Volume Twenty Seven - End of an Empire

## Chapter 313 - Pacific

Jack quickly leaps back to avoid another slash from Atsumichi, firing at him more as the privateer dodges each bullet, takes out a pistol of his own, and fires. Jack quickly dodges the bullets and ducks to avoid a slash, leaping back to avoid a kick that would have otherwise hit his stomach. "Not used to this kind of fighting?" Atsumichi taunts. "Oh, I remember fighting a couple of people like you." Jack replies. "You're all pains in the ass." Atsumichi smirks and once again fires at Jack, who dodges once more.

Jack then notices a sword about to slash his neck, and blocks it with his gun as he kicks at Atsumichi's face, Atsumichi stepping back to avoid the kick as he swings his sword at Jack's leg, Jack pulling his leg back to dodge the slash just in time before firing again at Atsumichi, who once again dodges the bullets, but one does fly through his hair, narrowly missing his ear. "You're good with a gun." Atsumichi remarks. "I don't need a psycho like you to compliment me." Jack retorts, Atsumichi smiling once more.

"You mean she isn't a psycho?" Atsumichi asks, Jack's eyes widening as he leaps back, feeling Atsumichi's sword narrowly cut a little bit into his stomach as he grunts in pain. Jack soon fires once more at Atsumichi, who dodges the bullets yet again and fires at Jack in return, Jack dodging the bullets just the same as he takes a throwing knife out of its sheath to throw at his opponent, who deflects it with his sword before rushing to slash again at Jack, who ducks to let the sword slash across the wall.

It was then that Jack noticed Atsumichi take a grenade out of his coat and throw it at him, Jack responding by throwing his own grenade, the resulting explosion blasting both of them backwards, Jack being sent through a door that had been on the side of the room he was on. "Gah!" Jack shouts, as he begins to stumble to his feet and sees Atsumichi doing the same. "Great minds think alike." He says. "I suppose so, but you're not a great mind." Jack retorts. "Heh, we'll see." Atsumichi replies with a smile.

## Chapter 314 - Atlantic

Jack opens fire once more on his opponent, who once more dodges the bullets and fires his own back at Jack, who similarly dodges those bullets before leaping back to avoid yet another sword slash. Atsumichi kept slashing, and Jack kept dodging to the best of his ability, cuts beginning to appear all over his body, as he attempts to fire at Atsumichi point-blank, but Atsumichi sidesteps the bullet, Jack continuing to back away to throw another grenade, Atsumichi dodging it and rushing at Jack again.

The grenade explodes right when Atsumichi thrusts his sword at Jack's head, Jack barely managing to dodge by tilting his head as he knees Atsumichi in the chest to make him briefly stumble. "You're really something else, huh?" Atsumichi remarks, firing at Jack yet again, Jack leaping to the side to dodge the bullets while firing his own gun right back, Atsumichi ducking and weaving to dodge the bullets as he slashes at Jack's head, Jack barely ducking beneath the slash to punch Atusmichi square in his face.

Atsumichi stumbles back again, leaving an opening for Jack to exploit as Jack kicks Atsumichi in the face to break his balance and make him fall to the ground, firing at him the moment he's down. Atsumichi immediately rolls out of the way of the bullets, and fires his own back at Jack, who, surprised, narrowly dodges them, taking out a combat knife to thrust at Atsumichi, who blocks with his sword before slashing at Jack's stomach, Jack leaping back to dodge the slash, panting a bit from exertion.

"Is that all you've got?" Atsumichi taunts, wiping blood from his nose and mouth. "Oh, not even close." Jack retorts, firing Atsumichi's gun out of his hand and running towards him. Atsumichi slashes at Jack, who narrowly avoids losing his arm as he grabs the knucklebow of the sword to pull it out of Atsumichi's grip, toss it aside, and punch Atsumichi in the face again, kneeing him in the stomach and kicking his knee, as Atsumichi falls backwards on the ground, grunting, as Jack watches, sweating.

## Chapter 315 - Mediterranean

Soon, Atsumichi begins to stand up again, kicking Jack's gun out of his hand before he can fire. "Gh!" Jack grunts, taking a few steps back, as Atsumichi stands on his feet again, wiping his bloody face clean. "Like I said, you're really damn good at this." The privateer says, chuckling a bit. "Save it." Jack retorts, running to punch Atsumichi again, but Atsumichi sidesteps the punch and knees Jack in the stomach to send him flying! "Guh!" Jack grunts, landing on a hand and knee before avoiding a kick to the face.

