once again into his real life. Edge felt so tired of enduring pain and hardship and never receiving anything in return. All he truly desired was to become human, to be at peace, and this place had granted him that simple wish without the trials of his other existence. And a wife and child! He could still vaguely taste Mu-Lan's affectionate kiss upon his lips, still feel the weight of his loving son as he held him in his arms, holding him close and cherishing his love. He had everything he wanted here. He had finally tasted what it was like to have the life that he dreamed of. And even though it had already been cruelly stolen from his hands, he knew that such a thing could exist in this place, and the hope made him strong to get them back. What had Akuji ever brought him? Human beings suffered beneath the rule of a despotic government, trampled beneath their heartless rule. Death and murder were not things to be horrified of, but rather everyday constructions of daily lifestyle. There, he himself was hunted, manipulated, and deceived, just so that another greedy soul could further his own aspirations. How did he know if he could ever find what he wanted there? If he could find his happiness here, then why should he bother? Why did he even need to go back...?

"Edge, are you listening to me?"

And the young boy simply looked up at the cold, glistening face that swam in shadows, his own eyes glowing dimly with the only faith that he could muster.

"Clef, I understand what you're trying to say," he said grimly. "But what if this isn't just an illusion? What if it really is real? Or what if you and everybody else were a hallucination all along? How can I know that the risk I'm taking is that of ruining my life here, not desecrating my reality on Akuji?

Clef's face was set in stone, but the stiff figure almost seemed as though it sighed in frustration at Edge's defiance. He moved in closer and stooped down to the young boy's level, and this time the sterile visage looked him directly in the eye, holding him firm with its fiery determination.

"Edge, I can't stop this program by myself. It's too deeply embedded within your psyche for me to do alone. I might be able to find the cause of this malfunction in your hardware, but the virus is so deeply permeated throughout your system that forceful removal of the unit could destroy your entire mind in an instant. I've been able to crack enough of the code to be able to flow with the information stream that's being fed into your brain, but I will surely be purged by the program's defense mechanisms before long. If this thing can use your sensors to make you believe that you can interact with things in this world, then there's also the possibility that you could also ‘die’ and your computer be forced to shut down completely. And even if that doesn't happen, the secondary function of this program is too well screened for me to tell what it's doing. There's no telling what might happen to you the longer you stay in this environment. The risk to your being is simply too large the longer you stay here, and we need your help in the real world if we're to escape from the mansion alive. I don't know how to break you out of this state just yet, but if you come with me and get out of this base, we can garner a bit of time. I'll need your complete cooperation if we're to purge this viral infection from your computer, but I need you to do it willingly. I need you see this falsity for yourself."

But Edge could only stare down at the floor, lost between the world he lived in and the world he wanted to be true, no longer being able to tell the difference between them.

"I'm sorry, I can't go just yet..."

...

...

...

Through the dark shadows of the forest, an even darker group quietly swarmed through the curled branches, slowly weaving their way through the still silhouettes of leafless trees as they followed a single hulking figure before them. Even in the pitch black night that covered their bodies, his hide almost seemed to grow red with lust, and the sparse moonbeams that managed to reach through the forest of dusk reflected dully off the man's armor, spraying the taste of blood onto the ground.

"Lord Kannuki," whispered one of the soldiers quietly behind the general. "Excuse my imposition, but I still think that we may have gone astray from our original target. It has been hours since we've followed this one, but now night falls upon us and we still have found no trace of its existence. What if they've already escaped our range? Or worse, what if they're leading us into a trap? These trees provide a dangerous cover that is difficult to penetrate. An ambush would not be out of the question."

But the general simply chuckled with disturbing glee as he bent down and traced his finger in the dust, the digits on his other hand clenching with unrealized satisfaction.

"I will not blame you for your doubt," he said, paying close attention to his own work. "But you forget that there are certain things that can exist without being readily apparent to your eyes. The Branded, for example, their trail is still quite strong even if you cannot see it. They are hiding from us like the cowards they are, but they've made the mistake of thinking that they could escape from me. They thought it was safe to return to their little hole and nest until their next assault..."

"You mean..." started the soldier, and Kannuki merely nodded.

