Volume 30 - Return to Weepmire

== Chapter 349 - Home ==
The rain, the thunder, the small houses, the swamps, the mist. As soon as Jack saw it, he knew they were home. Home in Weepmire.
As sad as the sight was, Jack felt himself feeling happy, and calm, as he could see his home again.
He shed a tear, and smiled a bit, as he, Andromeda, and Shunsuke put on their raincoats, got out of Falqo's spacecraft, and opened their umbrellas, walking through the almost dreary town, but seeing that lamp posts were lighted, that windows were glowing.
This town seemed even more alive than when Jack and Andromeda left, and they felt happy, finally returning, even if only for a little bit.
"This is where you grew up?" Shunsuke asks.
"Yeah." Jack answers. "It wasn't much, but I loved being with my mom, and...this is where Anne and I first met."
"He saved my life." Andromeda says, smiling at Jack. "He was...so kind to me...I don't think I deserved that kindness..."
"Yes, Anne, you did." Jack replies. "I saw someone who needed help, I acted, and now, well, now we're together. Forever."
Andromeda teared up, though it would be hard to tell in the rain, and kissed Jack, hugging him, as Jack hugged and kissed her back. Shunsuke watched, smiling, as he turned toward another house nearby.
"That yours?" Shunsuke asks.
"Yeah, it is!" Jack shouts, as he runs to it, Andromeda and Shunsuke following.
Jack felt his heartbeat getting faster, and started to smile, he couldn't wait to see his mother again!
The very moment he reached the door, he grabbed the handle tightly, turned it, slammed the door open, and ran inside, Andromeda and Shunsuke both following him as he did so.
"Mom, I'm home!" Jack calls.
But there was no response.
"...Mom...?" Jack asks more weakly, a bit on edge.
Maybe she was just sleeping.
When they reached his mom's room, and opened the door...no one was there.
Then, they heard someone clear his throat behind them.
== Chapter 350 - The Blood-Skinned Killer ==
They all whirl around to see a lean man with a thin face, his skin being red scales, his hair darker red scales, and his eyes golden with slit pupils, not to mention he wore an open raincoat over what looked like a torn leather shirt and pants, with reptilian feet and claws.
However, most noticeable of all, was the wide, depraved smile of the man, a smile full of razor sharp teeth, as it seemed the man was looking at all of them at the same time with those eyes.
"Why, hello there." The Qhaikra says. "My name is Malas'Vilin, and I am so glad that you have come here to this little house, so we can have some fun!"
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MOM?!" Jack screams, pointing his gun at Malas, who merely giggles.
"Oh, not much...yet." Malas answers, his giggles erupting into a fit of maniacal laughter.
"TELL ME WHERE MY MOM IS!" Jack roars, his hands shaking.
"Oh, I'd be happy to! You just have to beat me, first!" Malas answers. "Oh, and if I win, I'm going to eat all three of you!"
"I've heard enough." Andromeda growls, sending a Psychic Weapon at Malas, who ducks beneath it and leaps back from another one, giggling even more.
"Too slow, Socqreath Queen!" The Qhaikra taunts, laughing madly once more.
"I'm going to rip you limb from limb!" Andromeda snarls, prompting more laughter from Malas.
"Oh, that sounds so familiar!" He replies. "Because I love to do that to my victims!"
Andromeda's pupils dilated as her eyebrows rose and her Psychic Weapons vanished, and then, she started trembling.
"Oh, I can see it!" Malas continues. "I believe that madness only takes a little push, one bad day, and it seems you, Socqreath Queen, have had a lot of pushes, a lot of bad days!"
"SHUT UP!" Jack bellows, firing at Malas, who blocks the bullets with his forearms, giggling even more, as he kept that unsettling smile.
"You put so much faith in that woman!" Malas remarks. "Yet she and I are the two most similar people to each other in this whole slum!"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Jack screams, running in to swing a kick at Malas, who grabs the kick and Jack's gun arm before kicking him in the stomach and letting him go to kick him back with his other leg.
