Book Two

This is the second book of Reaper.

## Prologue

The flames were intense, and people were screaming, trying to escape. It was hard to where where or what anything was through the smoke, which filled the lungs of those trapped inside and made them quickly choke to death as their lungs were incinerated and the oxygen became scarce.

Very few people were left alive in the building - either they had escaped or suffocated or burned or both. One man was terrified, the heat having shattered his glasses, his skin melting and his hair and clothes actively burning. He was trying to breathe as little as possible so as to not get caught in the smoke. It was horrifying.

"Damn it all...damn this business!" The man thought, and tried to say, but only choked gurgles came out. He then saw a box of electronics, many of them, and an ornately designed book that was dangerously close to some flames. Maybe, just maybe, this could work. He pulled himself towards the electronics and book. If this didn't work, his life story would end here, and he would never be recognized as anything more than a part of the statistics in this accident.

## Chapter 24

Running through the streets was difficult these days, with all the construction work going on to rebuild this city. Nonetheless, someone was running throughout them, a REICH soldier it seemed. He panted as he ran into an alleyway and came face to face with Trevor.

"Where do you think you're going?" Trevor demands, as the REICH soldier groans and turns around to see Charlotte blocking the exit. "Teufel noch mal..." The REICH soldier says, as he leaps onto a metal ladder and begins to climb up the building, as he reaches the top, he sees Khaldun standing there and pointing his blaster at him.

"Stop right there." Khaldun says, as the REICH soldier yelps and falls off the building, but feels himself get caught by something, as he is slammed onto the roof of the building by what he now realizes are cloth tendrils. He glares up at Connor, who glares back.

"Where is Reinhardt?" Connor demands, the REICH soldier almost snarling. "I'll never tell scum like you!" The REICH soldier feels an intense pain in his chest and looks down to see a cloth blade slicing through his heart. Everything goes black in his perspective.

"How do we even know he's alive?" Khaldun demands. "He was caught in a massive C4 explosion and crushed under City Hall, not long before Daniel and Beta's attacks." "They always come back." Trevor replies. "If he is, we need to take him down quickly." Charlotte says. "He's planning something." "Something bad." Connor follows. "Regardless, we should be heading back to base." Khaldun states, as they get down from the building and begin to head towards what they have designated as their base, an old warehouse.

A prison bus was driving along a road that ran through a forest with oaks and confiners being the most present trees. The various woodland creatures tried to hide from the bus as it drove along. Inside the bus, the prisoners weren't happy, and were trying desperately to escape and shouting insults at the guards, except for a quiet, less well-built, greyish-white haired and eyed man who appeared to be in his late 30's who was sitting close to the back. The man was also wearing glasses.

"Back down, now!" One of the guards yells to try and stop the prisoners, but they only shouted louder. The driver had a donut half-eaten and sitting on a plate next to the steering wheel. He appeared to be listening to something as he drove, not at first noticing the man wearing pitch black military armor walking out of the forest and onto the road, planting his feet and standing directly in the path of the bus. It was difficult to make out the features of his helmet.

"What the...?" The driver wonders when he notices the man. "Get out of the road, freak!" The man stays there, silent, and staring directly at the guard. He stops the bus as the lights show a mask with deep eyeholes and pitch black lenses at the bottom of the eyeholes, giving the man a demon-like appearance. The bottom half of his mask looked like a traditional gas mask, and there were pockets all over his suit.

Before anyone can react, the man points some sort of pistol at the driver and fires, the bullet piercing through his skull and the roof of the bus, while shattering all the glass, moving the bus backwards a bit and uprooting a few of the nearest trees. A few of the prisoners and all of the guards had been killed by this gunshot, and the restraints were destroyed.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" One of the surviving prisoners screams, as she notices herself free and quickly walks with everyone else out of the bus. The man had lowered his gun and was standing there, looking at them. Due to the lights having been destroyed, it was once again impossible to make out anything significant. The light grey haired man with the glasses walks beside the prisoner and stares with a bit of fear in his eyes at the man.

"I have a proposal for you all." The man says, in a deep, muffled, gravelly and slightly distorted voice.

The base, despite being a warehouse, looked more clean and organized than a usual one, due to the efforts of Charlotte, Trevor, Khaldun and Connor. One section seemed to be devoted to food and drink, another healing, and yet another for bedding. It was designed to function as their base for now, and had to have everything they needed.

"Ah, the perfect superhero base!" Trevor declares, as Khaldun looks annoyed and facepalms. "This is Omega Outpost 104536487." Khaldun responds. "Doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well." Trevor says. "Well, what else are we going to call it?" Connor asks. "Uh...I don't know." Trevor answers with a weak chuckle.

Charlotte was standing atop the base's roof, and looked on, thinking. It was impossible that their work was done yet. Even if Reinhardt really was dead, there were still others. And they could be more dangerous than anything they faced before, although she found it hard to imagine anything more dangerous than Adam. The man who had placed dominoes in all the right places not all that long ago, but one. Had that domino been right too, Charlotte was sure that she would have spiraled into darkness by now.

"Charlotte?" Trevor asks, as Charlotte turns around to see Trevor climbing up the ladder to the roof. "Oh, I was just thinking." Charlotte answers, as she walks over to Trevor to hug him as he gets on the roof. She loved him with all her heart, and never wanted to see him hurt. It was unrealistic, yes, but she still wanted to protect him.

The man was pacing back and forth, staring at his army of prisoners, now well-armed and well-armored. He had been training them for as much time as he could, and notes them. The woman, Ellis, had asked to wield a scythe. An incompetent weapon thanks to the large blade being on the side of that long handle. He shrunk it down to make it more effective, but still knew that the scythe blade alone was an infinitely better weapon than a scythe blade on a long stick. Another was a Crocatoid. He kept this thing around because he knew how powerful these were, and since their master was dead, it wasn't like this one had anything better to do.

There too was a tall, dark-skinned, and muscular man who seemed to radiate power and strength. He didn't bother with any of the armor or weapons the man in the armor had given him, and this man in the armor understood. This muscular man who bothered with no armor or weapons, was himself so clearly a weapon, strong and skilled he must be. And then there was the vastly less opposing man with the greyish-white hair and eyes, with the pale skin over a slightly withered frame, and those glasses. He wore a turtleneck sweater beneath a formal suit, both a very dark grey, almost black.

These two had names as well, the muscular one went by Vytal Peters. The armored man liked that name, it resembled the word vital, like the organs what would be crushed, shot, stabbed, destroyed, of their enemies. That Crocatoid, well, the armored man didn't know its name, as it only spoke in its native language. The man in the glasses, with that white hair, only referred to himself as 'Midgard'. Supposedly, as a reference to the Midgard Serpent of Norse Mythology, that massive snake that held the Earth together by biting its own tail, and sometimes could also be called the Ouroboros, and resembled, at times, eternity.

That armored man, the one leading the army? He informed them that he would refer to himself and be referred to as Ganymede.

"I take great happiness in knowing you many have embarked on this mission with me!" Ganymede shouts. "We have all had something taken from us due to this war, and we must make the one organization left to pay, pay! The government!" The Crocatoid seemed to pay no mind to these words, as Midgard spoke up. "The government? They've been trying to protect us, they didn't want any of us dead." Midgard objects to which Ganymede growls slightly. "Oh, we'll work our way up, right now there were a few mayor candidates. A 'Kayden Dreydel' was one of them, but too was a 'Robert Higgs'. Robert from the news they could see was less interested in rebuilding for the people, he would be the first to die.

"Don't be a baby." Vytal says to Midgard. "The government is part of this, so they're going to pay." The Crocatoid said nothing, and seemed to be fine with whatever Ganymede decided, Ellis was twirling her scythe-like weapon around, apparently itching for a fight. "I hold no illusions of the government's wishes." Midgard replies. "If I must fight the government, I'd only do so to acquire something from D.E.E.R. Industries." "You will because I am ordering you to." Ganymede says. "Did you not also lose something?" Midgard goes silent, as Ganymede begins to speak again. "Of course, part of the problem was a criminal organization, and another one will be here in a few minutes." Ganymede states. "Now is the time to take them into the fold and/or destroy them."

A few people were being lined up against a wall, their pockets being emptied by the ones chaining them there. "I always hated the way Darren did things." The voice of a man wearing a hybrid Spanish-English suit said. "Way too soft for the guy leading the biggest criminal organization in the world. This is how you get the job done." As the civilians' pockets are completely emptied of valuables, a railgun is brought in to fire at them. A single blast obliterates the entire building, and leaves the people in burning chunks.

"You must be the Delivery Cartel." Ganymede's voice says, as Ganymede walks through the flames to come face to face with the Cartel leader. "Ironic and stupid name." "Yeah, well who's asking? You? You look like some sad ripoff of that Chaemirah freak." Ganymede just glares at the Cartel leader, who notices Midgard walking to stand beside him. "Who's that?" The Cartel leader demands. "Your despair." Ganymede answers, as the Cartel leader feels something wrong in his body. "Wh-what is happening...?" "Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia. I lowered your tolerance to red blood cells." Midgard says, as the Cartel leader falls to the ground, dying.

"I really killed that man..." Midgard remarks, looking a bit shocked, as Vytal rushes over to the other Cartel members, catching their bullets without effort and disarming them while also forcing each one to the ground to quickly to be registered beyond anything but a blur. One of them had had their arm taken off by a simple swing of Vytal's arm. Vytal then grabs the Cartel member by the neck and lifts him up, planting his feet so as to not tip over. "You wanna' live, right? Then you need to come with us." Vytal says, as the Cartel member desperately tries to escape. Vytal smirks a bit and places a bit more pressure into his arm, crushing the Cartel member's neck as he lets go of him and lets him fall to the ground, bleeding from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

Midgard had turned his head away from the sight, as the other Cartel members had given up right when Ellis had appeared. "Really? I wanted to do something." Ellis whines, as Ganymede stretches out his arm towards the Cartel members. "Come with me, if you want to live." Ganymede says. The Cartel members get up and nod.

Khaldun was listening in on police channels as he heard something, multiple voices.

"'Calisto'? Is that really your name?" The voice of Carl demands. "Da. I came here because of organization that killed our rivals, Delivery Cartel." Another voice said, the voice of this 'Calisto', no doubt. "They were led by 'Ganymede'." "What's with you criminals and Jupiter's moons these days?" Carl asks, sounding clearly confused. "Just names, I assure you." Calisto answers. "Anyways, we need all the help we can get. For all we know, we're next targets."

"That's all I needed to hear..." Khaldun mutters, as he sounds the warehouse alarm. Charlotte, Trevor and Connor quickly run over to where Khaldun is. "What happened?" Charlotte asks. "There's a new group of villains running about, we need to deal with them before they become too much of a threat." Khaldun answers.

The four of them had attended the Mayor election. There were only two candidates entering. Kayden Dreydel, a man with brilliant yellow eyes and dark brown hair. His skin was almost a greyish pale and there were cut scars running down both his eyes and his suit, rather than the usual black, was rather a stark-white suit with a black undershirt and red tie. The other candidate was Robert Higgs, who looked somewhat bulky and tall. He wore a dark red undershirt and cyan tie beneath his grey business suit, and had somewhat pale blonde hair with greenish-blue eyes.

"Are you seriously going to listen to this guy's campaign at all?" Robert asks. "He's so clearly a villain that it's laughable." "And yet nothing I am proposing is villainous." Kayden responds. "I want to increase the money given to the healthcare system in this city. You just want to increase the wealth of the outdated oil industry." Although conflicted, most people were mostly ready to vote. Charlotte, Trevor, Khaldun and Connor were walking through the crowd to see what was going on.

Suddenly, a spear stabs through Robert's heart as he howls in agony. The Crocatoid kicks him off of the spear and into the crowd below, as Kayden takes out a gun and points it at the creature while taking multiple steps backwards. "Well..." Kayden trails off as he begins to fire at the creature, barely scratching it with the gun as it doesn't flinch. As it rushes over to try and shish-kabab him, Charlotte kicks it in the face hard enough to crack it, before it twirls its spear to try and cut her. Charlotte quickly leaps off as Khaldun rushes over to place restraints on the beast.

"Now to ask it questions." Khaldun says. "No need." Kayden says. "Just make it take you to its leader."

At Darren's old penthouse, which was being rebuilt by Ganymede's forces, Ganymede, Midgard, Vytal and Ellis discussed their next move. "Kayden is probably still alive. I know because we've lost contact with the Crocatoid." Midgard says. "They're coming, the heroes." "Then we need to prepare." Ganymede responds.

Charlotte, Trevor, Khaldun and Connor arrive at the penthouse, and let the Crocatoid go as it slumps on the ground. "Split up." Khaldun says. As they split up, they begin to enter the penthouse, seeing tunnels having been dug and a higher floor in the process of construction due to the lower floor being repaired.

Khaldun hears something and turns around to be grabbed in the face by Vytal, who slams him into the wall and throws him across the room. "Gah!" Khaldun yells, feeling his skull and a few other bones crack. "You're that police officer, right?" Vytal demands. "Yes...I am." Khaldun groans, getting to his feet and clutching his head in pain, as he rushes at Vytal with his bionic arm.

Connor looks around for anything out of the ordinary, and quickly sends his tendrils out. One of the tendrils wraps around something and is quickly cut. "There." Connor remarks, as he wraps another around the same thing and pulls Ellis out of the shadows, as she sends what looks like an airblast at Connor, leaving a dent in his suit and nearly reaching his heart. "Agh! What the--" Connor exclaims, before being cut off by Ellis. "I can control pressure." Ellis draws her scythe and rushes at Connor to slash him, who parries using his own scythe and uses the block to his advantage by kicking Ellis in the kneecap, Ellis controlling pressure to keep her knee intact.

Midgard had finished packing up his equipment when he hears the door open and quickly closes his briefcase and rushes into a closet with a grate for a window. Through it, he sees Trevor walk in and look around. "This isn't good..." Midgard whispers, which Trevor hears as he turns to look at the closet before charging up a Bokyaku. Midgard ducks as Trevor throws it, blasting a hole through the wall. Midgard gets up shakily and a bit burnt, but overall okay, as he begins to run, Trevor rushing to try and cut him off. Midgard then uses a pocket knife to stab Trevor in the arm, causing Trevor to leap back and yell in pain, as he runs out of the room and out of sight. Trevor attempts to follow, but feels something wrong. "Wha...? What is that...?" Trevor wonders, as he begins to feel a bit dizzy while still trying to look for Midgard.

Charlotte kicks a titanium-reinforced door down and looks around. No lights were on and she couldn't hear anything. Then, she thinks she hears a footstep. She definitely hears the cock of a gun, as she ducks her head and narrowly misses a bullet that hits with the force of a railgun. "Wha?!" Charlotte yelps as she runs over to slash whoever it is. When her sword is blocked, she manages to make out Ganymede, who swings his arm to send her back before firing at her again. Charlotte cuts the bullet in half and rushes to slash at Ganymede again, Ganymede sidestepping the slash and kicking Charlotte in the stomach, sending her into a wall. "Don't get in our way. We're only trying to avenge our loved ones." Ganymede says. As Charlotte hears this, she gasps slightly, before noticing Ganymede rushing to punch her, and narrowly dodges. Charlotte attempts to stab Ganymede, but he leaps backwards and kicks her in the face while doing this. He then grabs a grenade and throws it at Charlotte, the grenade exploding as she is momentarily sent to the ground.