"This is far better than taking the two felons in alone," he said with a grin on a face. His arms suddenly dug into the ground and tore a chunk of the earth high up into the air, the forsaken disguise falling back down with a thunderous crash behind him as the general focused his eyes upon the revealed gate hidden within the ground "Tonight, we will end this insurrection for good!!!"

...

...

...

"Soldiers! We're being attacked!!!"

Edge turned his head at the sudden shout and abruptly noticed that men and women were running in every direction towards the entrance of the complex bearing swords and axes of all sorts. The clash of metal echoed throughout the hollowed chamber as the familiar sounds of battle began to ring out in the air, and slowly the young boy began to realize what was going on.

"They found us," he whispered softly, rising to his feet as he watched chaos explode into the once orderly room. "But how...?"

"Now is the perfect time," said Clef quickly, grabbing his arm with a strong grip. "We can make our move during this diversion. The program will most likely not notice us within this scenario. If we can get to the outside, then we can---"

"Mikaeru said something about a watchdog," said Edge, watching as enemy soldiers spilled out into the wide chamber and collided with waves of adamant rebel fighters. "They somehow followed us all the way here and waited until the right time to attack. This is all my fault..."

"It does not matter if this is your fault. This entire battle has not meaning whatsoever," interrupted his companion, giving him a strong tug on his arm. "The longer we stay here, the more we risk being caught up in the internal conflict that the virus is producing. We must go now or suffer the consequences!"

But Edge would not move, and though Clef tried hard to pull him out of the blaze that threatened to eat him alive, the young boy wrenched free from his grip, setting a distance between them as he looked at his mentor with hurt, confused eyes. Finally, he closed those windows and reopened them up to the enormous battle before him, forcing himself to look upon the consequences of his actions.

"Did you ever find a point of happiness in your life, something that somehow completely defined everything you really wanted?" he asked softly. "Would you do anything to go back to that again, even if only for just a second?"

"I... have," said Clef slowly, taken aback by the boy's question. "But there is a reason why memories fade. You cannot return to what exists only in the past. You must look ahead to your future as well."

But Edge did not listen, instead staring only at the violence before him, staring at the world that held what he wanted.

"I am thinking of my future," he said. "I want the happiness back, and regardless if it was only a vision or the real thing, I found it here and I can find it again. I can't abandon this existence without trying first."

"You are throwing away your life, Edge!" protested the faceless man. "You would abandon us for a game that's playing with your head? Think about the consequences. What if you're wrong? What if this is indeed everything that I have said it is and you wake up back in reality where we have already been slaughtered? Or worse yet, what if you die here and never return to your own body in the real world? You cannot afford to play games, Edge, and though I sympathize with your situation, you must remember how superficial this ‘happiness’ that you found is. Nothing here is real, you must see that for yourself. There are real people who need you back home, and you need to free yourself from this prison and come back to us before this virus tears you apart. Think about your friends, your mission, your life!"

The young boy could only turn to look at him with a sad smile, his decision already made, his hopes already soaring high. There was nothing that could change his mind now, not until he made sure for himself that he found out what it was that he truly wanted. He had to see it with his own eyes. He had to see if this thing called [shiawase] ("happiness") could exist in this world for somebody as horrible as he was...

"This is my life, Clef."

And Edge ran towards the struggle before him, holding no regret in his heart as he bravely left behind the pain and endeavors of his past.

...

...

...

Edge braced himself as he leapt into the fray as fearlessly as he had into any other, but he would need to take care this time now that he was becoming more aware of his limitations without his gravitational powers. As a normal human being, not only was he going to have to rely solely on the hand-to-hand combat skills that he had learned from Kouryuu and Double, but he was also going to have to account for his significant loss of physical prowess now that he was no longer an android. Yet, he had to fight. He had to help the rebels win this battle that he himself had inadvertently led them into. If he could prove himself to them, then perhaps they might help him on his quest to rescue his family from Shin's grasp. It wasn't much to go on, but he had to take the chance.

