Volume 34 - Shattered Bonds

== Chapter 397 - Death of Diversity ==
As it rained above them, they sat, defeated. Shunsuke was bandaged up from his wounds, Jack and Andromeda were shaken, and Candice was sobbing into Kasper's shoulder, as he held her close, trying his best to comfort her after what had happened.
"Th-they're all gone..." She whimpered. "D-dad...Lynx...Q-Qian..."
"We are so...so sorry for your loss." Kasper replied gently, hugging Candice, who cried harder.
Falqo and Kiyomasu merely stood there, heads bowed down before where the graves of Copernicus and his followers would have been, had it been safe to go back.
"So...do you still think we can afford to keep it all bottled up?" Falqo asks.
"...We must..." Kiyomasu replies. "...If they learn now...everything will be for nothing...they don't deserve so much pain..."
"...I never took you for a softie." Faqlo replies, as the two look on at the five.
Phantom had taken so much from them already, they had to stop him from taking anything, anyone else, no matter the cost. But...no one was certain that they could, not anymore, not after all they had seen of him.
Then, they heard footsteps, and turned to see Dione walking towards him, a solemn expression on her face.
"...I heard..." She said softly. "...I heard what happened to Qian..."
"Yeah...all our allies are dropping like flies..." Falqo replies, before Dione hugged him and Kiyomasu, softly crying.
"...Alright, then..." Falqo said, as he and Kiyomasu hugged her back. The hug only lasted a few moments, but it felt relieving and saddening all at once.
"...Don't leave this burden to Andromeda, Amaya." Dione says. "I'll kill Phantom myself."
"I wish it were that easy..." Kiyomasu remarks. "Right now, we don't know everything about him. We need all the information we can get before we make any moves towards him."
Andromeda had been leaning into Jack, her eyes closed. She looked utterly terrified, shaking and trembling, and Kiyomasu knew that she wasn't just terrified of Phantom for one reason...
"Jack..." Andromeda whispers.
"Yeah, Anne...?" Jack asks.
"...What...you said earlier..." Andromeda starts. "...was it true...?"
"Of course it was..." Jack answers, holding Andromeda closer. "Anne...I'll never leave you, I promise! What's gotten into you...? Why are you so scared I'll leave...?"
Andromeda opened her eyes, and looked up at him, crying hard.
"I..." She started, her lips trembling. "I-I..."
== Chapter 398 - Ambush ==
Suddenly, a dagger rushes at Andromeda, who, barely noticing it, tilts her head to dodge, the dagger cutting across her cheek, which she holds in pain.
Everyone stood up and looked around, as numerous people wearing loose black clothing, leather padding and circular yellow goggles leaped from the shadows, a few of them rushing at Andromeda, Candice and Dione while dual-wielding daggers.
Dione quickly dodges the dagger strikes coming towards her, and kicks the people attacking her through a tree, while Andromeda and Candice try to dodge the daggers as well.
"Why is it always something?" Falqo demands, slashing one of the people across the back to prevent that person from attacking Candice.
Andromeda uses her Psychic Weapons to grab the people attacking her, and throw them back, causing them to drop their weapons. Candice had formed a staff to block the daggers with, as Kasper uses a shield to trap the people attacking her.
Jack, meanwhile, kicks one of the people back, but quickly pulls his leg out of the way to prevent it from being stabbed, before shooting that dagger out of that person's hand, and punching the person to the ground.
Shunsuke quickly punches multiple of the attackers down, and crosses his arms to take their stabs with grunts of pain, before whacking them aside. Kiyomasu blocked multiple knife strikes with his cane, as he then uses it to trip the people up and whacks them in their faces with it to knock them out.
As more of the attacks rushed at them, they continued to fight, but it became evident that whoever these people are, they weren't particularly well-trained, at least not compared to them or the enemies they had fought before. It wasn't long before the attackers stopped coming, and were defeated.
Kasper then turned the shield into a rope to keep the people still conscious restrained, as Falqo rips the mask off of one of said people, revealing her to be a woman with blonde hair and amber eyes.
"You were...from Phantom's rally..." Jack remarks.
"DEATH TO ALL XENOS!" The woman roars.
"What did my nieces ever do to you?" Falqo demands.
"MY SON WAS DRAFTED INTO THAT WAR! HE WAS BURNED ALIVE!" The woman shrieks.