Khaldun gets up and glares angrily at Vytal. Although the latter had bruises here and there, Khaldun was bleeding in multiple places. Vytal's Mutation, it must be some sort of Superhuman Physicality. "You done, yet?" Vytal demands. "You know, it was a cop like you that shot my older brother." "Too bad for you, but you must have done something serious to break the law." Khaldun responds, groaning and holding his shoulder and on one knee. "We weren't mass murderers, if that's what you're thinking." Vytal says. "Think more along the lines of drug dealing." Vytal catches Khaldun's bionic arm when Khaldun attempts to punch him with it. "And no, these aren't steroids. I hope you don't actually think that in a world where damn near everyone gets a superpower." Vytal throws Khaldun over him and onto the ground, cracking it.

Connor was doing his best to parry Ellis' strikes, but she was using pressure to make each one of her swings incredibly dangerous. "I haven't had this much fun since the last time I chopped a few people up!" Ellis yells with a psychotic smile on her face, while unleashing a massive pressure blast at Connor to send him backwards and downwards, through the ground. Connor does his best to keep standing and fires his tendrils off like kusarigama, Ellis avoiding each stab and firing another pressure blast at Connor, who forms a cloth shield to block but is sent back nonetheless. "Agh!" Connor yells. "So you're a serial killer?!" "Why, yes I am." Ellis says with an evil giggle. Connor growls and plants his feet to get better traction, before creating a massive spinning saw blade of cloth and sending it at Ellis, who enhances her scythe's pressure to block the attack, which still begins to cut her blade nonetheless. "WHAT?! NO!" Ellis yells, using her pressure to fly back and create a true shield to block with, before firing it forwards to blast Connor out of the building and onto a car below.

Trevor kept running throughout the base looking for Midgard, as he heard the blast. He couldn't stop to think about it however, and he felt more dizzy. He then collapses to his knees and sees Midgard. "You shouldn't be moving, your blood is now superheated, just below the boiling point. You'll burn to death from the inside." Midgard says. "Please, don't move on your own. You could actually die from that...and I don't want to be responsible for a hero's demise." Trevor begins to create another Bokyaku and launches it at Midgard, who tries to dodge as it explodes from how unstable it is, sending Midgard back. Trevor crumples over and whimpers as he feels his body heat increase intensely. It was agonizing, as if a fire was roaring inside him. He could barely think, much less speak or move. He didn't even know what Midgard was doing, as everything was too wavy and hazy for him to make out. He felt himself drift in and out of consciousness, as he tried to hold on. He didn't even know where anyone else was, and couldn't think of their names. Too much energy, too much heat. Too...much...everything went black. Trevor fell unconscious.

Charlotte begins to get up off the ground and notes her burns as she notices Ganymede holding a rocket launcher. "What?!" Charlotte yells. "You can't fire that in there!" "We'll all survive." Ganymede says. "Compared to that blue alien thing, this is nothing, right?" Ganymede fires the rocket launcher, as Charlotte quickly raises her sword to block it. When the rocket hits her sword, it explodes with such force that her eardrums rupture and everything shakes. The penthouse that was being rebuilt began to collapse back into the ground, as Ganymede begins to leave. Charlotte quickly gets up with her ears ringing and bleeding before rushing at him to slash him, Ganymede blocking using a dagger that he lets go of, having stuck a C4 to it. Ganymede quickly leaps backwards as the C4 explodes in Charlotte's face, knocking her back. "GAH!" Charlotte yelps, before falling on her side. She begins to get back up and tries to see through the smoke, looking for Ganymede. When she sees a slight silhouette, she begins to trail it, and readies her sword to strike. When she swings, she is met by a gun to the face, which is fired to knock her back again, and leaves a hole in her forehead. Charlotte flies back into a wall and slumps to the ground. As she tries to get up, she holds her blood covered head in searing pain and groans. Ganymede had vanished.

Khaldun and Vytal had been crushed under debris, and were beginning to escape. Connor was being blasted around by Ellis, and Charlotte notices Trevor on the ground, blood trickling out of his mouth and his eyes closed. She runs over to him and checks him. He wasn't breathing.

"No, no, no..." Charlotte whimpers, beginning to cry. She begins to try and preform CPR, but Trevor didn't wake up. She then noticed his blood beginning to steam. "You!" Vytal roars, rushing to punch Charlotte, who catches his fist with her hand as she feels her bones crack and her arm move back against her will. Charlotte whimpers from the agony that came from this, as she felt her heart thump loudly. Vytal growls and leaps upwards before Khaldun can slash him with his Khopesh, Vytal disappearing into the smoke. "Dammit! I almost had him!" Khaldun yelled, before seeing Trevor's condition. "Gh..." Khaldun breathes, as he helps Charlotte carry Trevor out of the burning building.

Connor was still being blasted around by Ellis, until he though of something. Right before Ellis was about to blast again, cloth blades stab through her wrists. "Gah!" Ellis yells. "It takes a few seconds for you to use that power, and you need your wrists working to us it, right?" Connor says, Ellis smiling darkly. "Not quite." Ellis says, as she blasts at Connor again, cracking the metal cylinders on the cheeks of his mask, his inhibitors. "Gh!" Connor exclaims, as he wraps the cloth blades around Ellis' wrists and begins to pull himself towards her, trying his best to resist the pressure blasts as he feels more of his body break, although the effect was lessened by his suit. Ellis screams in rage when Connor gets close enough to her, and Connor kicks Ellis in the head to knock her out, as she and Connor fall to the ground.

"Well done, Midgard!" Vytal says, clapping Midgard's shoulder. "I didn't think you had it in you. Some quick thinking you've got there." "Yes, I suppose so..." Midgard replies. "I only hope that doesn't kill him." "Seriously? They're just as bad as the government if they're going to attack us, who have suffered like them!" "Enough fighting." Ganymede orders. "Now we have also lost Ellis. Only us three remain to combat those 'heroes'. I hope that Trevor dies so that it evens the odds." "You don't seriously hope that?" Midgard exclaims. "I do." Ganymede responds coldly and angrily.

Trevor was connected to a heart monitor and life support system, as Khaldun was looking for a cure to his illness and Connor was watching Trevor's vitals. "Come on, come on. Where is it?!" Khaldun yells. Charlotte, crying, looks down at Trevor, who was only burning more and more each second and continuing to bleed his own, slightly boiling blood.

...

An idea popped up in Charlotte's head, as she heard the voice again. "Yes, do it." The voice commanded in her head. "Consume him, give into your instincts." "No..." Charlotte responds. "I will never...ever...listen to you...I...I am d-doing this...t-to save Trevor's life!" Without warning to either Khaldun or Connor, Charlotte bites into Trevor's arm. The voice, although annoyed by Charlotte's answer, almost seemed satisfied. Midgard felt the disturbance as the poison began to vanish. "Yes...don't let me be a hero's end..." Midgard remarks quietly.

## Chapter 25

Trevor begins to open his eyes. Everything was blurry and muffled at first, before he came to and sat up holding his head in pain. "Ugh...what happened...?" Trevor asks. "Well...Charlotte bit you." Connor answers. "...Uh...wh-what?" Trevor felt more panicked as he looked at his bandaged arm and saw that he had been given a blood transfusion. "Does that mean--" "No." Khaldun interjects. "Not every person bitten becomes a Vampire and there is a reason for that. They can actively choose to inject their virus into a person's bloodstream. All Charlotte did was drain you of your own, boiling blood. You were given a transfusion immediately." "By who?" Trevor asks. Khaldun doesn't respond.

Charlotte was sitting on top of the roof of the base, looking around with tears in her eyes. "Why did I do that...? Why...?" Charlotte places a hand on her head and thinks. At least she didn't turn him. She would never-

"You are pathetic." The voice rings in her mind. "You are the Queen of the Vampires and you won't turn the one you care about most?" "No! That's why I won't! I won't do that to him, to anyone!" Charlotte yells. "ARE YOU MISSING HALF YOUR BRAIN?!" The voice shrieks in rage, before swiftly calming. "If you turn him, he will live just as long as you." "I won't! There are other things that can extend a person's life! More human things!" Charlotte retorts, to which the voice laughs. "Oh! OH! Now I see! The mass murderer is trying to force morals onto an INSTINCT! I LITERALLY EXIST to make sure you're on the right path!" "I am on the right path, but that's not your path!" Charlotte yells back, as the voice goes silent.

Charlotte then sees something move by, like a blur. All she could make out was the vague shape of a cloaked figure. She leaped off the base to follow the figure through the area. It was difficult to track them, as whenever she got close enough to the figure they disappeared through a wall, as if they never existed. She kept following, and began relying on her other senses to find the figure.

She hears something coming and quickly tilts her head to avoid a kunai made from wood, and turns around to see a cloaked, hooded figure standing there, a one-eyed grey mask obscuring his face, and with various weapons strapped to a belt wrapping around what looked like a Carbon Fiber suit. The figure supposedly glared at Charlotte, although it was hard to tell thanks to the mask. "Are you...?" Before Charlotte can continue, the figure rushes at her with a glowing hot chain appearing and connecting his wristbands. Charlotte rushes to slash at him, but she phases right through his body as the chains come and she feels her skin burn. Thinking quickly, Charlotte ducks to let the chains go over her, before feeling the figure kick her in the back, sending her into a wall.

Charlotte groans in pain and begins to get up, before noticing the figure walking closer towards her with a silver kunai. "No..." Charlotte groans as she rushes at him with her sword, the figure phasing again and bringing his kunai down at her leg. Before it could hit, however, a Bokyaku hits the figure and sends him flying through the building. Charlotte turns to see Trevor running over to her to help her up. "You're okay..." Charlotte whispers, as she hugs Trevor. "What happened out here?" Trevor asked. "I don't know, but it's something bad." Charlotte answers.

"Thank you all for coming here." Kayden said to them. "And so many of you, too. Charlotte Nechita, Khaldun Georgas, Connor Zelinger, Trevor Dillard, Sabrina Kirkland, Crith Cruinne and Noelle Rosette. Honestly, this may be overkill." "Considering what we went up against, I don't think so." Khaldun replies. "We're here to protect you until this villain group is gone." "And because of that I feel no need to be worried." Kayden says.

"We need to find these people and put a stop to them before they do too much damage." Khaldun states. "Wait, get down!"

Everyone quickly got on the ground as multiple massive anthropomorphic bat monsters flew through, seemingly searching for Kayden. "What?" Rosette wonders. "It's him, Shiraki..." Khaldun answers angrily, as the monsters continue their search.

Charlotte prepares to slash one of the monsters down, as it suddenly is hit by some bullet-shaped object and explodes as a fountain of its own blood. They turn to see Marcus standing there and preparing to destroy the other monsters. "Whatever these beasts are, they must be the result of witchcraft, perhaps they were people before. I'll put them out of their misery regardless." Marcus says as he attacks the other bat monsters. One of them shrieks in rage and rushes at him to try and bite his head off, but Marcus turns his hand into a scythe blade and swings it upwards, vertically bisecting the bat monster.

Another bat monster notices Kayden and rushes towards him, as a cross hits it in the side and knocks it away, Marcus throwing silver stakes at its wing, arm and leg limbs to immobilize it, before stabbing it onto the ground with a wooden stake and cutting its head off with one swing of his scythe blade hand.

"I pray that God has mercy on your souls." Marcus says. "You never deserved what Shiraki forced you into. Mindless beasts aren't responsible for their actions, their captor is."

Marcus then notices Charlotte and turns his head to look at her. Charlotte didn't know what expression his eyes has that his glasses were hiding, but felt it must be a cold glare. It was obvious the hatred hadn't completely left Marcus. She shies towards Trevor, as Marcus crushes the head of the last bat monster without looking at it. "I know Shiraki must be behind this. We must find him and end his crimes." Marcus says, everyone agreeing.

Charlotte then has an idea. "I was fighting a man wearing a cloak and grey, one-eyed mask, and he was using wood, silver and burning weapons." Marcus ponders this, before answering. "It sounds like Dhezaex, he's only in it for the money as far as I know, yet he's the most feared of all Vampire Hunters."

"Great..." Kayden mutters, as they begin to stand back up. Sabrina looked around at the bat monsters, as did everyone else. Trevor was trying not to throw up as Charlotte helped him, glaring at the bat monsters. "Shiraki..." Charlotte mutters angrily.

In some sort of laboratory inside a cave lined with gothic architecture, Shiraki laid in a bed, wheezing weakly as his hair was messier than usual and he was wearing nothing but hospital patient attire. He was still burnt in some places and blood was perpetually trickling from his mouth. He sat up when he heard the door to his lab open and sees Ganymede, Vytal, Ellis and Midgard walk in. "You're returned...good." Shiraki had paused between his sentence to cough, specks of blood now on his arm. "Dammit...I must cure this illness soon..." Shiraki groans. "Have those blasted 'heroes' been dealt with?" "Yes, Sir. You keep your promise to help us exact our revenge against the government?" Ganymede says. "Of course." Shiraki answers. "I want revenge as well." Midgard didn't speak, and tried to stay more hidden then the rest. "We must...invade D.E.E.R. Industries...they surely have something that can cure me." Shiraki wheezes, before coughing up more blood.

"Then that's where we'll go." Vytal responds, cracking his knuckles. "Where's the closest base, anyway?" "Not far." Midgard says. "It's in an area close to the city." "Now...go...and save our lives." Shiraki orders.

Two guards were patrolling a corridor, leading to the entrance of the D.E.E.R. Industries building. "You know, I head the company's going through some tough times financially." One of the guards says. "Yeah, we'll probably have to find new jobs soon." The other guard replies, as he is suddenly blasted by a pressure wave. The other guard yelps and quickly fires his gun, blasting a chunk of Ellis' shoulder off. "Gh...I'm going to feel that for a while. Anyways, you don't need new jobs." Ellis says, as she smiles sadistically and throws a scythe at the first guard's skull, cutting it open and killing him instantly. "It's time."

Ganymede, Vytal and Midgard quickly walk into the building, as many guards rush to begin an attempt to stop them. Ganymede simply tanks the gunfire with very little damage as he rushes through and fires holes through many of the guards. Vytal tears a door off its hinge to begin looking for a technology to use, Midgard following him.

"Help! We're being attacked!" A guard tries to communicate, Khaldun picking it up. "Someone's attacking a D.E.E.R. Industries site." Khaldun says. "That's where at least one of the villains will be."

Ganymede quickly points his arm forward and fires a bazooka rocked, obliterating half the site in one blast, as Midgard, Vytal and Ellis feel it. "Does he really need us?" Ellis wonders, as Vytal notices a squadron of robots and a controller. "Well, this is inter--UGH!" Vytal growls as he grabs Midgard by the neck and throws him forwards, making him crash into one of the robots. Midgard quickly grabs the controller to activate the robots while attempting to get back up. "I've given you Arthritis. Your own Mutation will work against you." Midgard says. "Damn you, but you think you can just get outta' here with me here to stop you?" Vytal responds, kicking the ground to shake the rest of the site. Midgard lets a robot grab him as another robot blasts a hole through the roof to escape. "I only needed you to get this far. I have no interest in rebelling against the government." Midgard says, as the robots fly through the hole and out of the building. Vytal holds his arm in pain and grits his teeth as he looks up.

Khaldun, Connor and Rosette appear on-site and look around, before Connor notices Ellis coming at them. "I'll deal with her." Rosette says. "Go and stop the other three." "Right." Connor responds, as he and Khaldun rush towards the building, Connor hoping Rosette will be fine.