Snatching up a broadsword from a fallen soldier, he was surprised at how much heavier it was compared to the thin, lightweight blades that he was used to working with. Before, he had practiced using light weaponry like the katanas that Kouryuu had used, but he was certainly not adjusted to using brands that were ten times as heavy. The weight was so much greater that he nearly brought it down on one rebel's head as he hefted the weapon up into the air, redirecting it at the last possible minute to crash down upon the armored helm of an enemy warrior. Even though he thought he could use such a weapon if he really needed to, now was not the time to adjust to a new arsenal. Using something of that size and weight was more likely to expend his endurance rather than produce any real results. If he could fight these troops with his bare hands before, there was no reason why he couldn't do it again. No need to make extra adjustments if they weren't needed.

Sweeping low to the ground and snatching up a smaller, more manageable knife in hand, he shot upwards with a fierce kick to the jaw of an oncoming soldier with the sole of his boot, sending him tumbling towards the ground with a single blow. He could already see two more of the black-armored warriors charging him with battleaxes from his side, and quickly bounced back to get himself some space as he expertly sent the small cutting tool spinning into the faceplate of one, the man’s scream of pain nearly drowned out by the battle that erupted out on all sides. Edge may have had more physical limitations as a human, but it seemed as though that he was still able to retain the coordination and dexterity that he had as a robot. He did notice that his physical strength and speed in particular suffered from the change as he abruptly switched directions and spun about with a heel kick that caught his opponent in the back of the head and sent him tumbling to the ground. In addition, he was going to be more careful about his body as well, a human shell surely wouldn't be able to take as much punishment as a metal one. As long as he kept his guard up, it should be okay. He had to be careful. He couldn’t afford not to be.

Another soldier quickly moved in to take the place of his fallen comrades, but his armor made him far too slow for his opponent as Edge quickly weaved in close and smashed his left knee against a lightly guarded spot at the man's waist. As his foe crumpled over in pain, the young boy waited until his head bent forward just enough before landing a fatal chop to his neck, instantly severing his spine from his brain. The waves of adversaries seemed endless as he continued to slice through their numbers with superior technique versus their brute strength. Though they were better armored and better supported in their numbers, Edge's unique martial art made short work of many by going straight for their most vital body parts to tear them apart rather than waste time trying to beat their bodies into a bloody pulp. It took many of his foes off guard, and in the end, it often brought him victory as well. And though his body began to feel the limits of physical exertion, his muscles aching with fatigue as he momentarily bounced back to catch his breath, he refused to give up and led the rebels forth as they continued to fight off Shin's corps at the gate that separated them from the fires of hell.

"It looks like you have a little more spunk in you than the rest of these fools..."

Edge barely had enough time to throw up his arms in defense as the throaty voice slid dangerously close to his ear, a massive flash of light temporary blinding him as a force blast collided with his upper torso and sent him sprawling towards the center of the complex. Bodily pain was still a relatively new concept for him, and he struggled to ignore it as he picked himself up from the unexpected blow and rested his eyes upon his new foe. Through foggy vision, he watched as a tall man with wild red hair made his way in his direction, cracking his gauntleted knuckles arrogantly as a wide smirk played beneath his lunatic eyes. Crimson armor covered his enormous body, muscles rippling forth in the places that the shielding did not cover. Yet, it was not the appearance of the man that sent a chill down his spine, but rather the powerful way in which he carried himself, the insane method that stirred deep within the madman's bloodshot eyes.

"More branded garbage who thinks that they can escape from us," he said in a low voice as he spread his arms before him. "C'mon, at least show me a little fun before I break your neck!"

"Bastard..." muttered Edge as he leapt to his feet and charged his enemy at full speed, circling around just as he got within attack range to launch a vicious side kick at the right side of his abdomen. But at the last possible second, the man's palm shot up and violently grabbed his foot, the young boy wincing in pain as the pressure threatened to break his ankle.

"WEAK!!!" roared the general as he yanked his prey in closer, a thundering punch smashing him back into the ground only a second later. The young boy felt his stomach rebel violently as he coughed up blood, and watched in alarm as the man's shadow approached him from behind. "If we branded you, you must have had at least a little power in you. So get up and fight. Don't you dare fuck with me now~!!!"

"You talk too much," said Edge as he flipped to his feet, lurching back as he launched a foot directly into the man's unprotected back, following with a powerful right hook that he brought all the way about his body before finally connecting with the man's face. Yet, the enormous officer barely felt the blow as he leaned back a bit to cushion the impact, immediately leaping forward again and grasping hold of the boy by the top of his skull, squeezing with inhuman strength as he tore him free from the ground and hefted him high into the air.