"GUH!" Jack growls, as Shunsuke runs in to throw a punch at Malas, who leaps to the side to avoid it as it goes right through the wall and shakes the house, still laughing.
And then, two bladed contraptions appeared from beneath each of his sleeves.
"Shall we?" He taunts, rushing at them.
== Chapter 351 - Funhouse Slum ==
Jack and Shunsuke quickly leap back from Malas' slashes, as Andromeda sends her Psychic Weapons to slash at the blades, Malas once again dodging them to slash at her stomach, Jack tackling Andromeda out of the way as Shunsuke swings a kick at Malas, who ducks beneath the kick to slash at Shunsuke's leg, Shunsuke stumbling back to dodge the slash, glaring at Malas back, the Qhaikra staring back with that same crazed smile, still giggling as he did so, before he rushes at Shunsuke, who throws his arms up to take the slashes and kicks Malas back through a wall, hearing him grunt in pain.
The three quickly get into fighting position, facing the hole in the wall, as they see Malas walk out of it, cracking his neck as he giggles yet again, before leaping to swing a spinning kick at Jack, who barely manages to leap back as Andromeda slashes again at Malas, who steps on Shunsuke's head to backflip away from the Psychic Weapons, Shunsuke going to grab Malas' leg as he slashes his arm with his clawed foot, forcing Shunsuke to stop that attempt as he holds his arm in pain, seeing that he was bleeding badly, as Jack fires again at Malas, who again blocks the bullets with his forearms.
"Try something else, because that's just not going to work on me!" Malas shouts, rushing at them to slash at their stomachs, ducking beneath another Psychic Weapon, as Jack and Shunsuke leap back from the slashes, Malas quickly turning towards Jack to keep slashing at him, Jack continuing to try and dodge the slashes as he is backed into a wall, and swiftly ducks beneath the first slash, leaping back from the second one, and firing at a fleshy part of Malas' forearm, Malas leaping at jack to slash at his face, Shunsuke punching Malas through that wall, another grunt of pain coming from the Qhaikra.
They all stepped way from the hole in the wall, which was filled with dust, as this time, Malas' trenchcoat is thrown at them, Andromeda slicing it to ribbons, before Malas himself steps out of the wall, revealing his reptilian tail, which, along with his hands, were all each holding a chakram, the tail having a similar attachment to its end as the Qhaikra's wrists, as he still kept his wide, toothy smile, and his unceasing giggling, the three of them getting ready to once again fight Malas, sweating a bit from knowing what they'd have to face, Andromeda glaring but also trembling at the same time.
"Ready for round two, everyone?" Malas asks rhetorically, laughing maniacally once again, as he rushes at the three of them.
== Chapter 352 - Perimeter ==
"Jack and Anne haven't responded in a while." Candice remarks, worried. "Do you think something bad happened to them?"
"It's Jack and Andromeda, they're fine." Falqo replies with a chuckle. "If they're in real trouble, then they'll call us. Plenty of places to hide in that swamp."
"Still...I'm worried something bad happened to them." Candice says, as Kasper puts a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sure they'll be fine. If they don't come back in twenty-four hours, we'll look for them." Kasper responds, Candice nodding shakily.
"I'm gonna go take a walk." Falqo states, getting off the chair he was sitting in and walking towards the door, grabbing his machete as he does so.
"What if Phantom's out there?" Kasper asks.
"Then I'll either talk it out, or, more likely, fight it out." Falqo answers, walking out the door and shutting it behind himself, as Candice and Kasper look on, worried about what might happen to her uncle out there, with terrorists like Darkstar and Phantom on the loose, not to mention Sechsgrad...or Atlas as he was apparently truly known.
As Falqo walked, he looked up at the moon, knowing Darkstar had a base up there, at least at one point.
He walked down the mountain, looking around at the trees and cabins lining the roads, as his eyes kept darting around, and he kept his grip tight on his machete, ready to swing it at a moment's notice, whether to slash a bear or a terrorist.
Then, he heard someone walking through a part of the mountain village, and walked into said village, looking around, knowing someone might be here...someone hostile.