Ellis smirks as she fires a pressure blast at Rosette's horn, Rosette having already placed Eletero constructs around her horns to keep them intact, as she focuses on sending a sword towards Ellis, who growls and unleashes a pressure wave forwards to push Rosette back. Khaldun quickly begins firing at Ganymede, who dodges each blast. "Stop! I am an officer of galactic law!" Khaldun shouts. "The law didn't do much to stop what happened..." Ganymede replies as he rushes at Khaldun to grab his blaster and kick him in the stomach. "Ugh!" Khaldun groans, while Connor sends cloth blades at Vytal, who blocks them with his arms and swings his foot down to bring down the rest of the complex. Before Connor can react, Vytal grabs his leg and slams him to the ground. "Gh!" Connor exclaims, as he quickly turns some cloth into a sledgehammer to send Vytal back, Vytal catching it with his fists and holding it off for a little while before his bones start cracking. "Ugh!" Vytal growls, as he is slowly pushed back by the sledgehammer.

"Why won't you die?!" Ellis roars in anger, as Rosette quickly grabs her by the arms and legs. "Pressure won't be enough." Rosette answers, as she slams Ellis into the ground as hard as she can, hearing bones crack and Ellis roar in pain. "If it's any compensation, you ruined my outfit." Ellis tries to struggle out of Rosette's grip, while Khaldun, holding his stomach with one hand, was trying to dodge Ganymede's punches, managing to do so, but at times barely. Khaldun then notices Ganymede about to kick him and quickly bends his elbow to catch Canymede's kick between his arm and torso, and prepares to fire a blast. However, Ganymede's true intention was to get close enough to headbutt Khaldun, cracking his visor a bit and fracturing his skull. Khaldun felt the intense pain, like a burning sensation in his brain, as he growled from the agony but had already fired a blast from his bionic arm at Ganymede, who was hit.

The explosion ends up being seen by Connor and Vytal, Vytal taking advantage of Connor's confusion to slam him to the ground again. Connor yells in pain and slashes everywhere. Although Vytal was barely cut, his bones were on the verge of shattering, and he was forced to kneel. "Midgard...you have no idea...what I'm going to do to you...when I find you." Vytal mutters angrily, as Connor quickly wraps his tendrils around his neck to deprive him of oxygen and render him unconscious.

Khaldun could make out a silhouette in the smoke walking towards him. As it cleared, he saw Ganymede with his armor half-destroyed. His real face was visible, and seemed odd, like an almost stone-grey color, with eyes of an odd, dark cyan color. Ganymede then throws down a flash bomb, which promptly explodes. "No!" Khaldun yells. When the light dissipates, Ganymede had vanished.

"He's always a step ahead..." Khaldun remarks, as he turns around, causing more pain, to see Connor and Rosette with Vytal and Ellis, both unconscious. "We need to take them to a prison ship...agh...immediately." Khaldun says.

The cloaked figure from before, Dhezaex, appears from a wall, and sees a silhouetted figure with glowing yellow eyes standing in the dimly lit alley. "We have a problem." The figure says in a somewhat deep and distorted voice. "We cannot advance until it is taken care of." Dhezaex nods to signify understanding, as he phases through the ground.

## Chapter 26

"We need to find a way to take Ganymede out." Trevor says. "He just raided that really dangerous high tech place." "D.E.E.R. Industries, the one place on this planet with technology approaching our own." Khaldun responds. "And I doubt Ganymede is working alone, he stole a healing device when we weren't looking." "A healing device?" Charlotte asks. "I think I can guess." Connor says. "Who's a guy we never confirmed dead, apart from Reinhardt?"

"...Shiraki." Charlotte answers. "He was only whacked away by that alien." "That alien was Beta-Sirius." Khaldun responds. "I think I may have told everyone this before, and that he's a scout. I wouldn't be surprised if we fought another one of their leaders not too far into the future." "I...really hope we don't." Trevor replies nervously.

"I have brought you what you need, Master." Ganymede says, as he walks over to Shiraki to give him the healing device. "Yes...this will save me. You have done well, Ganymede. Soon, we will have revenge." Shiraki says as he chuckles weakly. He then presses a button on the device to make it change into a robot with surgical and medicinal functions. It injects a syringe into Shiraki's arm to begin curing. "Ah, that's better." Shiraki says. "Now, we wait..."

A few hours later, Charlotte, Trevor and Khaldun saw two blips on the screen. "Ganymede and that guy Charlotte fought?" Trevor asks. "I mean, who else could it be?" "I'll deal with this figure, and am counting on you being able to defeat Ganymede." Khaldun responds, as he walks out of the base. "Ganymede...he's been causing problems." Charlotte remarks, as she and Trevor head off to the coordinates Ganymede must have been at.

"That must be Ursa Major." Rosetta says, pointing upwards at what was clearly the Big Dipper. "Good eyes, Rose. I almost missed it." Connor replies with a bit of a chuckle, as he feels Rosette softly grab his hand. "I've always been wondering what might have happened..." Rosette says to Connor. "How is your family?" Connor goes silent, as a few tears begin to roll down his cheeks.

At that moment, Rosette hears something. "What?" Rosette wonders, as she and Connor get off the ground and begin to look around for any sign of trouble. Rosette then spots what looks like a silhouette, as Connor quickly sends a cloth tendril towards the area. "What is that?" Connor wonders himself, as he and Rosette begin to look for the figure.

Charlotte and Trevor were talking through a warehouse, looking for Ganymede. "This brings back memories..." Charlotte remarks. "Tell me about it." Trevor replies, as they continue to look, not aware they are being followed until Trevor hears a trigger. "Get down!" Trevor shouts, as he tackles Charlotte to the ground right when Ganymede fires a bullet, the bullet zooming above them and towards a building, blasting the building's contents around as dust and pebbles. "What?! He was here..." Charlotte says, as she gets up and draws her sword.

"It's been a little while, Charlotte." Ganymede says, as he prepares to fire again, Charlotte rushing to slash at his firearm before it can fire. "She's faster than before, but how?" Ganymede thinks to himself, as he leaps back and catches Charlotte's blade with his hand, trying to break it, but to no avail. "What is this made of?!" Ganymede roars, as he kicks Charlotte back and throws her sword at Trevor's Bokyaku to bisect it, as he is hit in the eye by a rock Trevor had thrown. "Agh! So, it's accuracy!" Ganymede says, as he takes out a combat knife and rushes at them.

Connor and Rosette come to a stop when they see the cloaked figure from before, Dhezaex, standing there with a kunai on the ground. "Soon, you will all shatter and burn..." Dhezaex says. "How so?" Rosette demands, Dhezaex not answering. "You attacked Charlotte, right? That means you need to be stopped." Connor says, as his suit forms around him, Rosette also readying to fight.

Dhezaex then rushes at them as the chains form from his wrist guards. Connor sends blades at the ninja, who runs through the blades as if they are not there and through Connor, before casing the intangibility and allowing his chains to wrap around Connor, already beginning to burn him. "GAH! Urgh!" Connor yells, as Rosette tries to slam Dhezaex into the ground, Dhezaex turning his eye to glare into Rosette's as she suddenly sees the world around her turn into a kaleidoscope fractal image of itself. She holds her head in pain and, dizzy, falls over. "Ugh..." Rosette groans, as Dhezaex kicks her in the head to send her through a tree.

"Agh! No! Connor yells, as he uses his suit to grab Dhezaex and slam him into the ground, Dhezaex phasing at the last second before kicking Connor upwards and then kicking him in the head to send him back down. Before Dhezaex can do anything else, he turns intangible to avoid a blast from Khaldun.

"There you are..." Khaldun says to Dhezaex.

Charlotte parries Ganymede's slashes, almost looking the slightest bit cocky. "As strong as you are, you are no Nameless." Charlotte says. "You do not need to mention that, moron. Everyone already knows!" Ganymede yells, as he feels his leg get cut and quickly moves it forward to kick Charlotte with it, ignoring the pain. Trevor had taken advantage of Ganymede stopping to talk to throw a Bokyaku without his knowledge. Charlotte had parried the kick with her leg and quickly kicks Ganymede in the face to knock is mask off, before holding her sword at his neck. "This is over." Charlotte says. "Hmm..." Ganymede remarks, as a bomb falls off of his belt and explodes, bringing the warehouse down.

Khaldun quickly fires more blasts at Dhezaex, who continues to phase and tries to put Khaldun under his illusion, but Khaldun rushes at him and punches him, Dhezaex having been surprised enough to not phase, as he is set back. "How did you--" "I closed my eyes and read your mind." Khaldun interrupts Dhezaex. "It's an ability the Lanrete possess, although I'm not exactly that good at using it." Dhezaex growls and puts his hands together before swiftly making signs with them. Khaldun rushes at Dhezaex, who turns intangible to give himself time. "Shatter...and burn!" Dhezaex shouts, as he leaps upwards. Khaldun then notices the kunai. "No!" Khaldun yells, as the kunai, along with many more kunai placed around the forest in a circle, explode at the exact same time, destroying the forest.

Shiraki was calmly waiting, as he already had set his next plan in motion. Then, he sees, hears and feels a blood spike stab him through his arms and chest, and the wall. Marcus was standing there. "I've returned to pass judgement onto you, monster." Marcus says. "Don't be so formal, human..." Shiraki says, as he falls limp. "Something isn't right..." Marcus remarks, as the area begins to shake.

Marcus looks around and sees the base crumbling, as he looks up with a growl. Shiraki was standing there now, Marcus knew it had to be him, but he was now in the body of a massive, mutated bat. Marcus quickly shapeshifts his hand into a larger claw with the fingertips being like scythe blades. "I must destroy you now, demon." Marcus growls, as he leaps up to slash at Shiraki, who grabs Marcus' arm and throws him down, Marcus landing on his feet. "What I have become is merely my next evolution!" Shiraki screeches as he laughs.

Marcus quickly turns his entire arm into a scythe blade and rushes at Shiraki again to slash at him. Although cut, Shiraki laughs it off and flaps his wings to blast Marcus away using wind. Marcus begins to cover himself in his own blood to become a larger monster again, as he rushes at Shiraki to punch him in the face, sending him flying backwards as he rights himself and opens his mouth to fire a Fazaviață at Marcus, Marcus dodging the laser to send blood bullets at Shiraki. Shiraki takes the attacks and grabs at Marcus' leg, Marcus only now realizing that he had been hit by the blast as he feels his singed leg is in immense agony, agony that was spreading to the rest of his body as Shiraki flipped him to the ground.

"It's over, Marcus Clayton! Prepare to join your sister in the afterlife!" Shiraki shrieks as he flies into the air, turns, and prepares to ram Marcus as fast as he can. Marcus watches Shiraki carefully, waiting, as he then holds out his hand to call out his blood which he had left inside Shiraki, the blood coming out by stabbing Shiraki at every angle. "GAH!" Shiraki roars, as he falls to the ground weakly. "Wh-what...?" "It's a strategy I can use..." Marcus says, as he places his hand on Shiraki's head to make Shiraki's own blood stab through him as spikes, while placing a cross on him. "This is over."

Charlotte wakes up dizzily and begins to get up out of the rubble. She sees Trevor's hand waving for help and runs over to begin digging him out of the rubble. Ganymede was nowhere in sight. Khaldun and Rosette had also woken up, and Rosette noticed something.

"Connor's not, agh, here..." Rosette says, wincing and holding her arm. "I think I might know who took him, thanks to that flag." Khaldun responds, pointing to a black flag with a white skull symbol on it, clouds being with the skull.

Shiraki begins to wake up himself, in his original body, as he looks up and sees both Dhezaex and the man with yellow eyes, who also appeared to have red skin, brown horns and a demented smile with wrinkles covering him. He wore rather regular clothes, a green shirt underneath a grey jacket with blue jeans and what Shiraki though were beige shoes. "Wh...what do you want with me...?" Shiraki demands weakly. "We want to give you a second chance, Shiraki Zeshin. I am your destiny." The man reminiscent of the classical Devil says. As Shiraki then notices blue, target-like eyes peering at him from the shadows. He didn't see much beyond that before feeling two syringes stab into his neck to inject something. Shiraki feels his skin harden and his will weaken. He tried to resist the immense agony coursing through his entire body, he tried to stay free, but not even a minute after the injection, he fell unconscious.

## Chapter 27

"This isn't good." Rosette says worriedly. "Connor was taken by someone, that ninja?" "No." Khaldun says. "I recognized the footprints." Khaldun brings up a screen that shows a somewhat pointed bootprint. "Pirates." Rosette puts a hand on her mouth. "Why would they...?" Rosette trails off as she sits on a stool for support, before beginning to regain her composure. "Why would they not? Pirates do what they like." Khaldun says. "And I think I know what kind of pirates these are. It's a matter of locating them."

Connor began to wake up slowly. He couldn't tell where he was, but it smelled like there were rotting fish on board, and there was air slightly rushing by. He could hear people arguing, but couldn't quite understand what they were saying. Then, he noticed a man dressed like a traditional pirate staring at him. "I thought...that style died out..." Connor says weakly. "Not for us." The pirate says gleefully. "We love our traditions and those modern boats are so gloomy." "Heh..." Connor responds.

In some sort of dark base, the science division of REICH waited, or rather, pushed. They built and worked, and despite having months of research, still were not sure it would work. "We must resurrect our leader." The head scientist states. "If we don't, then this organization, and our leader's dream, will perish." The scientist presses a button on the computer to turn something in the corner on. But a few sparks and flashes later, it was only slightly burnt. "No..." The scientist says. "You have a nice base here, don't you?" A voice says. The scientists turn in shock to see a silhouette with those glowing, yellow eyes.

"Sky pirates?" Trevor asks. "That sounds like something from a cartoon." "Yes, well they're real and dangerous." Khaldun responds. "Firstly, their base is essentially a flying warship, that's how it always is. Secondly, they're more advanced than sea pirates." "How are we going to get there?" Charlotte asks. "That's actually simple," Khaldun responds. "We're going to fly."

"Wh-what?!" Trevor yelps. "I barely flew once and I don't even remember how!" "Anyone who can access Eletero can fly, by shaping it into physical footholds. It takes practice, but I've actually learned how to do it already." Khaldun says. "Option two is a broken down Alpha-Centaurian spacecraft in the back." "We'll learn to fly, we'll need it." Charlotte says. "Even after the pirates, no doubt."

"What the?! Where did you come from?! The scientist demands. "I urge you all to remain calm." The man says, as he walks closer to them. "I am here to propose an alliance, between my own master and yours, and I know this alliance can only be proposed if your master is alive and well. So I will help you resurrect him." "Why should we believe you?" The scientist asks, to which the man chuckles. "My master needs the support of as many villains as he can find, he's even planning on recruiting Adam Troy Ross if that man is still alive, but we want to settle for the next best thing, Reinhardt." The man answers. "After all, Reinhardt's Mutation, unlike with Adam, was literally intelligence. If your master had chosen to hone his fighting skills his whole life rather than technological and leadership mostly, he would have made that quote unquote 'serial killer' look like a complete joke."

The scientists look from one to another. "Flattery, right? What good is a smart brain versus a fast brain? I've theorized Nameless' brain heals fast enough that due to the lack of concern for damage the neurons fire faster. Any curious psychopath with that Mutation would outdo basic high intelligence as a, admittedly, common Mutation." "Whatever, the point is, your leader would be very beneficial to our cause, so we want to help you." The man responds.