"There's nothing wrong with teasing your prey before you kill it," he mocked, his fingers slowly digging deeper into his foe’s head. "You should at least be thankful that I'm even giving you the chance for a fair fight. Most die too quickly before I can have any fun at all."

Edge braced himself as pain tore through his skull, trying to pry himself free from the general's firm grip to little avail. He could already feel fatigue claiming his body as his eyes began to flash in and out of darkness, but he fought to stay conscious nonetheless. If he gave up now, then maybe everything Clef had said about his death would become reality. But he wouldn't let that happen, he wouldn't let it come true. He had too much life still pounding through his head, his entire dream waiting for him just beyond his grasp. All he needed to do was hang on a little longer, fight just a little harder, and he could still reach it before it floated away forever. He couldn't let it all go now. There was simply too much to lose...

"How can you do such a thing?" he choked out harshly, continuing to struggle against his opponent's hold. "I've done nothing to you! Why are you prosecuting me so unfairly?"

"That you oppose us is more than enough reason to hunt your kind down," sneered the man with a cruel chuckle. "You rebels always consider yourselves so ‘just,’ but what is really right and wrong? Was it not human beings themselves who designated the darkness as "evil" and the light as "good?" You may call me anything you want, but humans have already contradicted themselves in that sense long before our operation was even conceived. Shin's conquest is no different than any other. We have done nothing wrong!"

"You took my wife and child, you bastard!" said Edge vehemently. "What kind of man does that to another? What gives you any right to infringe on my life?"

The general only smiled with glee, his grip growing fiercer with every passing second as streams of blood began to trickle down his fingers.

"How can you tell whether or not your precious has committed sin?" he mocked. "Of course, I wasn't the one who apprehended her, but people hide their wrongdoings and shame from one another each and every single day of their lives to protect their image and their lifestyle. Why, for all you know, your wife might have been a filthy little whor---"

"SHUT UP!!!" roared the young boy, his foot swinging up and landing a fierce toe kick to the bottom of the man's chin, whiplash shaking his foe's skull as his grip temporarily faltered from the blow. Grabbing hold of his enemy's wrist with both arms, Edge laced his legs tightly around the man's shoulder and arched his body backwards as hard as he could, a loud pop resounding about as he dislocated the general's arm from it's socket. He quickly released the hold once the work was done and leapt backwards to clear himself from the officer's range of attack, but his opponent only continued to grin even as he held his shoulder in pain.

"What does somebody like you know of life?" said Edge coldly, his body no longer exhausted with battle, his fists tightly clenched with anger. "You, who are unable to create and abide by morals, who cannot even conceive the idea of anybody's method of thought but your own and those who share it, are no better than a common tyrant! What right do you have to speak about life on another's behalf?!"

"And what you have to say is so much better?" snorted the general, his eyes widening as he abruptly jerked the left side of his body upwards, a disgusting cracking sound reverberating throughout the room as he forced his bones back into place. "We violate each other on a daily basis, not only with weapons, but with words, with our very psyche! There is nothing precious about our existences, and I am merely acting with that in mind. We are all the same animal, and like all animals, we must fight for our survival, against others as well as against ourselves. Don't act like you're so unique. We all come from the same species, and all Shin is doing is ensuring that our empire will flourish."

"But we aren't all the same either," said the young boy firmly, his body slowly arching back as he prepared to strike again. "I am an individual, and as an individual I chose to fight for what I believe in, no matter what the cost."

"Then you are a fool like all these others," laughed the man, his body glowing bright as raw energy began to flare up beneath his feet. "And you will die like all the others as well, just like your precious little w---"

"Enough!!!" roared Edge, his left fist smashing into his opponent's jaw as the man flew across the room and crashed into the far wall from the force of the blow. "Don't you dare talk about her like that again or I'll kill you!!!"

The man rubbed his jaw gingerly as he picked himself out of the concrete, stretching his free arm as he assessed the situation in a cloud of dust.