Jack then kicks at Atsumichi's knee again, Atsumichi pulling his leg back to stomp at Jack's leg, Jack leaping backwards to avoid the kick as he dodges a punch from Atsumichi, grabs Atsumichi's arm, pulls Atsumichi behind himself, and delivers a karate chop to Atusmichi's back. "Argh!" Atsumichi shouts, collapsing to the ground as Jack quickly runs to where his gun might be, hearing footsteps behind himself, and turning around to fire at Atsumich right when Atsumichi slashes at his nose!

A bleeding cut is left across Jack's cheeks and nose, as a bullet cuts across Atsumichi's own cheek. "Gh!" Jack grunts, stumbling back as Atsumichi goes to slash his stomach again, Jack barely blocking with his gun as he fires at Atsumichi again, Atsumichi sidestepping the bullets as he slashes at Jack's knees, Jack leaping back as one of his feet is cut. "Argh..." Jack groans, falling on his side with yet more pain as he fires at Atsumichi yet again, Atsumichi once again dodging the bullet.

Jack scrambles to his feet to start running backwards, narrowly dodging more and more sword slashes from his adversary, and trying over and over again to shoot him, the privateer still proving too fast to reliably or consistently hit. "Dammit!" Jack roars, leaping to the side to run through a corridor that opened up into the one they were just fighting in, and firing Atsumichi as he did so, Atsumichi dodging that bullet and turning to give chase to Jack, who was now a decent distance away from him.

## Chapter 316 - Caribbean

Jack starts rapidly firing at Atsumichi, switching out magazines as fast as he possibly could, Atsumichi continuing to dodge almost every bullet, with the ones that did hit only grazing him. Atsumichi prepares to slash his sword at Jack, Jack rolling out of the way and throwing his combat knife at Atsumichi's leg, Atsumichi noticing and rolling forwards to avoid the knife, before dodging yet more bullets from Jack and slashing at his arm, Jack pulling his arm back and sliding beneath Atsumichi.

Atsumichi turns to give chase, but Jack had already ducked behind another corner. "Hmm, hiding are we?" Atsumichi taunts. "You'd make an excellent pirate, since most are cowards." Atsumichi walked into the corridor Jack was hiding in, as Jack places his gun to the back of Atsumichi's head and fires, Atsumichi ducking at the last millisecond and slashing Jack in the stomach! "GAH!" Jack screams, falling backwards onto the ground as Atsumichi kicks him in the chest, smiling darkly at him.

"You really would make an excellent pirate, Jack." Atsumichi says, preparing to slash at Jack again, Jack blocking with his gun yet again, as he kicks Atsumichi in the knee to briefly disorient him. By the time Atsumichi reorients himself, Jack is already back on his feet, running away as fast as he could, his free arm on his bleeding stomach. "Ghhhh..." Jack growls, trying not to scream again, as he turns to fire at Atsumichi yet again, Atsumichi, as before, dodging the bullets with little difficulty as he pursues Jack.

However, when the magazine ran out, Jack knew he wouldn't be able to replace it anymore, as he collapsed to the ground, yelping in pain again, Atsumichi cutting Jack's arm to make Jack drop his gun with another yelp of pain before kicking him in the face. "GUH!" Jack shouts, as Atsumichi crouches down to stare him in the eye. "You've certainly been through a lot." The privateer remarks. "After all, that woman is your girlfriend, and she is a lot scarier than you think." "Yes, I am." Andromeda says.

## Chapter 317 - Tsunami

Atsumichi turns to see Andromeda walking towards him, giving him the most vicious death glare Jack had ever seen from her. "Well, if it isn't the lab rat bitch?" Atsumichi says in a mocking tone, Andromeda briefly stopping when she hears this, an image of part of her flesh being cut out of her body flashing through her mind as she holds her head in pain. "Ghhhh..." She growls, as Jack looks on, confused and concerned. "Are you here to kill me because I'm doing something you hate?" Atsumichi asks.

"Get...away...from him." Andromeda retorts. "Well, he's probably gonna die anyway, so..." Atsumichi replies, walking towards Andromeda with his sword still in hand, an evil smile on his face. "I can't wait to see what the historians read about this little event." "They're not going to read anything." Andromeda snarls back. "I'm going to make sure you're completely forgotten, if being a legend is the reason you're doing all this shit." "You are a very, very vulgar woman." Atsumichi observes, still smiling.

"Smile all you want, human." Andromeda sneers, before stopping herself, realizing what she just said, and in that moment of hesitation, Atsumichi rushes at her, slashing at her neck. Andromeda, immediately seeing this, sends a Psychic Weapon to slash at Atsumichi, while leaping to the side to dodge the slash. However, she felt it cut into her arm, and saw green and red blood fly through the air, both her and Jack shutting their eyes for a moment, before a sword can be heard clattering to the ground.