Multiple pirates were stationed on the outside of the ship, which was indeed in the air, and rather large. The sails were like wings and thrusters were everywhere, along with defense cannons. Then, a pirate spots four individuals coming. One carrying another. Charlotte held Trevor tightly, as she, Khaldun and Rosette landed on the deck of the ship, Khaldun having fired at the cannon facing them.

"Farther than we've ever flown..." Charlotte remarks. "And higher." "Now we need to--" "Stay right where you are." A voice says, interrupting Khaldun. "Welcome aboard the Ancient Voyage!" Khaldun growls and puts his hand on his gun. They all see a man wearing a black, traditional cloth hood that match most of his clothing, apart from a bronze gas mask with yellow lenses. "How does he see in that?" Khaldun wonders. "Oh, I see a lot of things, alien." The man responds. "I am Möxämmätsafa Arslan, and I am the one with the eyes of God!" "Thank you for telling us what your Mutation is..." Khaldun says sarcastically, as he prepares to fire at Möxämmätsafa.

However, Möxämmätsafa was already on the ground, and rushes at Khaldun before bringing a sword upward, or rather what looked like simply a sheath. Nonetheless, Khaldun's gun was cut in half. "What?!" Khaldun yells, as he leaps back, but feels himself be slashed in the back. "Is he that fast?!" "I see a blur!" Charlotte yells, as she swings her sword at said blur, which was indeed Möxämmätsafa, who tries to cut Charlotte's sword but is unable to do so. "Fine, I'm just cutting off your hand!" Möxämmätsafa yells.

"No!" Trevor shouts, as he sends a Bokyaku at Möxämmätsafa, who cuts it in half and ducks to not be hit by the debris, before running at Trevor. "Gh!" Charlotte exclaims, as she tries to get to Möxämmätsafa, by the time she had finished the grunt he was already halfway towards Trevor. He rushes to slash at his arm as Trevor yells in pain, but gabs Möxämmätsafa's arm to form a Bokyaku while grabbing. "Agh!" Möxämmätsafa yells, as he knees Trevor in the stomach and swings his sword to block grabs from Rosette.

"Where is Connor?!" Rosette yells, as Möxämmätsafa stops fighting and begins to chuckle, before laughing. "Why didn't you just say so? You can win him!" "What...?" Charlotte asks. "You can win him in a battle with Epsilon-Orion." "That's a Crocatoan name..." Charlotte remarks. "Another Crocatoan enemy so soon...what did I tell you?" Khaldun says. "Where is this Epsilon-Orion?" "Just follow me." Möxämmätsafa answers, as he leads them inside the airship.

Charlotte and Trevor saw it first, an arena. It wasn't much of an arena, merely a carpet surrounded by raised portions for spectators to sit in, but an arena nonetheless. Then, they heard the gate behind them close, and saw the gate in front of them open. They saw glowing yellow lights, and green eyes with red pupils. A Crocatoid whose shell armor somewhat resembled a trenchcoat. His expression was ever-stoic, and he simply stared at them. Trevor gulps.

Charlotte immediately ran to slash at the Crocatoid, undoubtedly Epsilo-Orion. But just before she could hit him, Epsilon had his pointer and middle fingers on her forehead. Charlotte fell to her knees and dropped her sword, unconscious. "Wh-what?!" Trevor yells, before he feels himself lose consciousness as well, not even having seen Epsilon move.

"Well..." Möxämmätsafa says. "That was pointless. Call a bidder."

Then, the entire airship shook as if struck by something. "What was that?!" Möxämmätsafa yells. "Get the captain to safety--guh!"

The entire army was dispatched, as Epsilon watched with shock in his eyes. Möxämmätsafa went to confront the enemy, and didn't return. Screams, slashes and gunfire were heard for a while, before Khaldun looked on. A humanoid, male looking being appearing to be wearing full body armor with purple lenses covering glowing red eyes was staring at him, while holding a sword the same jet black as his armor, which featured a collar, muscularity and mouthless helmet, that had a glowing transparent purple blade with red outlines.

"Who are you?" Khaldun demands, as he attempts to read the figure's mind. But he gets an answer. "I am Blackhound, here on behalf of a contractor who wanted the freedom of Connor Zelinger."The figure, Blackhound, answered. "Claim back our friend, if Miss Rosette hasn't already."

Rosette had indeed freed Connor, and was helping him walk. "We need to get out of here, soon." Rosette says. "The ship's probably going to crash." Khaldun was holding Charlotte and Trevor over his shoulders to fly them back home, as he looks back. Epsilon had vanished, and Blackhound jumps off the airship. "Time to go." Khaldun says.

An engineer puts two power cables together and gives a thumbs up to the computerist, who presses a few buttons to begin power up. From the lightning and sparks, it seemed this would be the same as before. The head scientist quickly dodges a strike, as the beeping stabilizes.

A few moments pass, as suddenly, Reinhardt, in a new robotic, birdman-looking body, opens his eyes, which were mismatched in the same way as his original body. He looks down at his science division, who salute him. "Heil Reinhardt!" They shout in unison. "What have you done to me?" Reinhardt demands. "What we had to do to save you, sir. Your improvements on D.E..E.R. Industries saved your life. What little organic body you have left is plastered under armor and desensitized. You are essentially more of a cyborg than ever." The head scientist says. "As I thought...my genius would save me again...extraordinary."

Reinhardt quickly removes his life support and wiring, as he spreads his mechanical, yet birdlike wings, and looks down at his science division with an evil glare. "I thank you all for a lifetime of servitude, but the jig is up." Reinhardt says. "I always liked Hitler the most, but I think like him, all this ever was, was world domination. And now that I have this body, I no longer have any need of you." Reinhardt says this as he aims his hand at them and it begins to glow. Screams and blasts are heard, and flashes and shadows are on the wall.

## Chapter 28

Many soldiers were stationed to guard a hangar, which was tightly sealed. Some of them were at the gate when they saw a somewhat big, anthropomorphic, black and red winged being land in front of them. "Warren Schnitzel." Reinhardt says.

Charlotte sat where she was and thought about all that was happening. Those pirates that were going to ransom Connor, Khaldun said they were killed. That one pirate beat her immediately. Ganymede was still at large, and so was Midgard.

She continued to be lost in her thoughts as Trevor sat beside her. She leaned onto his shoulder instinctively and continued to think of a way to stop all these threats. She felt Trevor put an arm around her, and decided to try and enjoy the moment. She left her train of thought with only one thought left, that they would stop these threats.

"Is 'Destiny' here?" Ganymede demands, waiting at the foot of a skyscraper. The door opens as the man known as 'Destiny' was standing there. "Please, call me Brother Destiny." Brother Destiny says, as he leads Ganymede to the elevator and the begin to go up, not noticing Reinhardt flying beside them until they reach the right floor. When they get out of the elevator and into a large office, Reinhardt bursts through the glass and metal effortlessly, and lands on the ground in front of them.

"What are you? And what are you doing here?" Brother Destiny demands, as Reinhardt turns around to look at them. "I am KAISER, as in: King And Imperator Serving Extraterrestrial Reconnaissance." Reinhardt, KAISER says. "I come with a proposal." "This is the Neo-Nazi that got my family killed!" Ganymede roars. "Now, it's time to return the favor." Ganymede aims his gun at KAISER, who ignores him. "I propose that you not overlook the asset that me and my weapon can be for you."

"And that would be?" Brother Destiny asks.

"Project Sekhmet." Khaldun says. "This is what was stolen from the military base. It's an antimatter cannon." "A...a what?!" Trevor screams, as Charlotte looks at the design. "This is...REICH." Charlotte remarks. "Yes, made before REICH's inception, actually. By one Warren Schnitzel." Khaldun responds. "Wait, Reinhardt? I thought he was dead, or at least crippled." Connor says, his voice becoming increasingly angrier. "Well, we didn't have to search that long to find what we were looking for. A chance to take our last big bad down for good." Khaldun says. "And we also need to stop this device. Because it has enough power..."

"...to destroy the world?" Brother Destiny asks. "If one desired, yes. But it's primary purpose is as a last resort weapon to annihilate the battlefield. It was locked up after being deemed too dangerous." Reinhardt answers. "You want us to get a weapon that could destroy this planet?!" Ganymede roars. "You mean this planet you've lost all hope in?" Reinhardt mocks, before continuing. "And you misunderstand. I already have the weapon in orbit, I merely need the codes to operate it."

"...where can we find these codes?" Brother Destiny demands.

"The satellite in orbit is...oh, God..." Midgard breathes, as from his home he had found Sekhmet. "I need to stop this immediately."

It was incredibly windy, and the rain was falling hard. Everyone had evacuated in case of a tornado, as Dhezaex phased from beneath the ground into the control station of the fortified building, already hacking into the controls to begin extracting the code. Plenty of robotic soldiers were stationed outside the base. They looked a bit too organic to truly be robots, but did still seem to be robots.

Charlotte, Trevor, Khaldun, Connor, Sabrina and Rosette were hiding behind a rock and waiting for a moment to strike. "We don't have much time, get past the guards and destroy the control panel." Khaldun whispers. Everyone else nods, as they see a robot coming to check where they are. "Oh--" Trevor is cut off as Charlotte covers his mouth and tries to stay quiet, but the robot had heard, and aims at them.

Before it can fire, however, Charlotte had already lodged her sword into its neck. "It won't cut through!" Charlotte yells, as she kicks the robot's arm upwards and rips her sword out as she jumps back. Connor tries to restrain the robot, but its skin shifts to wrap around Connor's tendrils with its own and quickly kicks Connor in the face to knock him away, Rosette following after the robot. The other heroes run to face the other robots, two of which were still present during the patrol. They began to fire lightning blasts at them as they tried to dodge and attack them.

"Of course those heroes would be on site." Ganymede remarks. "If I may, Dhezaex might not have the code, but right now he is in the device that can control Sekhmet." KAISER says.

"Dhezaex, prepare to beta-test Sekhmet." Brother Destiny orders. Dhezaex nods and begins to aim the satellite at where Charlotte and a robot are fighting. The satellite begins to charge up, as it fires down prematurely. Charlotte notices the blast and kicks the robot to get away. When the robot is hit, a massive explosion occurs that knocks Charlotte and everyone else away, and shakes the building Dhezaex is in. Charlotte looks back to see the robot mostly gone, and what was left was incinerated.

"Promising..." Brother Destiny remarks.

"That was low-powered." Khaldun says, as he notices the rain moving sideways, and turns to see a tornado. "No...we have to get inside, now!"

"They fired the satellite and made the tornado stronger..." Midgard remarks. "I need to buy them time." Midgard quickly begins to hack into Sekhmet and makes the satellite move sideways so as to not incinerate Trevor, who Charlotte rushes at to protect. "Are you okay?" Charlotte asks. "I think so." Trevor answers as he sees the tornado and hugs Charlotte tightly out of fear. The still functioning robot Connor and Rosette were fighting was walking towards them, as Brother Destiny growls. "They're trying to hack the satellite!" Brother Destiny yells. "Track the perpetrator." KAISER says. "I'll deal with them myself."

KAISER flies through the area as he sees the house Midgard is in and prepares to fire at it. "Goodnight, hacker." KAISER says. However, an army of robots burst from it and fly up to attack KAISER, who tries to hold them all back. "Guh! Midgard isn't here?! In that case, I will just kill Charlotte!" KAISER roars, as he fires down two robots and flies to the base.

Charlotte was fighting the other robot as KAISER rushes at here, grabs her with one talon-like foot and throws her into the sky, before grabbing her by the neck. "Gh! Wh-who a-are y-you?!" Charlotte yells. "I...am...Reinhardt." KAISER answers, as he looks into Charlotte's shocked eyes once before letting go of her and bicycle kicking her to the ground hard enough to blow the tornado away, along with everything else including the base.

Connor gets up dizzily, as he sees KAISER and recognizes the color scheme. "YOU!" Connor roars in anger, as he sends his tendrils at KAISER, who dodges and destroys all but one, which chips his shoulder. "You should have been sent to the grave." KAISER says, as he fires at Connor with an energy blast, which Khaldun notices. "That's...Lanrete tech..." Khaldun remarks. "Thank you for your contribution to my cause." KAISER says to Khaldun, as he gets a message from Brother Destiny to return. "It must be your lucky day, because I have to return." KAISER then flies away, leaving everyone on the remains of Oklahoma.

"Great...he must be working with Ganymede and whoever was in there." Trevor says, as he tries to get up off the ground. Charlotte was unconscious, bruised and bleeding, but healing. Trevor went over to help her up, as they thought about why the satellite missed. "Midgard, he must have been helping us." Trevor says. Midgard was being flown by his squadron of robots towards his next base, as KAISER was already back at the skyscraper.

"The code may now be destroyed, but the weapon can still be used." KAISER says. "Even if that entails reverse-engineering it." "You're quick to provide a solution to your blunder to escape punishment." Brother Destiny replies. "Well, my Mutation was immense intellect. If I had dedicated my whole life to fighting, I would be completely unstoppable, the pinnacle of the human race, and perhaps all races." KAISER says in response. "Aren't we the self-ass kisser?" Ganymede mocks. "You still haven't told us why you're helping us." "Neither have you." KAISER replies. "I want revenge on the government and the hero program." Ganymede says. "What do you so desperately want?" "Merely a place at the table." KAISER responds. "Is that so?" Brother Destiny asks. "Then come with me."

Brother Destiny leads Ganymede and KAISER to the elevator again as they get inside. But rather than pressing the button to floor 1, Brother Destiny presses the button to floor -5, a 6th basement. They all move downwards into the basement as Ganymede glares at the hole in the elevator. When they reach it, the door opens up to a dimly lit corridor which looked like something out of a science fiction horror movie. "Along this path, we will find my master." Brother Destiny says, as they walk along the corridors to look for the base. When they reach the door, it is guarded by two of the robots. "This is merely one way in." Brother Destiny says, as he opens up the vault to bring them into the courtyard of what looked like an industrial version of a generic evil castle.

"Somebody's theatrical." KAISER remarks, as they walk along the courtyard to the main gate. Two larger robots that were guarding it aim their spears at KAISER and Ganymede, but Brother Destiny holds his hand up. "Stand down, they will be registered." Brother Destiny orders, as the robots move back into their positions. The gates open as Brother Destiny, Ganymede and KAISER keep walking along the large room with many doors leading to many rooms and many stairs and mineshaft elevators. Things appeared to be being built all the time. When they got to the main room, a man wearing a long, old, hooded black robe and a scuffed grey metal mask was waiting for them. "Who are these two?" The man demands in a voice which sounded like multiple of the same voice echoing backwards and forwards. "Warren Schnitzel and Aniketos Makrolis. They want to meet our master and join our ranks." Brother Destiny answers. "Are we allowed in, Teremtő?" Teremtő nods, and steps aside as the gates open up into a more cleaned up, massive room with a large staircase leading up to a raise portion where a massive screen projected blue light onto the whole room, the light only impeded by a throne.

"Master, we have new recruits." Brother Destiny says. "Is that so?" The man in the throne asks in a voice with a mechanical reverb to it, as the throne swivels around. Although the light made it hard to make out anything about the man, he did seem to be wearing armor, or perhaps was a robot himself. KAISER and Ganymede couldn't tell. "I am Scorpios, the greatest villain of all! Allow me to show you to the table." Scorpios says.