"I think I actually felt that one," he said, the bones in his neck cracking loudly as he jerked his head reflexively to one side. "I think that I'm going to enjoy this o---"

His words caught in his throat as he looked up at the young boy again, his mouth hanging open as his cocky grin finally fell from his face. For a moment, Edge was confused, not realizing what it was that had managed to change his foe's attitude so abruptly. Yet, he refused to show any sign of fear on his face, for the second he did he would instantly lose the advantage that he had just gained. At least, that was what he believed at first.

"...how is this possible?" breathed the general quietly. "How can someone like you be able to do that?!"

"Eh...?" whispered Edge to himself, not quite understanding what his enemy was talking about. And then finally he began to notice the light blue haze that was surrounding his body as small trails of energy ran along his frame and gently rose up to the ceiling. At first, he was afraid that something had been done to him. Normal human bodies usually did not emit these kinds of visual energy waves. But soon he noticed how easily the ripples attuned themselves to his emotions, how they conformed to his thoughts and desires and molded about his ambitions. He was frightened because he did not know what to make of the mysterious power, but the more he bathed in its soft glow, the closer he felt with it and the more familiar he realized it was. Indeed, he had felt this kind of power before, but it was not part of the gravity drive that he wielded back on Akuji. It was something more personal, something held within his own essence...

"Adam..." he said softly so that nobody else could hear. He had felt this kind of power before from the seraph, both when he had been in his presence as well as during the few times in which the angel had lent him strength in battle. But how could he himself use such an ability? Was it not something reserved only for the winged guardians? Or was it really something more, something that he had not yet been able to see until now?

He snapped out of the trance just in time to spot his opponent's massive frame sailing through the air towards him like a freight train, and he quickly bounced to the side as the man's fist smashed into the ground, sending dirt flying in every direction.

"I don't care what you can do," he snorted fiercely, turning to face the young boy. "That still doesn't change the fact that I'm going to tear you in half."

His hand erupted with a golden ball of light as a single wave of his arm sent a ball of pure force in Edge's direction. However, this time Edge was ready for the assault, and he easily knocked the projectile away with his own energy field, a light, crisp spark of blue illumination slicing through the fireball and rendering it harmless. He was amazed at how responsive the power reacted to his wishes. Surely it had different properties than his control over gravity, but its apparent malleability easily made up for its shortcomings. Yet, he could not figure out why he felt so accustomed to something that was so foreign. He could vaguely recognize it from the texts he had read before, thinking that it might be a type of power that was said to be granted from ones such as the sacred goddess, the type of power that the legendary Kai used to defeat the Demon God, Valkair. It was said that it was a force closely attuned with human spirit, something that only emerged in the strongest of human beings. But it was also said that the people of Akuji had not been able to use such power for eons, that perhaps the last famous persona who had been able to tap into its resources was the great hero, Hashira. People today surely could not utilize its ability, let alone sense its presence. So why could he, an android, use it now? Maybe it was a certain property of this realm, something that was allowing him to use this skill despite his supposed origins. Or maybe this power was simply something that was not as unfamiliar as he thought.

A second blast sailed in his direction, but this time he attuned his field to that of the missile and swatted it back with a hard thrust of his palm. The general simply slid to the side with a smile, but didn't anticipate Edge to be as fast as he was. This time his blows seemed to cause the man considerable anguish, and a firm kick to the gut kneeled him over as the young boy spun his body back for a second blow. The energy flowed throughout his entire frame now, reinforcing his blows as he hammered a powerful roundhouse across the officer's face and sent him flying across the room. The man did not look quite as confident as he picked himself up from the rubble this time, and Edge returned his bloodshot gaze with a fierce glare of his own, his body already forming the stance of "Shierian of the North" as he waited for his foe's next move.

"You..." huffed the general as he shook dust and pebbles from his back. "That hurt, you son of a bitch!" The ground seemed to tremble as he stood up, and suddenly his eyes seemed far darker than they had been only a second before. For a brief second, fear clutched Edge's heart and he began to regret the moves he had just made. But he couldn't back down now. The only direction to move was forward.

"Do you think I'll let you go now after what you've done to me? This sin that you have brought upon yourself is far greater than anything you might have been branded for. You have dared to oppose me, Kannuki, the greatest general within Shin's military. You have dared to trample on my status, my pride. You have dared to decry my very being! You have committed a heinous crime upon my being, and for that, I will KILL YOU!!!"