"Well, sorry for your loss, but that wasn't my question!" Falqo retorts. "Did Phantom put you up to this?"
"PHANTOM IS OUR SAVIOR!" The woman yells.
"PHANTOM! IS A MORON!" Falqo yells back. "HE'S GOING TO GET US ALL KILLED!"
== Chapter 399 - Hate ==
"These...are people..." Jack remarks, looking around at all the people they had fought.
"Obviously." Falqo replies. "It's called self-defense, and I think I did the most damage out of anyone who isn't Dione."
"DIONE IS A SPY!" The woman screeches. "Shut the fuck up." Falqo retorts, as he punches her in the face, rendering her unconscious.
"Well, that wasn't very nice." Kiyomasu replies.
"I don't do 'nice', it never works." Falqo responds, looking at the others. "What big thing is Phantom planning, now? Is he planning to overthrow the government?"
At that, everyone was silent for a few long moments.
"The government is far too lenient towards the Socqreath..." One of the other people, a man, replies. "Rosenstock lets them live, the Galactic Community is full of Xenos...they must all go, and with help from an inside man, we will make that dream a reality."
"Inside man?" Falqo asks.
"He only wants power, and he shares our view on Xenos...he's useful, but when we get what we want, we'll make sure he's...unable to take the power he wants."
"...Richie." Falqo growls. "Of course he'd team up with terrorists to get the Socqreath out of the way...he wants no one left to threaten his power."
"He'll fail...he has the wrong idea of who the pawn is..." The man retorts.
"You're all pawns." Kiyomasu replies, as they all turn towards him. "You're being used by Phantom and Richard...and they're being used by Atlas..."
"Who?" The man asks, as Kiyomasu turns towards the others.
"We need to knock them out, and stop Phantom. We don't have time to deal with anything else." Kiyomasu says.
"Sure thing." Falqo replies, as he punches the rest of the people in their faces to knock them out as well. "That was almost too easy, you reckon these guys were just the scouts?"
"I'm almost certain they were." Kiyomasu responds.
"Don't worry, I took care of the stragglers." They hear a familiar voice say, and turn around to see a boy with pale blue skin and dark blue hair walking towards them. His eyes were light, with catlike slits for pupils, and his outfit was a black trenchcoat over a white and yellow suit. He still seemed to only have one horn on his head, and his expression remained completely stoic, as he kept his hands in his pockets, and looked at all of them, keeping his focus, seemingly, on Kiyomasu and Andromeda.
"...Indra...?" Shunsuke asks, looking on at him. "After all this time...you're back?"
== Chapter 400 - God of Lightning ==
"You were the ones who left the school." Indra remarks.
"Right..." Jack replies. "But why didn't you come with us?"
"I was busy with helping the school acquire a new principal." Indra answers. "I've heard that King Copernicus and all of his followers are dead, making us the only Socqreath left in the Human Star Realm. We have to stick together, even if these disgusting humans have to tag along."
"Well, this disgusting human is trying to keep two of your kind safe." Falqo retorts.
"You could never protect a Socqreath." Indra responds coldly, turning back towards Andromeda, who glared at him.
"Hello, Your Majesty." Indra says.
"Don't call me that." Andromeda retorts. "I am no Queen..."
"...As you wish." Indra replies, before turning towards the rest of them. "I have also heard that you are in need of assistance against the elusive Phantom."
"No, we need assistance against the Easter Bunny." Falqo retorts.
"Well, then...I will aid you until his defeat." Indra says. "But only to protect Andromeda."
"Well, that's reassuring." Falqo replies, looking back at Kiyomasu, who hesitantly nodded, looking at Indra, knowing full-well what his real reasons were for his absence and his sudden aid...
== Chapter 401 - Unexpected Alliance ==
"Does...anyone else get creepy vibes from Indra?" Jack asks.
"Yeah...he's creeping me out, too." Candice replies.
"He's always like this..." Shunsuke remarks, as they continued to follow Indra through the area.
"Where exactly are you taking us?" Kasper asks.
"I am taking you all to a place where we can lure Phantom, and ambush him." Indra answers. "He cannot be dealt with through brute force, only a surprise attack will ensure our victory against him."
"Yeah, whatever." Falqo retorts, as they kept walking, until they reached a large warehouse, which had merely frames of doors and windows.