"Look, pal, you're not gonna jump me." Falqo says. "Just show yourself and let's get this over with."
"Well, then..." A familiar voice says. "...I suppose it is rude of me to hide any longer."
Falqo whirls around, machete in front, as he saw, wearing that same white shirt, purple and sleeveless overshirt, black pants, golden buttons and buckles, and cruel smile...Asaka Kazuyuki, his hands appearing to be bionic, and golden as well, as he held his old katana, staring at Falqo with glowing bright purple eyes.
== Chapter 353 - Evil Never Dies ==
"...Of course." Falqo groans. "Of course you didn't die! Even when my niece dismembered you, you're still somehow alive! So what is it, this time? Demonic possession? Supersoldier serum? Or maybe you're a robot..."
"You were closest at guess number three." Kazuyuki answers, his smile widening beneath the shadows on his face, caused by his own hair. "I've been...in league with a certain scientist for...a while, and it did take him a long time to add enough cybernetics to...bring me back from the dead."
"...Saparbek..." Falqo mutters.
"Precisely." Kazuyuki replies. "With his help, I've become more than I ever was before, with new prosthetics, stronger, faster, sturdier, and a new sword, and even new eyes."
"And what kind of new eyes would those be? Hypno-eyes?" Falqo demands.
"For...technology, yes." Kazuyuki answers. "But that means nothing to you, as you are not needed to know it."
"Lemme guess your plan." Falqo starts. "You're gonna kill me and show my corpse to my niece to break her morals?"
"Once again, right on point." Kazuyuki says, tilting his head a bit. "I didn't expect such a sharp mind from someone like you."
"When you've been drunk so long, you just adapt to it." Falqo replies with a small smile.
"A drunken master...yet it will not beat someone with new...analytical capabilities." Kazuyuki remarks.
"You wanna bet?" Falqo taunts. "I've got God and anime on my side."
"I don't know about either part..." Kazuyuki says, readying his sword as he smiles darkly at Falqo, who also gets into fighting position.
Kazuyuki disappears from sight, as Falqo swings his machete behind himself to block Kazuyuki's slash, smirking, before ducking and spinning to slash at Kazuyuki's knee, the machete cutting cloth and scraping metal. Falqo barely has time to be shocked before he is forced to leap back from an attempted stab from Kazuyuki, who rushes to slash at Falqo again, Falqo quickly blocking that slash as well as he kicks Kazuyuki in the stomach to send him sliding back a few feet.
"Alright then...let's get this part started." Falqo jokes. "I couldn't agree more." Kazuyuki replies coldly.
== Chapter 354 - Machinations of a Madman ==
Falqo leaps in to slash at what he thought would be one of the servos in Kazuyuki's leg, but is forced to block another slash and dodge a kick from Kazuyuki, who spins around to slash again, Falqo barely able to block that slash as he glares at his opponent, who smiled in his usual, sadistic manner, before appearing behind Falqo to slash again, Falqo narrowly dodging the slash as a bleeding wound appeared on his shoulder from said slash.
"Grr..." Falqo grunts, turning around and swinging his machete behind himself to prevent the same kind of attack from happening a third time.
Kazuyuki is almost immediately in Falqo's face, slashing at his neck, as Falqo tilts back to avoid the slash and swings his machete across Kazuyuki's chest, hearing more metal scraping against metal, but finally drawing actual blood.
Kazuyuki grunts in slight pain and slashes at Falqo's head, Falqo ducking beneath the slash and swinging his machete at Kazuyuki's sword to hold it briefly in place, before just straight hp punching Kazuyuki square in the face, sending the madman stumbling backwards.
Falqo goes to slash again, Kazuyuki parrying the slash and moving his blade down to cut at Falqo's wrist, Falqo dropping his machete quickly to repeatedly punch Kazuyuki in the face, making Kazuyuki stumble more and more, getting closer and closer to the end of a cliff.