"Lord Kannuki!"

"What is it?!" roared the general as he swerved in the direction of the voice, the soldier who had called his name visibly quaking uncomfortably as his armor rattled about.

"Sir," started the grunt. "I do not mean to disrespect you at this momentous time in your battle, but it would be wise to pull our forces out now if we hope to save our remaining battalions."

"What are you babbling about?!" shouted Kannuki fiercely. "We brought along more than enough troops to handle them all, don't tell me you fear them now because of one man!!!"

"Th... that is surely not the case," stammered the soldier. "Unfortunately, prior to my lord's confrontation with said ‘one man,’ he managed to disable nearly forty of our own numbers, reducing our forces greatly. As of this time, it appears that the rebels are finally beginning to regroup from our surprise assault and in our current condition, it might not be wise to play the numbers game. They still have the windrider as well, sir. We brought enough men to conquer their forces in all reasonable calculation, but we did not anticipate their newest addition, nor his distraction to your usually destructive power. It might be best to pull out until a later date."

Kannuki glared at his underling as his entire body quivered with rage, his arms visibly quaking as he stared down the terrified soldier. Edge dared not interfere in the standoff, but neither did he trust the general enough to let his guard down. Finally, with an anguished snarl, the hulking man brought his foot crashing into the earth with rage, waving a reluctant arm overhead to his forces as he issued an order of retreat.

"Fall back!" he shouted to the remnants of his scattered forces. "We'll have to save this for another day!" His eyes abruptly darted back to the troop standing before him, eyeing the man with a carefully focused stare. "Oh, and you..."

"Yes sir?"

A massive crimson gauntlet smashed his skull in before he could say another word, and the general's bloodied fist crashed down into the earth as he ground the man's body into the dust. Yet, even that act of extreme violence could not bring satisfaction to his face, and his eyes whipped back towards Edge even as he stepped back in departure.

"This isn't over," he growled. "This is far from over..."

Edge did not reply, holding the power close to him as he watched his enemy stomp off in fury, still unsure if the battle had come to a close. But for the others around him, they made their victory vocal as they threw up a cheer that filled the room with joviality. And even as they gathered around the confused young boy and barraged him with questions and inquiries, Edge slowly began to realize what he had just done. In this world where a warlord named "Shin" ruled supreme, he himself had just accomplished the impossible by breaching that which was meant to be undefeatable. No longer was he simply a suspect within their midst, someone whom they could not identify or connect with. No longer was he a stranger to be feared, a man who might only be a wolf hiding beneath the soft and comforting fleece of sheep. He had fought with them, and furthermore, helped them win. And maybe, just maybe, he had pulled in a small victory for himself as well, for within the aftermath of the battle he finally saw something in the rebels' eyes that he had not seen before.

Trust.

Perhaps things would work out okay after all...

...

...

...

"Does this much prove him to you, Falcoon? Do you still have doubts about his claims?"

"You two were both careless. You didn't cover up your tracks when you came back and you led those bastards directly to our base! Do you know what this means? We must move out now! They'll be back within half a day and with twenty times the troops. It took us long enough to find this place, but now we might be slaughtered before we can find another!"

"But look at them! Look at what he's already done! When was the last time you've seen that kind of light on our men's faces? When was the last time you saw hope sparkle in their eye? Yes, we've fought a long, hard battle and yes, we've taken losses from this incident as well, but we've gained something too. Even though every one of those people out there believe in what we fight for, how long has it been since they really believed it could come true? How long have we been outnumbered and under-armed? They continue to fight because it's the only life they know now, but this man can help give them real faith again."

"So what's your point?"

"My point is that he just fought a top-ranking officer of the empire and WON. Nobody has ever done that before, not you, not me, none of the mystics or windriders, not even the great magicians in the north. What he has done today is prove- before our very eyes- that Shin is not invincible. And once word of this spreads, everyone will know that toppling his empire is not a dream; it can come true. Falcoon, I know you've always been there for us, but maybe this is what we finally need. The people will follow if they know. All they need is someone strong to follow."

"... you present quite an argument."

"...and?"