## Chapter 29

It was raining hard, so hard that it was actually cracking buildings. Midgard ran through the rain with a raincoat on, the raincoat somehow weathering the storm. Multiple FBI agents were in hot pursuit, ready to fire at Midgard once they got a clear shot. But suddenly, they feel themselves collapse as they feel their brains overload. "It's a seizure." Midgard says, not expecting them to hear him over the rain. He then turns to keep running, running towards his base.

"Midgard is near-impossible to track because he can hack any device and incapacitate any spy." Khaldun says. "But, if we can guess where he is by his movement patterns, then we should be able to find him and stop him from following through on his plans." "Then what are we waiting for?" Connor asks. "We're waiting for the government to join in on this, and for Charlotte to be healed." Khaldun answers.

Charlotte was resting in a bed in the base, while healing. She thought about the fact that Reinhardt had returned. If he could come back after being crushed...no doubt Nameless could come back. Trevor was trying to get in contact with the staff of Reaper High. "The superhero school..." Charlotte remarked. She wasn't sure how much help they would be, since she had never seen them in action. But they would need all the help they could get, because Midgard seemed like he could be another Nameless.

"...And that means this'll be over once we beat him." Charlotte thinks out loud. Or rather, once they beat him, Ganymede and Reinhardt. They would finally be able to rest...except...the Crocatoan...

"I think I know where he is." Khaldun says. "And I've managed to track the device he stole, a Zero-Point Energy Cannon." "A what?" Trevor asks. "It uses quantum energy." Khaldun says. "We need to get there and stop him, now!"

Midgard was walking towards what looked like a massive metal barrel on a metal platform. There were zigzagging, orange lights on the barrel and platform that lead to a circle at the top. This device was the Zero-Point Energy Cannon. Midgard places one hand on it, bows his head down and sighs. "Soon...I'll be able to exact justice for you." Midgard breathes.

Midgard holds out a controller and presses one of the buttons on it to activate his squadron of robots. "Keep this place safe while I destroy them." Midgard says, as the robots fly off to begin fighting the army that was entering the abandoned military base Midgard was using.

"Alright, everyone. Be on guard." Daniel says, as everyone looks around. Then, they see the swarm of robots. "Sir!" "Just shoot!" Daniel roars, as he snaps his fingers to destroy one the robots. Another one rushes at Charlotte, who slashes at it only for it to grab her blade and fly her into the air. "Not again!" Charlotte yells, as she kicks the robot in the arm to dislocate it and cause its grip on the blade to loosen. She grabs her sword and slashes upwards at it, but it backflips away and fires a blast at her, burning her arm. "GAH!" Charlotte screams, as she tries to evade the robot's next strike, that being a missile made of silver.

Connor slashes at one of the robots to keep it back as he prepares a trap, while Khaldun fires at one to bring it down, but it raises a forcefield. Trevor was looking for a break in one of the robots' defenses from behind a container. "Are these Midgard's?!" Trevor shouts. "Of course they are!" Khaldun yells, as he sees Maria shoot down one of the robots.

Charlotte was being tossed through the air by the robot fighting her, and silver was stabbing her in multiple places. She grabs the robot's arm and slashes at its face, but it only leaves a small cut. The robot then flies down rapidly to slam her into the ground. "Ugh!" Charlotte shouts, as she sees an opening in the neck of the robot and drives her sword into it. She hears the robot power down and sighs in relief, as she begins to get back up and rushes at Midgard to punch him into--through--multiple buildings. She turns to the cannon and rips a panel off to see wiring. "Khaldun would know how to disable it, and Trevor could figure it out..." Charlotte remarks.

Trevor had managed to hit one of the robots with his Bokyaku, but he was struggling against a few more that took its place. Khaldun was using his arm to block attacks from more of the robots but was being pushed back. The robot Connor had trapped was beginning to escape. Sabrina and Rosette were also present, and doing their best to shield everyone they could, not confident they could fight the army. Daniel looks at the battle, before memorizing the exact location of each and every robot before snapping his fingers to send a small, thin trail of flame through the robots, burning through and disintegrating them upon contact.

"There, now that's over." Daniel says. "The teachers are going to deal with Midgard."

"What happened over there...?" Charlotte wonders, as she sees Midgard, bruised and bleeding with his glasses cracked and his clothes ripped, but alive. "You're still alive?" Charlotte asks. "Yes...I can control lethality both ways." Midgard answers. "Just please, let me aim the cannon. I need to avenge my family." "I'm not letting you kill everyone." Charlotte responds bluntly. "I don't want to kill everyone." Midgard replies. "I want to kill the Crocatoan."

Charlotte's pupils dilate from the shock. "Wh...what..." Charlotte asks. "There are those who claim they want to help and use this to justify reckless destruction, and there are those who simply want to watch the world burn for the fun of it. I fall into neither category of your 'villains'." Midgard answers. "I know that fighting against the law is wrong, but I just want to avenge my family. I don't blame anyone but the Crocatoan. It was one of those monsters that entered our home and killed my family in front of me."

Charlotte begins to cry, before glaring at Midgard. "How do I know you're not lying?" Charlotte demands. "You would know if I was lying, and me lying would not change anything for my situation." Midgard replies. "I'm a lawless vigilante, who wants to destroy the Crocatoan before they get the chance to fight back. And I'm not going to pretend that's false."

"...How long until the cannon fires?" Charlotte asks. "It actually fired a few moments before you punched me." Midgard answers. "I've done what I wanted to do." At that moment, Midgard quickly leaps up to dodge a spike attack that stabs through and destroys the cannon, creating an explosion that knocks everyone back. Midgard feels someone place a hand on his shoulder and sees Coffey. "What did you do to my Mutation?" Midgard asks. "It's been changed to inherited insomnia for a while." Coffey answers. Midgard sees the military standing there and puts his hands up. "You can thank me, or not. But, I've managed to kill our enemies." Midgard says, as he is placed into a prison vehicle. Midgard turns to Charlotte. "Don't worry about the Crocatoan. You need to focus on the others." Midgard says. Charlotte nods, as the vehicle drives away.

"I'm guessing you're confused." Daniel says. "Well, they have Mutations of their own, and were even heroes. Coffey can manipulate biology, making him exceptionally dangerous because he can change, remove and bestow Mutations in others. Marshall can manipulate concrete, which is why he normally doesn't. Lawson could manipulate Tachyons. And Marko...well...he could transmute anything into anything." "Could he...make me human?" Charlotte asks. "Don't take the easy way out, Trevor loves you, regardless of your species." Daniel answers. "Speaking of, you should get back to them. I'm going to report all this."

Charlotte nods and begins to walk back to the others, still thinking about Midgard's words.

Some time later, Midgard was sitting in his cell with another officer. "We've learned from our past mistake involving Darren, so don't go thinking we'll let you die." The officer says. "That's...comforting..." Midgard replies. "I understand what I did was illegal." "You're heart's in the right place, but you need to sign up to the Superhero Program to go around doing stuff like this." The officer says. "My daughter always asks what the difference between a vigilante and a superhero is. My wife says a superhero is someone who is loved by the public, but vigilantes can also get that reputation. My answer is always the same; a superhero operates as a extension of the law. A vigilante does not."

"More people should get to know you." Midgard says. "You are clearly a hope for humankind. As for your family, please...take care of and cherish them. Do everything you can to protect them. Family is the most important thing in this world, to lose it is the greatest tragedy one can experience." The officer nods in agreement, before seeing his phone beeping. "I gotta' go. Do you have any requests?" "Only that no more families are torn apart." Midgard replies. "Only that your daughter, that all children, will be able to live in peaceful world. I can't request to see my family's graves, because their bodies were no doubt vaporized by the Crocatoid's attack." The officer nods again, as he then leaves the room and closes the door. "He's all yours, future mayor." "No need to treat him harshly."

The door opens and Kayden Dreydel walks in, as he then closes the door. "Reminds one of Nameless' assault, I'm sure." Kayden says. "Congratulations, you'll be a genuine inspiration and hero despite being a villain." "I doubt you're here for whatever reason you stated." Midgard says. "I saw the camera light change from red to blue. You're manipulating the footage as we speak, likely with that device you're holding." "Smart as ever, I see." Kayden says, as he walks beside Midgard. "Yeah, I did hack it. Because there is a secret I hold that no one knows. You see, Adam inspired me, I want to follow in his footsteps. So I decided to do a little name change. My last name is actually Dreidel. And I'm also known by another name."

Midgard feels something pierce his neck, as he moves his hand towards it. "Brother Destiny." Kayden finishes, as he rips the knife out of Midgard's carotid artery and lets his head flop onto the table. "Just sit there and die." Kayden says, as he then moves the knife towards himself. "Time to give myself an alibi."

## Chapter 30

"What do you mean Midgard's dead?!" Khaldun demands. "We found him with a knife wound in his neck, we don't know who did it, and Mayor Dreydel was found unconscious and bleeding." The police officer says. "What?! Who killed Midgard?" Khaldun asks. "We don't know. All we know is that the Mayor is now in the hospital, and Mathias Mogensen is being transported to a morgue." The officer answers solemnly. "We're trying our damn best to get to the bottom of this, we swear." Khaldun cuts the transmission and growls. "I know who it must be." Khaldun says. "We need to investigate the Mayor."

"Killing Midgard was an absurd stunt." Ganymede says. "What will we do without Destiny?" "Destiny is only our spy." Teremto says. "And what we should be doing, is scattering the heroes." "Yes, that would be good!" Scorpios shouts. "Teremto, go on and collect more of that artificial Eletero in our factory!" "Yes, Lord Sa--Scorpios." Teremto replies, before seemingly teleporting away by dissipating into smoke. "He's valuable, but neither of you can afford to slip up." Scorpios says. "Do not speak my real name." Ganymede and Dhezaex take a step back while KAISER watches on. "That is all, you're dismissed!" Scorpios finishes.

Ganymede, Dhezaex and KAISER were walking through one of the many dark corridors of Scorpios' castle. "Scorpios is a joke." KAISER grumbles. "Why follow him?" "He may have a sense of humor but that doesn't make him weak." Ganymede answers. "If we were to every betray him, the consequences would be severe." KAISER looks back at Dhezaex. "Are you going to pitch in on this?" KASIER demands, Dhezaex not answering, but glaring at him with that glowing eye. KAISER shrugs as they keep moving.

Trevor had made it to the hospital, and saw Dreydel laying in the bed, staring off into the distance. "Hello there, Mr. Dillard." Dreydel says. "Are you here to bring me an Indiana Jones ripoff book to read?" "No, and I--" "'Guess you're wondering why I'm alone'. No, let me guess, Khaldun and Charlotte are off investigating, while Connor is visiting...his parents' graves." Trevor doesn't respond for a while, before Dreydel chuckles. "It's very nice to have company, anyway." "Who attacked you? And killed Midgard?" Trevor asks. "...A man with red skin and yellow eyes, reminiscent of a demon." Dreydel answers. "He calls himself Brother Destiny."

Connor walked over to a graveyard, shielding his eyes from the setting sun. It wasn't raining and there wasn't fog, good. Connor walked through the gate and past the many graves, not aware of someone following him. He stopped at his parents' gravestones, and balled his hands into fists. "I...I remember what I told you last..." Connor says. "...We were wrong...Reinhardt...is still alive...I haven't avenged you yet..." Now that he thought about it, it would be a good time for rain. "Connor..." Rosette says, prompting Connor to turn around and see her. "Rose...I..." Connor trails off as Rosette hugs him, he hugs her back, but can't take his mind off Reinhardt.

Khaldun was looking around the city he was in. Every building was connected in rows, and curved so that each row was in the shape of a circle. The roads looked rather normal, but the entrances to the various city rows all led to show an underground tunnel entrance. "A factory city?" Khaldun wonders, as he walks through the city. He hears energy pulsing and looks up to see a ball of energy growing larger, with a pillar of the same energy rising up from the large nuclear chimney-like structure Khaldun was standing before. He then saw a man with a dark metal bird mask with red lenses and a tattered brown hooded robe standing atop one of the buildings, and quickly hides, not noticing the figure turning to look in his direction and dissipating.

"*What just happened...?*" Khaldun thinks to himself, as he turns around to notice the figure standing there. "One of the heroes..." The figure says. "Let me introduce myself to you as Father Teremto."

Before Khaldun can react, multiple spikes made of dark greyish brown rock with glowing orange cracks were erupting from the ground to stab at him. Khaldun quickly grabs one of the spikes to pull himself up into the air, as he notices a wave of fire coming at him. Khaldun activates a shield to block, but feels Teremto teleport behind him and send him crashing through multiple buildings with an air blast. Khaldun coughs up blood as he then notices water erupting from the sewers to rush at him, and feels the sun's heat hurting him to a much greater extent than before. He takes out his gun and fires at Teremto, who erects a transparent white forcefield around himself to block it. Khaldun then notices a portal open behind him and sees Teremto's arm grab him by the face, before pulling him into the forcefield which Teremto had teleported out of.

"Gh! No!" Khaldun yells, as he notices the ground beneath him turning to lava with graphene spikes erupting from said lava.

Charlotte was walking around the city, looking for Midgard's killer, when she hears something and turns around to be instantly met with a flurry of sword slashes. She was now cut badly, and multiple buildings had toppled over. Although her sword remained the same, her arm was halfway falling off. There, standing where she glared, was a man who seemed to be wearing body armor with a raised, pointed collar. His eyes were glowing red and purple, and his sword was purely purple. Before she could react, Charlotte felt the man rush past her, and her stomach split open. "GAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Charlotte roars, trying to bite back tears from the searing agony. She wasn't just being cut, she was being burned.

Her enemy was using an Ultraviolet sword, and one that could seemingly cut through anything at that.

Said enemy turned back around and rushed to slash Charlotte again, aiming to behead her. Charlotte blocks at the last second, and feels the sword slightly cut into her neck like a hot knife through butter. The figure kicks her into and through a building, before it leaps through the building completely via windows and stomps on Charlotte's chest to crack her ribcage. The figure then gets off of her and places his hand on her neck, as he lifts her up. "Did all your enemies play nice before me?" The figure asks mockingly. "Blackhound doesn't play nice. I win, no matter what. My enemy's weakness is exploited, no...matter...what."

Blackhound throws Charlotte into a car, splitting it in half. At this point Charlotte didn't even have the energy to scream. She was bleeding everywhere and unable to stand. She thrusts her sword upwards to try and stab Blackhound, who grabs the blade of her sword and slashes her arm off, before letting go. "Now to finish you off." Blackhound says, before noticing something. Charlotte didn't see it before passing out from the pain and loss of blood.

Trevor was pacing around the room, as Dreydel clears his throat. "You should probably get to your friends, they could be in serious trouble." Dreydel says. "I'll make a quick recovery, so don't worry about me."

"Right." Trevor responds, as he leaves the room to look for Charlotte.

Trevor had been walking for a while, before noticing a portion of the city was destroyed after turning around the skyscraper. "What hap...Charlotte!" Trevor shouts, as he rushes over to help Charlotte up. She had healed halfway and still looked like she had been thrown into a sea of sawblades and mallets, and she was still unconscious. Trevor quickly ran to try and get back to their base as quickly as he could, as he noticed Connor and Rosette. "W-we have to get her back to base, now!" Trevor yells, Rosette nodding and helping Trevor carry Charlotte. "I'm sure she'll be fine, but..." Connor trails off and follows them.