Not long after, Atsumichi's severed head follows, and his body falls into a pool of his own blood. Jack looks on in horror, Andromeda running to try and help him up. "Wh...why did..." Jack trails off. "You...haven't done that...in so long..." "...I know..." Andromeda replies. "I...I don't know what came over me." She then starts to walk Jack through the corridors. "Candice has shut dwn the core, this cube is useless to the dragons now." She explains. "Oh...good..." Jack replies, as he passes out from blood loss.

## Chapter 318 - King of Beasts Pt. 1

Rosenstock runs forward to slash at Arcturus, who blocks the slashes with his massive blade and breathes fire on it to light it aflame, before rushing to slash at Rosenstock, who leaps back to avoid the flames, the supersoldier firing at Arcturus with a plasma rifle. Arcturus growls in pain from the blasts, and slashes at the supersoldier, who ducks beneath the slash, as Serena slashes at the back of Arcturus' neck, leaving a small cut. "Grr!" Serena growls, as Arcturus knocks her back with his tail.

Lev fires a laser at Arcturus' shoulder, Arcturus growling in pain again as he leaps to slash at Lev, who rolls out of the way, the slash cutting clean through a pillar that was in the way. The supersoldier takes two machine gun pistols off of his utility belt and fires at Arcturus with them, Arcturus placing his sword in front of himself to block as Rosenstock rushes behind the Netraxian Emperor to slash at his legs, Arcturus flying upwards to evade the slashes before divebombing down to slash in a circle motion!

Rosenstock and Lev leap back to evade the slash, which creates a ring of fire around Arcturus, who leaps out of it to swing his sword down at Rosenstock, who leaps back once again, Arcturus' sword being lodged in the ground. Before Arcturus can pull it out, he is forced to dodge Rosenstock's slashes, one of which cuts across his arm as he roars in pain and flies into the air once more, evading missiles fired at him by the supersoldier and breathing fireballs down at him, the supersoldier dodging them.

Serena leaps up to slash a Arcturus, who flies out of range before rushing down at her, veering off-course to evade multiple slashes from Rosenstock before blasting a fireball at him. Rosenstock slashes through the fireball, and at Arcturus' face, Arcturus blocking with his blade as he slashes his claw at Rosenstock, who slashes a cut across Arcturus' palm and leaps back, Arcturus roaring in pain once more. "I WILL RIP ALL OF YOU APART!" He howls, as he rushes down at them once again.

## Chapter 319 - King of Beasts Pt. 2

Rosenstock throws his Zweihanders at Arcturus, who deflects them both with his sword as he swings it down at the King of Sciarhiel. Rosenstock leaps out of the way as the supersoldier fires at Arcturus with his plasma cannon again. Arcturus takes the shots before rushing to slash at the supersoldier, who barely dodges as the blade scrapes his helmet. Arcturus then wraps his tail around the supersoldier, and flings him through a pillar, causing it to crumble! Serena slashes at Arcturus' knee right then.

"ARGH! DIE, VERMIN" Arcturus roars, swinging his sword down at Serena, who leaps up and left to dodge as she slashes across his nose, Arcturus growling in pain once more as he grabs Serena and throws her at Lev, who attempts to catch her, which only results in both of them being sent through another pillar. Rosenstock rushes towards Arcturus, thrusting a Rapier at his eye, as Arcturus sidesteps the thrust and slashes upwards at Rosenstock, who uses the Rapier to bounce off of Arcturus' sword!

"WHAT?!" Arcturus screeches, as Rosenstock slashes the Rapier across the wound in the Netraxian King's nose, causing it to bleed. "DAMN YOU!" Arcturus bellows, slamming his sword on the ground to send a fiery shockwave at them all, Rosenstock blocking with his Rapiers and the supersoldier blocking with his arms, while Serena and Lev duck behind pillars to evade the burning shockwave, Lev then pointing his pistol at Arcturus to fire at his eye. "GRAH!" Arcturus howls, breathing more fire.

Lev leaps out from behind the pillar, which is destroyed by the fire, and fires at Arcturus again, Arcturus taking the laser as he notices Serena slashing at him and yelling a battlecry, blocking her slash with his arm as he whacks her away and swings his sword at the supersoldier, who had taken out his rocket launcher. Rosenstock blocks the sword with his Rapiers, which began to bend under the stress, the supersoldier firing the rockets at Arcturus' chest, sending Arcturus crashing through his throne!