"---and we move out tonight. He's your responsibility though, so you make sure he pulls his weight just like everybody else. There are no heroes here. Only rebels."

"... Falcoon?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Bleh. Don't do that to me. You know I can’t take the mushy routine."

...

...

...

...

...

Kouryuu and Double led the group cautiously as they gathered in a dark, vacant cargo bay, Clef and Terpfen bringing up the rear as the shorter android's programs took over and sealed the entrance door behind them. After fleeing the dome while Asimov and Zero had provided an extra diversion, the rebel leader had hurried back to assist the transport of Edge's comatose frame to the chamber where Fumiya had instructed them to regroup. The golden warrior and Demoness had managed to meet with them shortly after that, but not without injuries from their fight with Yoshiki. They were on their last legs with nothing left to spare and there was no way they were going to be able to survive another confrontation if it came to a battle. There was no chance left but to run, but even as Kouryuu stared at the empty hanger, dismay gripped her tightly as she realized that they had just run into a dead end.

"What the hell is this?" said Double as he took in the empty room, turning viciously on Fumiya even as he helped hold him up over his right shoulder. "There's nothing here and we've already boxed ourselves in! Are you trying to set us up, you bastard?!"

"All is not quite as it seems," said the mercenary roughly, pointing towards a portion of the paneling that covered the wall. "Take me there, quickly..."

The assassin hesitated, but complied, hoisting the man's nearly dead weight to the bulwark as he withheld his caustic remarks. To his surprise, Fumiya immediately tore a part of the covering free to reveal a small nine-digit keypad into which he quickly typed a series of numbers. The entire room began to tremble as the ground uncontrollably rattled with motion, and Kouryuu watched on in amazement as the floor slowly began to slide away to reveal a massive tunnel that could have easily housed an entire government battalion. Despite the shoddy appearance of the hanger itself, the tunnel appeared to be well maintained with dozens of perfectly lined yellow lights illuminating the pathway down a seemingly endless underground highway, the wide, paved road well kept despite repeated usage.

"Very few people know of this tunnel," said Fumiya. It's used primarily to transport supplies into the mansion, since nobody in their right mind would approach the place head on. Father was always afraid of somebody discovering his little hideaway as well, so he decided that something of this sort was necessary. It stretches nearly seven miles out towards the south and there's no way for him to intercept us until we reach the end. We'll still have to hurry though. He can still catch us at the exit of the passage if he's quick enough."

"But they’re probably still looking for us in the building right now," said Kouryuu confidently, stepping down the wide ramp into the mouth of the burrow. "Do you know of any nearby vehicles that we can access?"

"None," said the mercenary drearily. "I know where they're located, but it's not worth the trouble considering our situation."

"Then we're going to have to go at it on foot," said the rebel resolutely. "Double, Terpfen! You two and I will carry Yoshime, Iesu, Clef, and Edge. Things will go much faster that way. We may not be able to predict how Yoshiki is going to react to our escape plan, but we can still scout ahead. Asimov, since you can utilize Zero's power I want you two to go ahead in advance and make sure that the path is clear just so we know that we're not running into a trap. If everything's okay, then come back here and assist us in escape. Not to put the burden on you Zero, but it will surely be much quicker if you could carry us out with your speed rather than us having to run the entire way."

"Understood," replied Zero in a cold voice, her body still in Demoness form. Kouryuu still felt a slight chill whenever she heard the usually cheery pigtailed girl's voice in that perverted form, but now was not the time to trouble herself over such issues.

"And... Terpfen?" added the rebel hesitantly.

"Yes?" replied the nuclear relic..

"... blow up the entrance of the tunnel once you're sure we're out of range, we can't risk being followed at this point," she said. It was not a move she liked to make, especially since the explosion would be set off by remote and they could not possibly know who or what might be caught up in the blast. Still, she knew that if they did not make such a move, their lives might only be put in further peril, and that was something she was unwilling to risk. One mistake now could cost them everything. She could no longer afford to take any chances.

Kouryuu came out of her trance as a warm hand fell on her shoulder, and she looked to her side to find Double nodding confidently in her direction.

"You're doing fine," he said. "Everything's going to turn out okay."

And she could only put out a hard smile for him, wondering just how far she could believe his words.

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End "A Feud Between Father and Son"