Back at the base, Charlotte was resting in the bed as her wounds healed. Trevor sat on a bench outside the hospital room as Connor and Rosette looked for Khaldun, before noticing he was back in the base. "What happened to you?" Connor asks. "Someone named Father Teremto." Khaldun groans. "He might be the one pulling the strings." The screen then turns to static, before showing Krincax staring at it to the point where his face was foreshortened. "Gah!" Khaldun yells. "Krincax..." "Nice to see you, too!" Krincax shouts. "Now then, what are we up against this time? A wizard with elemental abilities? A mechanical swordsman? A spy?" "What...?" Khaldun wonders, as Krincax laughs. "Well, inform me when you have one of them ready for pickup. I do so want to experiment on them." The screen turns back to what it was before.

"Heh...something tells me that won't be easy." Connor remarks.

"This way, warrior." Teremto says, as he brings Blackhound into Scorpios' throneroom. Scorpios' throne was slid to the side of the large screen. On the other side were three robotic individuals. One was wearing a robe and carrying a scythe, and had blue, hypnotic eyes. One was a curvaceous woman wearing something a dark wizard might wear, a form fitting suit with a tall collar and a skull necklace. And the last one was larger than the others, more muscular, and appeared to be wearing armor. The woman had yellow eyes, the armored being had red. On the screen was a Crocatoid, with metallic pale skin and a grin on his face. His eyes glowed orange and his helmet had lens-like structures on them. He appeared to be wearing casual clothing, and two blue-lighted Crocatoan were standing on either side of him, looking like guards holding spears.

"Is this your new recruit, Scorpios?" The Crocatoid demands. "Indeed, Delta." Scorpios answers smugly. "I add yet another to my ranks, and we will destroy this world, and I will be recognized for it." Delta laughs. "Sure, sure. Just remember, we get what's left, and those robot guys you have, the Cydran, you'd better not let their god find you." "Hah! If it's another villain, by the end of this year I will surpass it!" Scorpios shouts back, as the screen turns to a glowing blue backdrop. "Now then, Blackhound, you are going to be very special in our goals." Scorpios says. "So just sit tight, we will become infamous."

## Chapter 31

Charlotte slowly felt herself wake up, as she sat up and looked around the room. "Ugh...what...happened...?" Charlotte wonders, before remembering her battle with Blackhound and wincing slightly from the pain. She got out of the bed and walked out of the room, before walking towards the main part of their base. Multiple things looked upgraded compared to last time she was awake. She must have been recuperating for a little while, she thought, before looking around and noticing that Trevor wasn't present.

"Where's Trevor?" Charlotte asks, as Khaldun and Connor turn to see that she is awake. "He's off looking for a dangerous criminal." Khaldun answers. "In fact, said criminal is Darren Mitchel's son, Kevin." "Trevor's bully...?" Charlotte asks. "Yep, and he's following in his father's footsteps." Connor says. "I see...then the Quadriology is back." Charlotte replies. "Yes, and he's gotten someone else on his side." Khaldun says as he pulls up a picture of Pyro. "What?!" Charlotte yells. "Old habits die hard, and so do vampires. Pyro seems to really love working with criminals." Connor says.

Trevor walked through the area, which was a very large industrial area with a metal suspension bridge crossing over a pool of lava, or molten metal, he couldn't tell and it didn't matter. He had managed to spot the security cameras before they spotted him, and destroyed them on the spot, but now, he saw two guards standing at the entrance to the base, on the other side of the bridge, albeit they looked a bit delirious. "Wh...why did it...have to be a...vo...volcano..." One of the guards moans. Trevor walks closer and hopes that the guards were too delirious to notice him. However, multiple spears were placed in an X formation to stop him from getting to the door. "Stay right where you are, boy." One of the guards says, as the other looked like he was about to inform the rest of the organization about Trevor. "No!" Trevor shouts, as he quickly knocks the communicator out of the guard's hand. "Aw..." The guard moans, as he delivers a kick at Trevor's face, causing him to fall back. The other guard prepares to punch him in the neck, but Trevor uses Bokyaku to cut the guard's foot off, making him stumble and fall into the molten metal below. The other guard gets out a gun and fires at Trevor, who dodges the blasts and punches the guard unconscious.

Trevor walked towards the door and opened it, as he hoped there wouldn't be more guards. And there appeared to be none. "Huh? Security sure is lax here..." Trevor remarks, feeling suspicious as he walked into the base and looked around, taking a left and going along said corridor on the left, not noticing that someone, or something, was following him. Everything was dimly lit, and the air was hard to breathe at some points. *"Who builds a volcano base this badly?"* Trevor thinks, before remembering that it is a volcano base. "Oh...right..." Trevor says, as he then throws a Bokyaku behind him. "I can hear you!" Trevor shouts. "Dammit...I knew my Mutation would be useless." A voice says, as a man wearing a suit and tie, with chesnut hair, materializes out of thin air. "Invisibility, that's my power." The man says. "My name? Would you remember it? It's Ephraim Hughey. I'm the guy who follows prisoners and detonates the bombs I place on their backs. "Wait...what?!" Trevor yells, as he puts his hands on his back and feels something. The bomb? He manages to rip it off his shirt and throw it at Ephriam, who leaps back but is unable to fully dodge. The explosion shakes the base, and makes lava come out of a crack. "Oh, great..." Trevor moans, as he keeps going.

Trevor continued to walk around the base, stumbling in fright whenever the it shook. Was the volcano unstable? Did the bomb make it unstable? He didn't know, he just kept looking around, until he saw a door that was slightly open. He walked inside, and saw Pyro standing there, looking rather fine. This on its own would have been confusing and infuriating, but Trevor knew who he came for. Sitting on some sort of throne was someone wearing a ragged outfit consisting of a hoodie and jeans, whose skin glowed yellow and crackled with electricity. "It's been quite a while, Trevor." Kevin said in a slightly distorted voice. "I haven't seen you since the day we last fought." "I wish we never had to see each other again." Trevor replies. "But...what happened to you?" "You really wanna' know?" Kevin demands. "Very well then. That day, during the siege, I wasn't lucky enough to avoid being grabbed by one of those alien freaks. I was hit by Daniel's flames, and after burning to a crisp, I was vaporized by something. I...placed my consciousness into the electromagnetic forces before I died." Kevin then smiles, as he gets up off his makeshift throne and spreads his arms out diagonally. "In other words, I am now a god!" Kevin roars.

Kevin quickly fires multiple electrical blasts at Trevor, who just as quickly uses a Bokyaku as a shield. However, the lightning goes through and around it to hit Trevor regardless. "Gah!" Trevor yells. "Like it?" Kevin asks. "I've been training myself to kill you, almost-'step brother'. I'm going to turn you into ashes before the sun rises!" Kevin fires another blast at Trevor, who dodges it before noticing it changing direction mid-fire to still hit him. "Gh!" Trevor grunts, as he takes out a gun and fires it at Kevin, who quickly blocks it. "Hah! Is that what you resort to?!" Kevin roars, as he almost seems to teleport directly in front of Trevor to punch him in the face and send him crashing through the volcano, hitting the lava in the process. "GRAH!" Trevor screams, as he feels the searing burns on his body. He doesn't have much time to feel the pain, however, as Kevin is above him already and kicks him into the ground, shaking the island they were on.

Trevor manages to not lose consciousness as he looks up and sees Kevin flying there, grinning down at him cockily. "You are pathetic!" Kevin roars, as Trevor watches him carefully. Kevin was preparing another attack, as was Trevor, who charged it faster and threw it at his opponent, who, being made of electricity, indeed seemed to swirl around the Bokyaku like he thought would happen. Kevin roars in anger, not pain it seemed, as he threw down the blast, which exploded. Trevor had managed to fly out of the hole before charging another Bokyaku. "You are annoying, you know that?" Kevin growls. "What, you had no power so you developed some weird smarts?" "I've been taking your attacks, right?" Trevor asks. "I don't think I'm even close to the strongest, I'm just hoping I'm able to beat you!" Trevor throws the Bokyaku at Kevin, who whacks it with a lightning whip before spinning around and throwing it at Trevor, who yelps and moves down to avoid it, before clashing at it with his own Bokyaku.

"They're really going at it, up there." Pyro says, as he watches the fight. "Hmm, maybe I should go up there and help Kevin kill Trevor." "I won't let you." Charlotte growls, as Pyro turns to see her standing there, ready to slash him. "Can you please stop trying to sound menacing? I'm not scared." Pyro says, as Charlotte swings at him, Pyro drawing his rapier to block the slash before delivering his own. Charlotte manages to block again, as she begins to charge up a Viațătranșă to use against Pyro, Pyro's sword bursting into flames, as he smiles. "Bară Acoperită Cu Flacără!" Pyro shouts, as his sword erupts with fire and he slashes. "Viațătranșă!" Charlotte shouts, as she unleashes the blast to quickly block. The flames and Eletero dissipate as Pyro and Charlotte stood a few dozen feet away from each other with their clothes slightly tattered. "What some nice clothing, right?" Pyro mocks, Charlotte refusing to respond verbally as she simply prepares another blast, hoping that Trevor was winning.

Trevor was breathing heavily, and had many burns all over his body, as well as cauterized slash wounds. Kevin was looking completely fine apart from his clothing being even more tattered than it already was. "What? How can you be..." Trevor moans. "I'm a god, I'm immortal!" Kevin roars. "You can never, ever hope to win against an immortal god of lightning!" Kevin then summons lightning from the sky and his own body to create massive orb of lightning. "Inazuma no kami no hakai no kyū!" Kevin roars, as he throws the ball down at Trevor, who, thinking quickly, tries to come up with a way to stop the ball of lightning from hitting the ground, before figuring it out. Trevor quickly forms a Bokyaku, but doesn't immediately throw it, rather, he grew it larger and larger. It was just in time that it became large enough, as the ball of lightning had come as close as it could. Trevor quickly threw the massive Bokyaku at the ball of lightning, which was cut in half and made to swirl around the Bokyaku. This attack, made of lightning as well as Eletero, hit Kevin, actually, and greatly, damaging him. "RAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!" Kevin screams, as the attack explodes high above the island.

Pyro and Charlotte cover their eyes so as to not be blinded by the explosion's intensity. As it dissipated, the clouds that had been covering the archipelago were completely gone, and the volcano had become ever more unstable. "That's what I call power!" Pyro roars in delight, as he uses his flaming sword to block another Viațătranșă from Charlotte, who then rushes at Pyro and slashes him across his chest, managing to cut into him. "Agh!" Pyro grunts, as he slides back. "You really got me there. Say, how does me and Adam having the same favorite colors make you feel?" Charlotte feels shaky and yet still refuses to respond, she wasn't going to let Pyro get to her again. She then turns to see Trevor falling and rushes to go and catch him. She had managed to do so, and already had sheathed her sword, as she held Trevor close. "Trevor? Are you okay?" Charlotte asks. "Ugh..." Trevor groans, as he opens his eyes and sees Charlotte holding him. "Charlotte...?" Trevor asks, as she smiles and hugs him a bit more tightly. "I'm so glad you're alright." Charlotte says. "I could say the same." Trevor replies. "You were...pretty beat up not too long ago."

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A mighty roar that could have belonged to a demonic beast permeated throughout the archipelago and beyond, as Kevin flew out of the crater that he was in, looking completely livid as lightning swirled around his body, which now had a massive slash mark running along it. "TREVOR!!!!!!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!! I AM GOING TO OBLITERATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kevin shrieks, as he sends all the lightning at them. Charlotte begins to dodge the lightning whole trying to shield Trevor. "DON'T RUN!!!!!!!! YOU COWARDS!!!!!!!!!" Kevin bellows, as he unleashes a lightning whip in their direction. Charlotte ducks under the whip and sees it hit another island, reducing it to a crater. "No!" Charlotte yells, as she turns to see Kevin following them, and glaring at them as if he were a true demon. "YOU WILL NOW PERISH!!!!" Kevin roars, as they see Pyro standing there.

"Oh...I don't think so." Pyro says. "You know, I was actually really interested to see how you would lead the Quadrilogy, then you revealed here that you were just using that to bait them into coming here so that you could kill them." Pyro was pacing around and moving his hands around as it presenting something as he said this. "Tsk, tsk, so much to learn, yet not enough time to learn it. Sorry, Kevin, but when you did this, you proved that you do not deserve...my respect." Pyro then takes out a black card with a glowing red eye on one side and Kevin on the other, the symbols being demonic skulls. Pyro held the card between two fingers, as he smiled. "WAIT...NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kevin screams, as he rushes at Pyro, terrified. Pyro let him come closer, as red and black flames surrounded the card, burning it completely, as the same flames appeared on Kevin's body. When the card was completely gone, so was Kevin. "Wh-wha...? What...?" Trevor demands, as Pyro turns to see them. "Try to survive this, I'd like our games to continue." Pyro says, as he snaps his fingers, creating a flame explosion across the entire archipelago, and vanished into the flames like a phantom.

"Sir, we've detected a massive flame explosion in one of the larger archipelagos!" One of Scorpios' henchmen says. "Go and search it." Scorpios says. "I can't have those heroes kicking the bucket, now can I? You'll lose your head if they're dead."

Charlotte and Trevor were very badly burned, and shielding each other as they lied on the scorched earth of the island, the volcano spewing lava and ash. Both were unconscious, and both weren't moving. Survival was narrow, and what they fought through was intense.

Perhaps...they wouldn't win...this time...

## Chapter 32

...Dreaming...again...perhaps lucid dreaming...? ...Hard to tell...

Trevor woke up, after dreaming about...he couldn't remember. What he did remember was Kevin, and Pyro...Pyro? He was still alive? Trevor got out of the bed with a grunt and saw Charlotte had already left to somewhere, he walked out into the hallway and walked to the main room of the base. Khaldun and Connor were watching the screen. "Hey, where's Charlotte?" Trevor asks. "...You're not going to believe this, but...the supposed orchestrator behind all that's been happening has invited her to a battle." Khaldun answers.

Charlotte walked onto a concrete bridge with steel railing keeping people from falling into the river or lake. There stood Scorpios, with his hands together behind his back and his head raised. Scorpios chuckles. "I've been expecting you." He says, as he turns around to face her. "I thought I'd get my hands dirty, and let you know who's in charge." "So you're 'Scorpios'?" Charlotte demands. "Yep. Brother Destiny, Ganymede, KAISER, Dhezaex, Blackhound and Teremto all work for me." Scorpios says, as he aims his gun arm at Charlotte. "But enough talk, have at you!"

Charlotte quickly dodges the bullets, which appeared to explode upon contact with anything. Scorpios keeps firing at Charlotte, as he aims a bit in front of her, which causes her to be hit by one of the bullets, which knocks her back. "Ugh!" Charlotte grunts, as she rushes at Scorpios and slashes at him, Scorpios blocking with a translucent, yet glowing, purple sword. "Like it? It's made of dark matter!" Scorpios shouts, as he kicks Charlotte back and fires more bullets at her. Charlotte dodges again, and pulls back when she sees Scorpios aiming at where she'll be, only to be hit when she pulls back. "Gah!" Charlotte yells.

"I know where you'll be, even if you know what I'm doing!" Scorpios shouts, as he aims at Charlotte with his other arm and fires a missile at her. "Gh!" Charlotte grunts, as she tries to dodge the missile, but it follows her. *"Maybe I can use this to my advantage..."* Charlotte thinks, as she rushes at Scorpios, who sees her coming and prepares to slash her. However, Charlotte leaps up above him right when she is about to slash him, as the missile flies at Scorpios and explodes, knocking Charlotte back and burning any nearby tree.