"Argh! Agh! Guh! Damn! You!" Kazuyuki roars, grabbing Falqo's next punch and beginning to crush his fist with the sheer strength of his prosthetic. "Grah!" Falqo roars, as Kazuyuki's smile widened to be ear-to-ear, before the madman slashes Falqo across the chest, and kicks him backwards, somewhat through the ground!
"Is this truly all you have?" Kazuyuki asks, as he walks slowly towards Falqo, grinding his sword across the asphalt, Falqo holding his bleeding chest in pain, breathing heavily, as he starts crawling backwards, towards his machete.
Right as Kazuyuki appears over Falqo, he delivers a stab, which Falqo rolls out of the way of to get the former teacher's sword stuck in the ground.
"What?! No!" Kazuyuki roars, as Falqo picks up his machete, punches Kazuyuki away from his sword, and delivers another slash to his chest.
Kazuyuki stumbles back, holding his now bleeding chest in pain, as Falqo punches him repeatedly in the face once more, before kicking him in the stomach to send him flying towards the cliff.
"Any last words, Psycho?" Candice's uncle asks tauntingly, as Kazuyuki just glares at him, before smiling darkly again, and aiming his arm at Falqo, firing a blast at him which sends him flying through multiple trees!
"ARGH!" Falqo roars in agony, as Kazuyuki starts laughing, struggling to his feet, and walking towards him.
== Chapter 355 - Rescue ==
But before he could slash at Falqo again, he was suddenly forced to leap back from a number of Psychic Weapons.
"Kazuyuki!" Candice yells, as she and Kasper appeared on the scene.
"You two, again..." Kazuyuki groans, before his frown turns into another dark smile. "...excellent."
And then, he rushes to slash at Candice, dodging more Psychic Weapons, as she leaps back from his slash to punch him back with a Psychic Weapon, noticing his mechanical arms as she fought him.
"Wha...?" She wondered.
"Yes, we are more similar now, are we not?" Kazuyuki taunts, walking towards Candice.
"We are nothing alike!" She roars, sending more Psychic Weapons at him, Kazuyuki quickly dodging the Psychic Weapons to rush and slash at Candice, who avoids that slash and knocks Kazuyuki's sword out of his hand with another Psychic Weapon, before kicking Kazuyuki back, Kazuyuki glaring at her as he points his hand at her, send a massive blast of energy at her, Candice quickly dodging as it blasts a small hole in the mountain!
Kazuyuki grins as if he were a demon, and fires more blasts at Candice, who keeps dodging them, panting as she ran and leaped, trying not to fall off the mountain as she went, before she ran at Kazuyuki, using her Psychic Weapons as cover from Kazuyuki's blasts, before she runs in close to slash an X shape across Kazuyuki's chest, and slam him to the ground, with more of her Psychic Weapons, Kazuyuki groaning in pain as he glared at her again, but once again smiled, as he blasted her in the stomach!
"GAH!" Candice screams, being sent through a house.
"CANDY!" Kasper roars, as he hears chuckling.
"Did you seriously just call her that?" Kazuyuki mocks, walking slowly towards Kasper, grinding his sword across the ground again.
"I...she asked me to..." Kasper weakly answers, as Kazuyuki laughs.
"Well, I suppose that's to be expected, being in a relationship with a Socqreath." Kazuyuki remarks, as he rushes at Kasper, ready to slash him as well, Kasper quickly activating a hard light forcefield to block.
== Chapter 356 - Payback ==
"Ah...still following in your idol's footsteps...even after his death." Kazuyuki taunts, before leaping back from the hard light shield turning into blades, which had rushed at him.
"Shut up. You should have died long ago." Kasper retorts, as he turns the blades into missiles, which rush at the former teacher, who dodges said missiles, and slashes one, making it fly right back at Kasper, who creates another hard light shield to take the hit before creating a number of machine guns to fire at Kazuyuki.
Kazuyuki dodges and deflects the gunfire, glaring at Kasper, as he rushes in to slash at him, Kasper noticing and creating a wall of metal to block the slash, before going to turn it into a cage.