"This ain't suspicious at all." Falqo remarks.
"Andromeda is far too important to lose, as far as Kiyomasu seems to be concerned. I will not betray you." Indra retorts.
"Yeah, keep sayin' that." Falqo replies. "It doesn't make it true."
"Let's just go inside." Kiyomasu interjects, as they all walk into the warehouse, seeing crates and shelves everywhere, some half-empty, some full, some completely empty.
They all sat around a game table, as Kiyomasu sets down a hologram projector, which showed a hologram of Phantom and his dagger.
"What's this supposed to be?" Jack asks, looking on.
"I believe I've figured out what Phantom is capable of." Kiyomasu answers. "The dagger seems to operate similarly to Bertram's sword, in that it can control light and thus negate Psychic Weapons, and its blade is made of Huscil. What's harder to explain is his...abilities."
"Abilities?" Shunsuke asks.
"Have you wondered how he can detect Psychic Weapons, and walk on walls?" Kiyomasu replies. "I believe that there is nanotechnology in his body, granting him similar psychic abilities to a Socqreath."
"...Great...this all just gets weirder..." Falqo retorts, arching his back and letting his arms flop limply.
"Still, now that we have a clue on what his ability is, we should be able to negate it." Kiyomasu says, placing his cane on the table. "This is comprised of nanotechnology, for anyone who doesn't know. I'm often considered a revolutionary in the field."
"You think you can negate his powers?" Candice asks.
"If I can hit a piece of his skin with anything made from this cane, then yes. After that, he shouldn't be too hard to defeat." Kiyomasu answers.
"Finally, an actual goddamn plan!" Falqo replies, as they all began to prepare their weapons, it would soon be time to send a signal to draw Phantom's attention.
== Chapter 402 - Leadership Plans ==
Rosenstock sat in his office, staring out across the cityscape surrounding the castle, reflecting on everything that had happened.
For most of his life, there was nothing but war after war, taking more and more of those he cared about away from him. Though this peace was something he was glad to have achieved, he thought it was fleeting. No...he knew. It was only a matter of time until someone, something else came by to threaten humanity. What scared him was that he knew, that eventually, one of those threats may be too strong for the military to handle, and at that point...all would be lost.
"Come in." Rosenstock says, as the door opens, Reuben having been about to knock.
"Sir?" Reuben asks. "Hello, General." Rosenstock replies. "I need to ask you of something."
"What is it?" Reuben then asks.
"...In the event of my death, which I am sure is soon to come..." Rosenstock starts. "...I want you to assume leadership."
"...What...?" Reuben breathes.
"I am trusting you to lead us, Reuben." Rosenstock answers. "And I don't want this place to remain a kingdom any longer, not after my death. Especially since I have no heirs...I never got the chance."
"...Yes, Sir. I...understand." Rueben replies. "Why?"
"...Because I know how short my time is." Rosenstock answers.
"Sir!" A soldier shouts, running in.
"Yes?" Rosenstock asks.
"I've...I've gotten the intel and permission to tell you...that there's an extremist group operating in Drogbay!" The soldier responds.
"An extremist group? Led by who?" Reuben asks.
"He calls himself Phantom." The soldier answers.
"Phantom..." Rosenstock remarks, looking back out towards the city. "...this war has sown so much animosity between us all...and now we've been forced to add Richard Robinson to our guard after Arthur Grant's death...what is Richard Robinson doing about this?"
"He's dealing with it, Your Majesty." The soldier replies.
"...I see..." Rosenstock responds.
"...Should I deal with him as well?" Reuben asks.
"You may go back to Mars for now, Robinson supposedly has it handled." Rosenstock replies. "I'll check it out myself, in person."
"Yes, Your Highness." Rueben replies, as he and the soldier walk away, leaving Rosenstock alone to ponder on everything that he had just heard, in addition to what he had already been pondering.
Phantom...he had to be connected to someone, somehow, it was only a question of who...and he believed that he already had the answer to that question. It was only a matter of confirming it for himself, by visiting Drogbay personally.