Charlotte turned back to look at the flames, as the smoke cleared and she saw Scorpios perfectly fine. In fact, the smoke and dust seemed to be bending around him. "What...?" Charlotte demands. "Come on, Charlotte, come at me!" Scorpios shouts, as Charlotte rushes at him to slash him, but is unable to get past something, as she sees purple hexagons for a brief second. "Behold, my Dark Matter Barrier!" Scorpios yells, as Charlotte slashes at him from various angles. "It completely surrounds me, and is impervious to damage!"

Charlotte growls and prepares to rush at Scorpios again, but a burn in her side form her earlier fight ached, and caused her to hold it, giving Scorpios time to hit her with purple lasers, clearly Ultraviolet, as they singed whatever skin they hit. "Gah!" Charlotte roars, as Scorpios punches her in the face, her nose cracking from being hit by the metal fist. "What are you?!" Charlotte roars. "I'm the best villain around, and should be your main concern, not that drama mask killer!" Scorpios roars back, as he rushes at Charlotte and slashes at her in the stomach, before leaving a bomb that explodes and destroys the bridge.

Charlotte woke up back at the base, and held her head in pain. "Agh..." Charlotte growls. "That's why you don't hunt after someone that dangerous alone." Khaldun says. "What was Scorpios like?" Trevor asks. "He...had a shield that kept me from hurting him, and fired missiles." Charlotte answers. "What?!" Trevor shouts, as Khaldun pulls something up. "...More invitations. It never ends." Khaldun says. "They even arranged fights for us. 'Ganymede, fight Charlotte, Trevor, fight Destiny, Khaldun, fight Teremto, Connor, fight KAISER'."

Charlotte walked into a warehouse, Khaldun walked into a cave, Trevor walked into a basement, and Connor walked on top the mining facility. Everything was on the same mining island.

"Ganymede..." Charlotte growls, as Ganymede turns around to face her. "There you are, vampire." Ganymede growls back. "It's been quite a while."

"Brother Destiny?: Trevor asks. "Yes." Brother Destiny answers, as he turns around to face Trevor. "You will join us after this."

"Reinhardt..." Connor mutters, as KAISER turns to face him. "I have no more need for that name, fool." KAISER says. "Come and see my new power."

"Teremto..." Khaldun says. "Yes, mortal..." Teremto says. "Die, against the Elemental."

Charlotte looked into Ganymede's soulless eyes, as she gripped her sword tightly with both hands and watched his movements carefully. It wasn't long before Ganymede aimed his railgun-mounted arm at her. "It ends her, girl." Ganymede says. "Agreed." Charlotte replies, as she rushes at Ganymede, who takes her sword slash before slashing at her with his wrist blade, which looked like it was made of silver. Charlotte reeled her head back and kicked upwards at Ganymede's helmet, cracking it, as she leaped back, and dodged one of the rounds, which thankfully flew out the window and hit the ocean.

Trevor takes out a knife and throws it at Destiny, who's eyes seemed to glow brightly as the knife was evaporated. "What...?" Trevor moans, as he quickly throws a small Bokyaku at Destiny, who does the same thing to it. "Is this the best you have?" Destiny demands. "...Uh...I don't think so." Trevor replies, as he grabs a lamp and throws it at Destiny, who evaporates the lamp. He then kicks a chair at Destiny, who does the same thing to the chair. "Keeping your distance, smart." Destiny says. "But what about when I...do stronger?" His eyes flash brighter, as Trevor feels the heat coming from them. "Agh!" Trevor yells, as he leaps back.

Connor turns his entire arm into a dual-scythe blade and rushes at KAISER, who dodges the slash and kicks Connor into a pole, which bends backwards. "Gah!" Connor shouts, as he quickly frees himself and slashes at KAISER again, who grabs the blade and slams Connor to the ground, preparing to step on him, as Connor rolls away. Connor then sends a flurry of bladed tendrils at KAISER, who blocks or dodges them as high-frequency blades seem to come out of his mechanical feathers and cut apart the tendrils. "Gh!" Connor grunts.

Khaldun aims his gun at Teremto and fires, the bullet being disintegrated, as the ground below Khaldun erupts into sword blades. Khaldun quickly leaps up to not be slashed and fires at Teremto again, this time using the laser gun. It manages to hit, but Teremto seems to ignore it, as the air around Khaldun slashes at him. Khaldun quickly swings his Khopesh at Teremto, who grabs it, and melts it into lava, before firing solar radiation at Khaldun from around them. "Gah!" Khaldun shouts, as he is thrusted back by a barrier.

Charlotte runs around Ganymede and slashes him in the leg, aiming for the Femoral Artery, she thought she hit it but it was hard to tell. Ganymede then grabbed Charlotte by the leg and slammed her into a desk, obliterating it. Charlotte swings in front of her to cut a railgun round in half, and somewhat halt its momentum, causing the two pieces to burst through, but not explode, the wall. Charlotte then fully gets back up and rushes at Ganymede, aiming to stab him.. Ganymede uses his hand to grab Charlotte's sword. But when he tried to crush it, his own blood poured onto the sword, as it could not break. Charlotte then felt a weird feeling.

Trevor felt the burns all over his body, and knew they wouldn't heal. Did this guy have laser eyes?! He picked up a rifle and aims it at Destiny before firing, each and every bullet being evaporated upon sight. Trevor throws the gun at Destiny and runs away, knowing it will be evaporated. He hides behind a wall and tries to think of a plan to beat Destiny. *"This guy's like a living oven, he'll just burn anything I hit him with, even Eletero!"* Trevor thinks to himself, before suddenly realizing it. If he came at Destiny fast enough, he might be able to hit him with Bokyaku before he was disintegrated, it was worth a shot at least.

Connor quickly rushes at KAISER and slashes at him, as KAISER once again blocks the blade, and swings one of his wings at Connor, who ducks and tries to slash KAISER across the stomach, KAISER once again being barely affected. "Is that all you can do?" KAISER demands, as Connor uses his tendrils to try and constrict KAISER, who swings his wings to cut through the restraints before kicking Connor in the face to knock him back. KAISER then flies back and fires multiple missiles at Connor, who throws up his arms and turns them into shields as the missiles hit and explode.

Khaldun quickly used a forcefield to block all the crystals that were flying at him, as he tried to ignore is own saliva trying to stab him. Teremto then used some kind of...telekinesis? To pull Khaldun closer and place his hand on the forcefield, dissipating it as an explosion of darkness enveloped Khaldun and greatly damaged him, breaking his armor and making him bleed. "Gah!" Khaldun yells, as he aims at Teremto's mask and fires, hoping to at least chip it. Teremto grabs Khaldun's arm and crushes it, as he places his hand on Khaldun's forehead and...does something. It almost felt like...Khaldun's soul was leaving his body!

It felt...horrible...Charlotte felt some sort of...bloodlust...the instant she saw Ganymede like this, as a red aura emanated from her and her sword. "Viață...tranșă!" Charlotte yells, without thinking about what she was doing. The clash hit Ganymede right when the entire building was hit by a barrage of missiles. The entire thing began to tumble down, as Charlotte didn't notice Connor flying after KAISER. She just slashed at Ganymede, who dodges the strike as she then kicks him. He grabs her face when she for some reason attempts to bite him, and begins to try crushing her head, but her Eletero saved her. "What?!" Ganymede roars.

The explosion, too, was unable to hit Destiny, and although Trevor was knocked back, he managed to keep his footing in the air, and ran, flew, right into the glaring light. Everything burned to an absolute insane degree, as Trevor screamed from the ensuing agony. He thought of Charlotte, and he tried to envision a happy life, and also tried to form Bokyaku. It worked! He managed to make it! He put more and more of his Eletero into it, as he quickly rushed at Destiny and threw it at him, making it explode. "What?!" Brother Destiny roars, as they are both caught in the Eletero explosion.

Connor and KAISER flew through the air, as KAISER fired missiles at Connor, who dodged them as they hit the ground below and exploded. A few of them, however, were slow enough to chase Connor as he flew after KAISER and send scythes on tentacles at the latter. KAISER dodged and weaved around the tendrils, making some wrap around each other, as Connor kept sending them, hoping to overwhelm him. Finally, Connor managed to strike KAISER with a hammer, and made a cage below him. KAISER, however, regained his balance and flew out of the cage, and away from the island. "NO!" Connor roars.

Khaldun felt his life force leaving him, it was excruciating, it took every bit of will he had to not scream in pain. But, in this position, it gave him an idea. He quickly turns on a magnet, which calls what remains of his Khopesh to him. It managed to fly to him, as he desperately hoped he could pull this off before his soul leaved his body. He quickly grabbed his Khopesh, and thrusts it at, through, Teremto's heart. Teremto lets go of Khaldun, who feels his soul return to him, as Teremto steps back, looking rather fine for someone stabbed through the heart. "What are you...?" Khaldun demands. "I am...immortal." Teremto answers, as he vanishes into a cloud of smoke.

Ganymede had been punched back by Charlotte by now, and his helmet was half missing. His face, however, also had a balaclava on it, still making it impossible to tell who it was. Still, Charlotte found herself unable to care. She couldn't push back the weird urge to... *"No!"* Charlotte manages to think to herself, but her body ignored her. She rushed at Ganymede, and slashed at him again. Ganymede tried to block, but his hand was sliced off. "Gah! No!" Ganymede roars, as the sword comes for his head. He stands up fully to avoid being decapitated, but is slashed in the chest. Blood pours out as he falls to the ground, and Charlotte feels herself slowly but surely returning to normal.

Trevor was on the ground, badly burned enough that he felt he could pass out. Yet before he did, he thought he saw a yellow eye and black hair underneath Destiny's mask. He saw a flash of light, before his vision failed him and he fell unconscious.

## Chapter 33

Trevor had managed to wake up once more. Huh, they were being knocked out a lot recently. He looked around, and tried to make out his surroundings, and could confirm that he was back at base. "Whew. Good...good..." Trevor breathes, as Charlotte helps him out of the hospital bed, looking more solemn than normal. "Charlotte? What's wrong?" Trevor asks, as Charlotte closes her eyes and gently hugs him. Trevor hugs her back, as Charlotte remembers what had happened earlier against Ganymede. What had she become back then...what was happening to her? *"I am happening, girl. I am your...base instincts."* The voice says again. Charlotte tries to ignore it, as she kisses Trevor.

Scorpios sat on his throne, locking his fingers together and chuckling. "That was good, very good." He says. "Err, where is KAISER?" "He vanished, abandoned us." Teremto says. "...I see..." Scorpios says. "Well, he was a Nazi anyways, onwards with the plan!" "And the plan is?" Blackhound demands, to which Scorpios chuckles. "Oh...the plan is to turn the heroes against one another."

"I...I think I remember something." Trevor says. "Let's tell the others." Charlotte and Trevor run to the planning area of the base, where Khaldun already was. "Where's Connor?" Trevor asks. "Looking for KAISER." Khaldun answers. "Why do you ask?" "I...remember seeing...Mayor Dreydel's features beneath Destiny's mask." Trevor replies. "Wait, what?" Khaldun demands. "In that case...someone needs to keep him busy, and someone needs to investigate this." Khaldun thinks for a moment, before deciding. "I'll investigate Dreydel's family, and you'll keep him busy by talking to him. Maybe you'll be able to extract information." "Alright." Trevor says, as he and Charlotte walk to the two changing rooms.

Odd that they were allowed just because they 'wanted to join'...

...they knew they were onto them, didn't they?

They then saw Kayden standing atop a pedestal, watching the dance. Charlotte, wearing a flowing black dress which showed her shoulders and the top of her chest, held out a hand to Trevor, who was wearing a pseudo-tuxedo which was a dusty shade of brown. He took it, and they began to dance. Charlotte was elegant, graceful and beautiful, while Trevor, although not too bad, was a bit clumsy. They continued to dance as Charlotte once again kissed him. It was nice to dance together, but as nice as it was on its own, they were here for something else. And it worked. Kayden walked down to their level and brought them over to another table a bit further away from the rest.

Khaldun was searching file after file to learn of Kayden's family. He had learned a great deal by now, but what was most interesting was that Kayden only had one living relative, Pauline Dreidel. "Time to look for the asylum..." Khaldun remarks, as he contacts Star-C to let them know what he was doing.

"You are a lucky boy to have such a beautiful partner, aren't you?" Kayden asks, Trevor shyly nodding. "Yeah, I guess..." Trevor replies, trying to play Kayden's game. "And you must enjoy it when he cracks a joke...it's odd that you can't both be capable of the same things, although I suppose that's how the world is molded." Kayden says. "I've always felt a great grief, when my mother, in a fit of insanity, killed my father. I always told myself, that to make it right, I would become Mayor of this city and change its laws." Charlotte and Trevor listened intently, looking for clues. "You were raised as an orphan, then..." Charlotte says. "A girl who ran away from her parents rather than running to them for comfort wouldn't understand." Kayden retorts. "And how will you treat whatever children are surely on the way?" "...We'll...be the best parents possible..." Charlotte answers. "So you will balance kindness with justice...? Do tell me how...vampire." Kayden says, as Charlotte, for a brief instant, suddenly feels the urge again.

"Agh, no..." Charlotte moans, as Trevor looks over to her. "Please...tell me what's wrong." He says, as he puts a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Charlotte puts her own hand on his and was shaking a bit, as Kayden begins tor rise from the table. "You want to know if I'm Brother Destiny or not, don't you?" Kayden asks, shocking both Charlotte and Trevor.

Khaldun walked through the asylum, which was pure white and held many screaming and crying individuals. This system seemed so...odd. But Khaldun didn't dwell on it, instead, he walked into the room that Pauline was in and heard her singing something. "Hello there, Pauline." Khaldun says, as Pauline turns to look at him. "You...killed your husband?" Pauline stopped singing when she heard this, and instead started madly crying. "Calm down, please. Right now, I need to ask you, why didn't you help your son?" Pauline then stopped crying and looked at Khaldun with a face of horror. "K...K-KEIDEN IS THE DEVIL!" Pauline shrieks, as Khaldun backs away. "What...?" Khaldun demands. "He...grabbed my arm and made me slit Anton's throat...and now he's...he's taken over the city." Pauline whimpers. "You...have to stop him."

"...Why did you just..." Trevor trails off, as he realizes he was right. "I am Destiny." Kayden whispers, as his eyes flash. Charlotte and Trevor cover their eyes, and when they open them again, Kayden was gone, much to the confusion of everyone. "We have to get back to base." Trevor says.

"Oh...why did you go...please come to save me...please come to love me..." Pauline sings, crying and shaking, as she hears the door open and sees Keiden. "Hello, Mom." Keiden says. "You..." Pauline moans. "Just...be quiet...die smiling...or I'll carve one onto your mouth." Keiden says, as he walks over to his mother with a knife. Pauline whimpers and closes her eyes. "Your father...wouldn't have wanted this..." She says. "I know...I just don't care." Keiden replies, as he cuts a smile into Pauline's face, causing her to bleed profusely.

"Kayden killed his mother." Khaldun growls. "When will he ever stop?" "I don't know, but at least we know he's Destiny." Trevor says. "There's a message." Charlotte says, pointing at the 1 one Khaldun's profile. Khaldun clicks it and sees the E-Mail by Mayor Dreydel. "Come to me and get all the answers, I am here." The message reads, as it also had coordinates. "It's time to go and put a stop to one of Scorpios' links." Khaldun says.