"I didn't fall for it the first time." Kazuyuki remarks, leaping out of the cage before it could close and slashing down at Kasper, who, shocked, quickly creates a sword there to block Kazuyuki's slash, and leaps back before turning the sword into a bomb, which explodes directly in Kazuyuki's face, sending him back.
As Kasper watched, he saw Kazuyuki walking out of the smoke, his suit torn, revealing most of his now largely cybernetic body.
"That's Saparbek's work..." Kasper remarks, as Kazuyuki then rushes to slash at him.
Kasper is quick to react, creating a plasma cannon which immediately fires, but which Kazuyuki blocks.
Then, Kazuyuki goes to slash at the plasma cannon, which Kasper dissipates before dodging the mad teacher's next slash, creating a rock pillar to send him flying into the side of the mountain.
As Kazuyuki leaps out of the mountain to rush at Kasper, Kasper leaps back from him and creates a prison made of electricity around him.
"Seriously? This already failed." Kazuyuki says, chuckling.
"It won't this time." Kasper retorts, as the bars suddenly rush into, and through, Kazuyuki, shocking him inside and out.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kazuyuki screams, as he stumbles to the ground, dropping his sword, the prison dissipating, as Kasper, Candice and Falqo all glare at the former teacher.
== Chapter 357 - Death of Madness ==
"...Damn...it..." Kazuyuki groans weakly, laying on the ground as his prosthetics were fried and his body was burned. Candice is quick to break his sword in half, and toss both halves away, while Falqo drives his machete through Kazuyuki's heart.
"G-guh!" Kazuyuki growls, glaring viciously at Falqo.
"You're not comin' back a third time." Falqo says, before turning towards Kasper, who nods and, as Candice and Falqo leap back, turns the ground Kazuyuki was laying on into a lava pool, Kazuyuki screaming as he sank into the lava, burning to ashes as all the moisture in his body evaporated into steam.
"...Wait...if we were attacked by Kazuyuki..." Candice remarks. "Jack! Anne! Shun! They're in trouble!"
== Chapter 358 - The Laughing Lizard ==
Jack, Andromeda and Shunsuke were all bleeding badly from multiple slashes across their bodies, left by their opponent, the still-laughing Malas'Vilin.
"I thought you three would be more of a challenge!" Malas remarks. "But I suppose I was wrong!"
Then, he leaped at them, his tongue flicking, as he slashes at Jack with one of his chakrams, Jack managing to block with his gun this time, and fire at Malas, who's skin hardens to take the bullet as he slashes at Jack's stomach with his tail chakram, Jack leaping back.
Shunsuke throws another punch at the Qhaikra, who bends beneath said punch before kicking Shunsuke's arm up and then kicking Shunsuke in the stomach, sending him stumbling back, grunting in pain.
Malas, laughing yet again, runs to slash at Shunsuke, Shunsuke blocking the slashes with his forearms, more and more cuts appearing across them, as he then grabs one of Malas' arms to punch him in the face, sending him flying as he yelps in pain, but lands on his feet, chuckling and teetering.
Andromeda sends more of her Psychic Weapons at Malas, who ducks and weaves around them as he rushes in to slash at her.
She then slams two Psychic Weapons onto the ground to lift herself into the air, flipping over a bit, before sending down two more Psychic Weapons to palm the ground and break her fall.
As Malas watched this, Jack shot at him from behind, Malas blocking the bullets with the chakram on his tail as he smiled cruelly, before whirling around to slash at Jack with all three chakrams!
Jack does his best to dodge the slashes, but was quickly being overwhelmed, yelling in pain from each slash dealt to his body, his blood forming small pools on the ground below, as Shunsuke tore a lamp post out of the ground to swing at Malas like a baseball bat, Malas dodging and leaping onto said lamp post, as he rushed at Shunsuke, who flinged Malas into the air, the Qhaikra flipping and twirling as he throws all three chakrams at Shunsuke;s throat, chest and stomach respectively!