## Chapter 320 - King of Beasts Pt. 3

Arcturus glares ferociously at them, as he grabs a statue of a Netraxian warrior and chucks it at them, Rosenstock dodging as the supersoldier crosses his arms to take the statue, yelping a bit as he is sent flying a few feet. Rosenstock thrusts his Rapiers at Arcturus' remaining eye, but Arcturus blocks the blades with his own, snapping them from the force of the clash, as he then slashes at Rosenstock, who kicks Arcturus' blade to leap away, landing on his feet in a way that puts the small flame out.

"I WILL ENJOY DEVOURING YOUR BODIES!" Arcturus shrieks, breathing a massive plume of fire at them! The supersoldier activates a forcefield as soon as he can to block the plume, the force of it sending him sliding back as Rosenstock, Serena and Lev all run behind the supersoldier to be fully protected by the forcefield, which began to fail right as Arcturus finished his breath of flame, leaping at them to slash at them with his still flaming sword, Rosenstock drawing two Katanas to barely block the slash.

"GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!" Arcturus snarls, whacking them all away with his tail before breathing another, although smaller, plume of fire at them, all of them dodging as the supersoldier fires at Arcturus with one of his machine gun pistols, Arcturus just taking the shots as he leaps at the supersoldier to grab him and slam him into the ground. "Guh!" The supersoldier shouts, as Rosenstock slashes Arcturus across the back with his Katanas. "RAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!" Arcturus roars, slashing at Rosenstock once more.

Rosenstock dodges the slash, which cuts through even more pillars, causing the throneroom to become more and more unstable! "It's going to collapse!" Lev roars, as Arcturus rushes at them once more, Lev and Serena leaping to either side of Arcturus to fire at and slash him respectively, before running to join Rosenstock and the supersoldier, who grabs a hold of them to rocket outside of the throneroom spire. "NO!" Arcturus shrieks, as the supersoldier fires rockets at the spire, collapsing it!

## Chapter 321 - King of Beasts Pt. 4

The supersoldier kept firing rockets at the rubble for a bit, before landing them all on the massive balcony in front of the section below it. "If that's not it, I'll call bullshit." The supersoldier remarks. They keep watching the area for a little while, before...they see the rubble start to shift. "...Crap." The supersoldier remarks, as the four of them glare at the shifting rubble, right as a truly enormous plume of fire blasts the rubble all off! "Gh!" Lev grunts, as they look on in anger, shock, horror, and exasperation!

Arcturus emerged from the flames, shrieking and roaring at the same time, like a true demon, half his scales burned to pitch black, as he leaps down to face them, nhis sword gone. "How the actual fuck is that thing alive?!" The supersoldier demands. "I know best that some people can survive through anything." Serena answers bitterly, glaring viciously at the Emperor of the Netraxian Empire, who swings his claws down at them, Rosenstock trying to block with his Katanas, which shatter!

"Gh!" Rosenstock grunts, leaping back to draw another sword, a Spadroon with an odd-looking blade. The supersoldier fires rocket after rocket at Arcturus, who flies through them, roaring in pain from each explosion but otherwise ignoring the blasts, grabbing the rocket launcher, and crushing it, before grabbing the supersoldier and slamming him into the ground multiple times, shaking the balcony, and part of the castle! Serena leaps to slash at Arcturus' head, but he throws the supersoldier!

Serena is hit, and they are sent through the walls, as Arcturus notices Rosenstock's eyepatch having flown off, his left eye closed. "WHAT TRICKS DO YOU HAVE?!" Arcturus demands, as Rosenstock stood there in silence, opening his left eye, which was pitch black with a glowing red pupil. Without another word, Rosenstock rushes to slash at Arcturus, who does the same, their resulting clash causing cracks to appear all around the balcony, shaking it even more, as Arcturus' hand flew off his arm!

## Chapter 322 - King of Beasts Pt. 5

"WHAT?!" Arcturus screams, swinging his other claw at Rosenstock, who avoids that slash and cuts Arcturus' forearm off! "GRAH!" Arcturus roars, swinging his tail at Rosenstock, who cuts that off as well, Arcturus noticing the blade seeming to vibrate a bit, as Rosenstock then slashes his legs off to make him collapse to the ground. "NO! YOU WILL NOT DO THIS TO ME!" Arcturus shrieks, his wings being cut off by Rosenstock as well, Lev walking in front of Arcturus, who gives him an evil, monstrous glare.

"Why...why would you choose humankind over your own species, Copperscale?!" Arcturus demands. "My name...is Lev...Lehrer." Lev growls back, glaring back at Arcturus with his Netraxian eyes. "And I am choosing both sides." "The Hell...does that mean...?" The supersoldier asks weakly. "Arcturus was impatient, and ambitious." Lev explains. "He poisoned his father in his sleep, and took the throne for himself, because he wanted to take over the entire galaxy, and rule as the Emperor of everything."