== Chapter 403 - Lone Cowboy ==
Grimwald sat on the chair in his room, looking down at his revolver, and as he did so, he remembered the time when he had both his wife and his daughter. He sighed, that time was one he wanted to go back to, but he knew he couldn't. This was here, and now, during a time without war. Perhaps he could just rest for now, just lay down, and sleep, and never wake up, he so desperately wanted that, just for a moment, just for a second, just a bit of time to rest. That was all he wanted now, to rest. After all, the conflict was over...wasn't it? He laid down, and sighed again, closing his eyes.
Demetrius was currently pouring a number of substances into beakers, lamenting the destruction that occurred in his laboratory. Arthur died, and he died wrecking everything, a double tragedy. Whatever, now he could focus on developing whatever technology he wanted, he was free to do so now that the war was over, after all. It would be nice to just get something done for once, something good. He had also cleaned up the gear Arthur used, now keeping a drop of the substance in a beaker for later research. Whatever it was, it seemed dangerous. And he wanted to know everything about it.
== Chapter 404 - Casting the Bait ==
Falqo was tapping his machete on a crate over and over again out of boredom, as Jack and Andromeda leaned into one another.
"I still can't believe that Candice and I are sisters." Andromeda remarks. "I finally...I feel like I belong, now."
"You've always belonged, Anne." Jack replies with a smile, as she smiled back and kissed him, Jack kissing her back. He could feel that she was still tense, but was calming down, as he hugged her gently, Andromeda hugging him back, as their heartbeats began to match up.
"I will never leave you, Anne." Jack whispers.
"Thank you so much, Jack." Andromeda whispers back.
Candice, meanwhile, was playing a rudimentary version of Kasper's game, which emitted various 8-bit sounds, as a dramatic melody suddenly played from it.
"Agh! I can't beat this bird guy!" She shouts, frustrated.
"Oh, uh, should I make it weaker?" Kasper asks.
"No, it's fine." Candice replies, calming down. "I know bosses are supposed to be hard."
"I should probably make an easy mode." Kasper remarks, as they smile at each other and hug.
Kasper then noticed on the game that the bird, Infernoling he had named it, seemed to have infinite health. That was a bug, that needed to be fixed, he thought.
And then, they heard a knock on the door, and turned to see it having been opened, and Richard standing there with his small army of supersoldiers.
"Richie..." Falqo remarks coldly, as Kiyomasu merely looks on, his eyes covered by the shadow of his hat.
"Good evening, everyone." Richard says. "Turn yourselves in."
"What?" Shunsuke demands.
"I am now a member of the Royal Guard after Arthur Grant's passing." Richard explains. "I have taken it upon myself to arrest all of you, and take my whole division with me to help. They're surrounding this place."
"...Make us." Falqo replies with a smirk.
"...Alright then." Richard replies, smiling darkly. "Fire."
== Chapter 405 - Resisting Arrest ==
The soldiers immediately fire at them all, as they duck for cover, cover that was swiftly being destroyed!
"Who the Hell are these guys anyway?!" Jack shouts, as he points his gun to fire at one of the soldiers, but the bullets bounce off their armor, Richard firing the gun out of Jack's hand with his own.
"Guh!" Jack grunts, as Richard fires at his forehead.
Jack quickly ducks behind the cover again, as Andromeda surrounds herself with her Psychic Weapons and rushes at one of the soldiers to attack them, the soldier dodging as a bomb is tossed at Andromeda, the soldiers leaping back as it explodes!
Falqo deflects the rounds with his machete, but just barely, as he slashes one of the soldiers across the chest, leaving barely an imprint in the armor.
"...Shit." Falqo remarks, as the soldier kicks him back, Kiyomasu blasting that soldier down with his cane, which had somewhat formed into a laser rifle.
The soldiers quickly fire at him, but he twirls his cane through the air to trace a holographic circle, which reflects the bullets back at them, said bullets piercing their armor and sending them back, though they survived and kept firing, Kiyomasu leaping behind a metal crate to avoid the bullets.
Dione roars a battlecry and leaps into the air, blocking the bullets with her forearms as she swings a kick down on them, creating a massive crater and shockwave that caused the warehouse to start crumbling!
"Think you could fight without getting us all killed?!" Falqo roars.
"Just steer clear of me." Dione replies, as she blocks more of the bullets, which the soldiers then switched out for explosive versions, firing those instead! Dione was hit, and blasted back, not given enough time to realize what was happening, as Kasper quickly creates a forcefield to protect them for the time being.
"We don't have to fight!" Candice pleads. "Just take us to Rosenstock and we can figure this all out!"