== Chapter 359 - Disarmed ==
However, Andromeda slashed all three chakrams apart, glaring at Malas, who looked briefly angered but then just grinned back with that sadistic grin of his, before he dodges the same lamp post and kicks Shunsuke in the head to make him let go of it, blocking bullets from Jack with his tail as he did so, before he leaps off to avoid another Psychic Weapon and uses his tail to sweep Shunsuke off his feet, then leaping back from yet more Psychic Weapons, and blocking another bullet, giggling.
"Let me tell you my little sob story." Malas declares. "Once upon a time, there were two Qhaikra slaves to a wealthy Socqreath family, a royal one, in fact, and those slaves weren't happy. They became so disobedient that the Socqreath family decided to have them executed, but not before they forced them to, well, pop me out! Then, I got the full package. Shackles with chains on one end and mining equipment on the other, whips, shock collars, everything you can imagine."
"And one day," Malas continued. "I got so disobedient that they decided to shock me for the whole rest of that day, and the next day, I didn't even flinch from any of their little prompts. So then, I took things into my own hands, and dismembered them! Then, I decided I'd wipe out the rest of the Socqreath to get justice for my species, but one day, a human got caught in the crossfire, and I found that I enjoyed killing that human just as much as I enjoyed killing the Socqreath, and that's when I found my true calling! Why seek revenge when I can just enjoy my freedom, and enjoy the simple pleasures of life?"
And then, his face twisted into complete insanity, as his giggling became more uncontrollable.
"So I decided to do what makes me happy: Torture, Murder, Edgy Clothes! And so I became the Scarlet Slicer, catchy name, too, and I've been happy ever since. Soon, Socqreath Queen, you'll make the same realization, and so...is...Phantom. I'll be willing to team up when that time comes! Heheheheheheheheheh! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Malas then rushes at Jack, laughing more maniacally than ever before, and slashes at him with his claws...only for his claws to come off!
"Wha--" Malas starts.
"Die." Andromeda says, looking shaken, and furious, as she tears off Malas' legs and tail, slamming him into a wall, as Jack and Shunsuke watch, shocked, as she then lets him fall to the ground.
== Chapter 360 - Stains of Blood ==
"G-gh..." Malas groans, as Andromeda flips him over, standing over him with a cold, stoic expression, beneath the rain, as he felt his own blood pooling. "This isn't fun anymore..."
"It was never fun in the first place." Andromeda retorts, preparing to cut off his head.
"Where's my mother?!" Jack demands. "You promised you would tell us where she is if we won!"
"She's...in...Town Hall..." Malas groans weakly, as Andromeda and Shunsuke walk with Jack to the center of Weepmire, Andromeda slashing down the doors.
Then, they see, tied to a chair, her mouth taped shut, Jack's mother, trembling and sweating, as Jack ran to get her free, hugging her tightly.
"I was so worried..." Jack says weakly. "...I was so worried he killed you..."
"I'm just glad he didn't kill you..." Henrietta replies, hugging back, as Andromeda looks on, solemnly. Henriette then looks up at Andromeda, looking shocked, but soon the shock left. "Thank you...for protecting my son."
She and Jack stop hugging as she then gets out of the chair.
"It's nice to meet you, Henrietta." Shunsuke says. "Jack's told me a lot of good things about you."
"I'm sure he has." Henrietta replies, chuckling a bit. "Let's just get back home and I'll cook something up, I just hope it's not too destroyed."
And so they walked, all the way back to their house, going inside, and of course, seeing the mess made during the battle with Malas.
"Oh, well..." Henrietta remarks, walking into the kitchen to start cooking up a meal, everyone else sitting in the wrecked living room.
"Jack..." Andromeda breathes.
"Yeah, Anne?" Jack asks.
"He's...right about me." Andromeda replies. "I've...done some awful things in the past."
"That's not who you are, now. Don't let him get into your head." Jack says. "Everything's going to be okay, we're gonna deal with Darkstar and we're gonna deal with Sechsgrad, and then all this is gonna be over."
She smiles softly, tearing up, and leans into Jack, who hugs her gently, Shunsuke looking at the destruction, and wondering who else was out there.