"Holy shit, that's generic." The supersoldier tries to joke. "You know all too well that so many of your own kind were...are...just the same." Lev replies. "The Netraxians are not meant to be Xenophages, this cruel excuse for a dragon has ruined our species for the sake of trying to destroy yours. And I would not stand for two species to be destroyed." "YOU ARE WEAK, YOU DEFECTIVE HATCHLING!" Arcturus roars. "Don't you dare call me weak!" Lev yells back, both their glares intensifying as their rage increased.

"...You...Arcturus...are the true definition of a monster." Lev finishes. "THEN I WILL DEVOUR YOU AS A MONSTER DOES!" Arcturus howls back, preparing to breathe another massive plume of fire at Lev, but Lev could see it happening, as he aims his gun at Arcturus' stomach, and fires a laser directly into it, leaping back, as Arcturus shrieks in agony for a few moments, before the flames grow to be too much, and the Netraxian Emperor explodes! "...Finally...that monster is gone..." Serena remarks.

## Chapter 323 - Victory Achieved

"Hello, all of my soldiers and all of my citizens." Rosenstock says, the message being projected to all screens. "Fifty years ago today, the Netraxians declared war on us. But today, we have managed to win that war and enter a new era of peace. A new Netraxian monarch is being located as we speak, and we hope to greatly improve our relations in future. But now, we can safely say that we will not be beaten down by those who wish to destroy us! We will forever live on, no matter what comes our way!"

Soldiers and civilians everywhere cheered, celebrating party after party, and some, holding funeral after funeral. The war had taken a huge toll on everyone, but now that toll came to an end, the war was over, and humankind was, at long last, safe again. Chapman had watched the whole broadcast, heard the whole speech, and smiled, as did Bisabuelo Vaquero. Finally, the conflict was over, the loss would end, and humanity would go on, safe, happy, prosperous. At long last...everyone could finally rest.

"So, we're entering a truce with the species that openly tried to devour us..." The figure from before remarks, staring at the screen. "At least, we can pursue our main goals." The other man replies. "That is true..." The figure responds, turning towards the man. "My trusted lieutenant, do you know what design we should use for our posters now?" "I do not, Sir." The Lieutenant answers. "But I am sure that we will find something good to use." "Good to hear. We need to keep humanity safe." The figure says.

Jack was laying in a bed as Andromeda sat beside him, her hand on his head. "We did it, Jack." Andromeda whispers. "We saved everyone." "Yeah." Jack whispers back, smiling at Andromeda, who smiled back. "From here on out, it's smooth sailing." Andromeda closed her eyes for a moment. "Anne?" Jack asks. "It's nothing, I was just thinking about everything that's happened." Andromeda replies, gently hugging Jack, who hugs back, tearing up a bit. "We can finally be happy." He says.

## Chapter 324 - Reunited

Candice had been sitting on a bench in the castle for quite a while, her head bowed down. Even after everything, she still felt...empty. She couldn't muster the happiness that she used to, not after losing Kasper. She felt like a part of herself died along with him. As she teared up, she remembered Kasper's dreams, to live up to Kooji, to make the greatest video game of all time. And now...those dreams would...never become a reality. Candice placed a hand on her face, starting to cry again.

"Candice?" A very familiar voice asks, from the direction of the entrance. When Candice heard that voice, she couldn't believe her ears! She whirled towards the doorway, seeing a doctor and nurse standing on either side, and standing between them...standing...was Kasper, smiling a little bit as he looked at Candice with his large, kind eyes. Candice immediately ran over and hugged Kasper gently, sobbing and sobbing. Kasper hugged her back just as gently, closing his eyes and smiling wider.

"Y-you're alive..." Candice stutters, smiling wide as her face was wet with tears. "I was s-so worried!" "I wish I could have been with you sooner." Kasper replies, tearing up as well. "But I had to go through plastic surgery and physical therapy to survive, but...they gave me some implants too, and...I can walk again...I feel more alive than ever." "I'm so happy!" Candice replies, hugging Kasper a bit tighter. "I missed you! I'm so glad you're alive! I love you so much!" "I love you, too." Kasper responds.

Candice then kissed Kasper, who kissed her back, the doctor and nurse walking away to treat other patients. "I will never lose you again." Candice says. "I agree." Kasper replies, smiling even wider, as she kisses him again, him kissing her back again. "Everyone else needs to know this." Candice remarks. "Yeah." Kasper agrees, the two continuing to hug, leaning their heads against one another. "I will be strong for you, I promise." Candice says. "As long as you're happy." Kasper replies.