"We both know that isn't happening." Richard replies. "I know from recording devices I planted on Phantom's rebels that you know of my...treachery. I haven't been in direct contact with Rosenstock in months."
"...So that explains how you keep getting away with this." Jack remarks, as Richard fires another bullet at the forcefield -- a Huscil one!
"Gah!" Candice shouts, as she had been shot in the stomach.
"CANDICE!" Kasper screams, as the forcefield deactivates and turns into a volley of missiles!
== Chapter 406 - Rageful Soul ==
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Kasper roars, having the missiles fire at them!
Richard scrambles out of the way to run for cover, as the soldiers tried to fire down the missiles, many succeeding, but some failing, as the missiles hit around the warehouse, causing it to catch fire and collapse even more!
Jack quickly dodges a steel beam falling towards him, as Andromeda cuts it in half, and Kiyomasu turns his cane into a sword to slash down the missiles with, slashing a soldier across the helmet and chestplate as he did so.
"Kasper, stop!" Kiyomasu roars, as he sees Richard getting away and fires at his ankle, causing him to fall on one knee.
The other soldiers fire at Kiyomasu, who creates his own forcefield to block the bullets as he then fires lasers at them with said forcefield, as Shunsuke and Indra were dodging and blocking bullets from other soldiers, but were also covered in bleeding bullet wounds.
"These...humans...are...enhanced..." Indra remarks.
"You don't...say..." Shunsuke retorts, panting, as the soldiers were reloading their rifles and preparing to fire again, one of them aiming a rocket launcher at the two.
"...This cannot end here." Indra says, as he points his Psychic Weapon, a saber, at the soldier, the saber beginning to crackle with electricity.
Then, lightning erupted from the saber, forking every which way to blast each and every soldier in the heart!
Though they made no verbal reaction, they were being burned from the inside out, collapsing and twitching, it took only a few moments for all of Richard's army to be incinerated, as Indra watched them fall, cold as ever
Everyone else watched in pure shock, everyone except Kiyomasu, who merely narrowed his eyes with a small concerned grunt.
"They were the enemy, they had to die." Indra said, as he pointed his sword at Richard -- before his arm starts contorting!
It wasn't just him. All of them, excluding Richard, were contorting, but frozen, unable to move!
"N-no...NO!" Andromeda screams, breathing heavily, as they all saw Phantom walk into the warehouse, glaring viciously at Andromeda with his hand raised.
"Hello...Socqreath." He growls, as Andromeda didn't even glare back, she just looked on in horror.
"As you can see..." Richard starts, standing back up with a chuckle. "...our shared goal to kill you has lead to an...uneasy alliance."
== Chapter 407 - Crossing of Fates ==
"At long last...I can kill you without any interruptions." Phantom says, walking towards Andromeda as he lifts her up off the ground, choking her. "At long last...my soul will be able to rest...knowing I've accomplished my mission."
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Jack roars, Phantom briefly turning his gaze over to him.
"And what say do you have in that?" He demands.
"...P...please..." Jack pleads. "I love her...so much...she...doesn't deserve this!"
"...So she never told you...I see..." And then, he lowers his hood, and begins to remove his mask, slowly, as Jack's eyes began to widen, his pupils shrinking, as they all saw...
== Chapter 408 - Lies Ended, Lives Extinguished ==
His face was relatively normal, albeit pale, but his eyes were yellow, and had bags under them. His hair was messy and greying in some places, but most of all, he was covered in scars and slash marks, to the point where part of his lips and cheek were missing.
Everyone was silent, nearly everyone looked in horror, including Richard, as Phantom turns towards the latter.
"...You want to kill her to gain the people's advantage, and become leader." He says, turning towards Jack. "I want to kill her...because she butchered my family in front of me, because her son asked her on a date."
"Wh...wh-wh...wh-wha..." Jack couldn't form any sentences, he couldn't speak, as he was shocked to the core, turning towards Andromeda, who looked at him with tears in her eyes.
Before he could do anything, Phantom threw her into a crate with his telekinesis, and threw another crate at her!
"NO!" Candice screams, as Kiyomasu quickly teleported them away, Richard looking on in the same horror, as Phantom turned towards him.
"There's much to be done...my accomplice." He says flatly, Richard nodding, and trembling a bit.