When they walked to the coordinates, it was a tall skyscraper. "Well...at least it's not a warehouse this time." Trevor says jokingly, as Khaldun unlocks and opens the front door. "Follow me." He says, as they all walk towards the elevator, the bellhops watching them and texting on phones. They reached the elevator and went inside, as Khaldun pressed the button for the highest level. When they reached the top, Kayden was sitting there in a chair facing the large window. "I've been waiting for you three for a while." Kayden says. "I'm a bit disappointed that Connor couldn't show up, though. That would have made this perfect." The chair then swivels around, as Kayden had his fingers together and his elbows on the table, and he looked at them with a dark expression. He then snaps his fingers, as three pods come out of the ceiling and open, revealing three robotic samurai. "These are Cydran, techno-organic life forms, and I've made these ones with only that number of syringes." Kayden replies. "I was sad that samurai went out of style due to modern technology, so I married the two. I even gave them the Shogun armor."

Kayden snaps his fingers again, as the samurai rush at them and begin slashing. Trevor manages to dodge, while Charlotte parries, and Khaldun parries before twirling his sword to knock the katana out of the samurai's hand. Trevor then makes a Bokyaku and throws it at the samurai, who deflects it. "What...?" Trevor moans, as Charlotte slashes at the samurai, who blocks her sword with its own, sparks flying. It then swings its sword at her arm, cutting into it, and swings again to cut a portion of her flesh off. "Gh!" Charlotte growls, as she slashes at the samurai's head, the helmet protecting its neck. Khaldun swings his sword at his samurai, who grabs it and picks up its sword before swinging it at Khaldun, who feels the cut on his face as he takes out his gun and fires it at the samurai, who deflects it and rushes to stab at him. Trevor was dodging the slashes from his samurai, as he kicks it in the chest, hearing bones crack. "...Ow..." Trevor groans, as Charlotte punches her samurai in the chest, cracking it, and then stabbing her sword through to finish it off. However, the samurai continues to fight, and swings its sword at her neck. Charlotte manages to block, before slashing the samurai's sword arm off and kicking it out the window, as it falls to its doom.

Khaldun puts his gun away and sheathes his sword, as he quickly thinks of something else. When the samurai rushes at him again, he plants his feet, puts his right arm in front in a palm motion, and his left arm back in a punching motion. When the samurai slashes, Khaldun carefully but swiftly lowers his fingers to clasp the blade, before punching the samurai in the face, destroying its head. The samurai slides back, now without a head and sword, and rushes at Khaldun. Who places his left hand on its chest before...erupting a laser from it, destroying its core and making it fall to the ground. "Woah! Was that what Krincax did?" Trevor asks. "No. What he did was an Eletero technique, this was an actual laser." Khaldun says, as Trevor notices the samurai slashing at him and grabs its sword by the hilt, wrestling the sword out of its grip before stabbing it in the chest, killing it.

They all heard clapping, and turned to see it was Kayden doing so. "Well done, all three of you." Kayden says. "But know that these three were merely a taste, there's an army to come. Of course, that will only matter if you can kill me." Kayden then gets into a fighting stance and smirks. Trevor throws a Bokyaku at him, but he dodges and kicks Trevor in the face, knocking him through the wall. Charlotte then slashes at Kayden, who blocks the blade with his forearm before punching Charlotte in the stomach and sweeping her off her feet, as he grabs her sword, grunting from pain, and stabs it into her arm, pinning her to the ground. He then dodges a punch from Khaldun, as he sends his own, Khaldun also dodging. Khaldun then swings a kick at Kayden, who cartwheels back and kicks Khaldun in the face. Kayden then rushes at Khaldun and grabs him by the neck, as he begins to burn his face with his laser eyes. "Gh...no...you won't win..." Khaldun growls. "Oh, really?" Kayden asks. "Yes." Another voice, a recognizable one, says.

Connor was standing there, or at least it looked like Connor, but there were no eyes. "A clone?" Khaldun demands. "Well, well...you seemed to have picked something up." Kayden says, as he rushes at the clone and kicks it in the face. The clone takes the attack and swings a scythe at Kayden, who disintegrates it with his heat vision before grabbing the mask and ripping it off. Right then, however, they all saw cloth blades stab through Kayden's spine and heart. "Gh..." Kayden grunts. "Smart...but not as smart as me." He then moves forward to knock himself and the clone out of the window, seemingly holding a bomb and detonator. A bright light shines, as what follows is a large explosion that shakes the building. "Gh!" Khaldun grunts, as he helps the others up and they get into the elevator.

Kayden's corpse was covered in cloth straps, and holding the mask. Around them was a smoking crater still doused in flames. "This...this isn't good..." Khaldun says, as they see news helicopters flying over them. Khaldun helps Charlotte and Trevor get out of sight, as they heard many different reactions to what the civilians had just seen.

"Sir, the Mayor of Killeen was killed...by the heroes stationed there." An informant says. "...I see...disconnect them from the program, and brand them as criminals." A voice says in response.

"...Those vigilantes must be stopped." Scorpios says, believing this was what the general had said. "Everything went perfectly! Thanks to Kayden's sacrifice...nothing stands in our way."

## Chapter 34

Trevor was running through the alleyways as it rained, although his coat kept him dry. He had known this would probably happen, but it was still painful to know who was after him...the military. The government had ordered that he, Charlotte, Khaldun and Connor be captured and put in prison, and he knew that they couldn't be put in, at least not yet, not while Scorpios was around. Trevor quickly kicked down a trash can to try and delay the soldiers as he ran. It was hard to get anywhere without slipping, but Trevor could correct his feet the instant he felt himself loosing friction. He didn't want to keep getting attacked, so he kicked up a bunch of water as he ran down into a manhole, which was the entrance to their other base.

Charlotte hugs Trevor tightly when he returns. "You made it..." She says. "Yeah..." Trevor replies. "Where's Connor?" "I've been trying to track him for a while." Khaldun answers. "He seems to have gone solo looking for Reinhardt." "How was he even back?" Trevor wonders. "Probably something to do with the technology they built and stole." Khaldun answers. "If only that Crocatoid hadn't interrupted us back then. Maybe some of what had happened...wouldn't have." "Scorpios...had us kill the Mayor..." Charlotte remarks. "We knew he was...we were going to be to blame." "That's right...our enemies have power behind the throne. It's not like...him. He always at the end of the day, worked alone." Khaldun says. "All his allies were just means to an end, he didn't actually need them."

"But what we're dealing with isn't one man...it's an entire empire...and each member...may be just as dangerous as he was." Khaldun finishes.

The factory was working on something huge, but it was only partially complete, with no way to truly tell what it was. There was an army of Cydran, some wearing regular clothing. Scorpios looked on with his arms crossed. He would smile if he could, but he was happy. "The progress is definitely speeding up!" Scorpios shouts. "Indeed it is...and we just need more workers to speed it up further." Teremto says. "Master, your plan worked, those children are on the run." "Eh, one of them may as well be an adult, but still, yes!" Scorpios replies. "Everything is going as planned, and I couldn't be happier about it. It will soon be time to bring her here. Could you kindly call your son here?" "Yes, my lord." Teremto replies, as he walks out of the room. Scorpios looked down at the machine with glee.

The closer it got to completion, the closer he got to winning.

Connor walked through the forest, looking around at pieces of technology that may have been looked behind. It had been a while since he last saw his teammates...his friends. He hoped they were able to evade capture at this point, so that they could deal with Scorpios and his crew. As for Connor himself, he was here because he had figured out that this was a place to hide powerful weapons, nuclear fusion weapons. He turned and saw what looked like an open, empty container, which no doubt at one point held a fusion bomb. "This isn't good..." Connor remarks, as he continues to walk through the forest, looking for Reinhardt. He found nothing, and after a good while of searching, he thought of giving up, until he saw something, and went to investigate.

Charlotte, Trevor and Khaldun then heard the siren go off, and looked at the screen to see that the soldiers had found them. "I guess I...wasn't subtle enough." Trevor says with a nervous chuckle. "You think?!" Khaldun demands, as he uses some sort of ray to bring all their supplies to one place and create a box around them as they shrank, before grabbing it and putting the ray away. "Follow me!" Khaldun shouts, as they run out of the room and close the door behind them right when the soldiers had entered the room. They run to some sort of alien jet, as they all get inside and Khaldun has it turn invisible, before opening the hatch and letting the rain in, as he flies the jet out of the base. A soldier faster than the others sees the rain distort, as some of it was hitting the jet. "Huh..." The soldier remarks.

Connor had been running to check out what he saw, and finally was able to lay eyes on it. A dragon, a real dragon, laying there, with some sort of device on its head. "It's under my control." KAISER says, as Connor whirls around and sees him, before immediately sending tendril blades at him. KAISER blocks them with his arm before pointing behind Connor, who turns to see the dragon had woken up, and was staring at him while growling. "Gh..." Connor growls, as he slashes at the dragon, barely cutting its scaly hide. The dragon whirls around to whack Connor through multiple trees with its tail, before breathing fire at him. Connor crosses his arms to block, feeling the searing heat through his suit. Connor grabs multiple trees and throws them at the dragon, who slashes them out of the air with its claws.

"I should have known that wouldn't work." Connor remarks, as he sends his tendrils to slash the dragon in the eyes, but the dragon simply closes its eyes and lets the blades clash against its eyelids. The dragon then breathes more fire at Connor, who leaps back and runs to the side as he thrusts tendrils at the dragon like spears, managing to somewhat stab through its scales. The dragon roars and rushes at Connor, ramming him through a mountain as he flies through the air involuntarily. "Gah!" Connor grunts, as he turns one arm into a scythe blade and another into a hammer, as he swings the blade at the dragon's neck while bringing the hammer down on its head. The dragon's neck was slightly cut and its head slightly forced down, but it was mostly fine. Then, Connor realized he had slightly damaged the device.

"I don't have to kill this dragon...I just have to free it." Connor says, as he swings his blades at the device, the Dragon reeling its head back as it slashes at Connor with its claws, Connor letting his suit take the slashes as he then leaps up and turns his foot into a hammer, as he kicks down at the device, damaging it more. The dragon screeches in fury and tries to eat Connor, who forms a pole-like thing with his suit as he flips to get out of the dragon's mouth, before taking the fire by crossing his arms again. Connor falls down to the ground and slashes the dragon in the legs, as he ducks under the tail and slashes that too. Connor then leaps onto its back before stabbing the device, damaging it even further. The dragon roars and begins to shake violently, as it spreads its wings and flies, turning around to try and make Connor fall off.

Connor holds onto the dragon tightly, as he slashes at its face and stabs the device yet again. KAISER watches from below, eyeing them with anger but also interest. "You want to destroy it, do you?" KAISER demands, as he watches Connor headbutt the dragon, which destroys the device. The dragon falls to the ground, and Connor rushes at KAISER, who blocks with a bladed wing before slashing at Connor with it. Connor leaps back and sends all his tendrils at KAISER, who flies into the air to weave around them and send missiles at Connor, who slashes them out of the air. Connor then jumps to slash at KAISER, who flies in close and punches Connor in the face, sending him crashing into the ground as he made a trail in said ground. "Guh!" Connor exclaims.

"Is that everything you have?" KAISER demands, as he aims his arm at Connor and prepares to fire a laser from it. "...I can...promise...it's not." Connor replies, as he shakily gets up. "I've been...working on something...to kill you with, a means to let out all my Eletero at once." "Oh really, then show me." KAISER replies. "I'll show you it is still inferior to me." Connor glares at KAISER, as he then takes off both of the metal cylinders on his cheeks, which reveals the two scars...or birthmarks, on them. They glowed blue, as Connor's eyes glowed brighter, and his suit was covered in and emitting Eletero. "This is...my full power." Connor says, as he slashes at KAISER, cutting him across his face. "Guh!" KAISER growls, as he fires a missile at Connor while being sent back. Connor slashes the missile away when he sees it.

KAISER then flies into the air, and reveals more missile launchers on his wings. "Enough of this! You are nowhere near my level even at your full strength!" KAISER roars, as he fires all the missiles he can down at Connor, carpet bombing the entire forest as it is obliterated, the fire and smoke rising into the air and blotting out the sky. Connor's burnt tendrils fly out and slash at KAISER, who flies around them and blocks the ones he is hit by, as he noticed his arms being cut into. "Grr!" KAISER snarls, as he fires lasers down at Connor, who was boosting himself up. "This ends here and now!" Connor shouts, as he slashes at KAISER with all the tendrils he can muster, KAISER doing his best to block them but being cut. He then thinks of something, as the blades on his wings glow red and he uses them to block, and cut through, the tendrils.

"What?!" Connor roars, as KAISER laughs. "High! Frequency! Blades!" KAISER shouts. "They even cut through Eletero!" KAISER then bulrushes Connor, sending him through the air as they punched and kicked each other, Reinhardt having the upper hand in his skill as he dodged and caught more attacks, but Connor was at this point physically stronger, as any attacks that did land were near devastating. They both grunted from the fight, but it was KAISER who grunted more, as he then flips to send Connor onto the ground, Connor noticing his Eletero cloak becoming smaller. "You only have so much to burn, and when it reaches its smallest percentage, it stops being used!" KAISER shouts, as he then creates an energy orb. "But my power, IS LIMITLESS!"

KAISER throws the massive, glowing, pulsating red orb of energy at Connor, who does his best to block with everything he has left, as he is hit by the blast, and it wipes out anything left of the forest, as well as plenty of land beyond it, blasting away the smoke clouds and flames, as its heat was too great to even produce flames, it just turned whatever it hit into plasma. As the orb grew, it eventually reached its max size, and shrank, before letting out a massive shockwave that blew away any possible remains. KAISER looked down at the incinerated suit, and knew Connor was under there, and hoped that he was dead, no...hoped was too weak. He knew Connor had to be. And if he came back...he would die from a stab to the heart. KAISER chuckles, as he then flies away.

The alien jet that Charlotte, Trevor and Khaldun were in was flying through the storm, and beginning to go above it. As they got above the thick clouds, Khaldun turned the invisibility off. "Star-C should be able to help us with all this." Khaldun says, as they fly. Then, Khaldun notices that a fleet of fighter jets were following them. "What?! Gh! The rain!" Khaldun grunts, as he quickly activates turrets to fire at the jets, but they managed to dodge the lasers and fire missiles at the alien jet, leaving at least dents and scrapes, and Khaldun knew eventually they would be destroyed, he quickly flies them as fast as he can take them without destroying the atmosphere, as the jets manage to stay on track and keep firing. "Gh! They're too fast for an air battle!" Khaldun shouts, as he keeps trying to evade them.

The jets continue to fire missiles and bullets at them, as the alien jet was taking more and more damage as time went on. Khaldun then remembered that they had a forcefield, and turns that on. Although the forcefield was being berated, Khaldun thought it would hold for a few minutes, as he prepares to unleash an electromagnetic pulse to disable the jets. If successful, it would result in no deaths on either side. "Come on..." Khaldun says, as he waits for the EMP to charge up. A missile explodes right next to the cockpit, but the forcefield, although cracking a bit, protected them. Khaldun then sees that the EMP was ready, and activates it, as it surges out of the alien jet and disables the fleet, as it seemed all of them ejected their pilots, who opened their parachutes and were blown away.

"No...we were too high up..." Khaldun groans, as his eyes widened in shock, if they found out...

Scorpios sat in his throne as Teremto walked forwards rather calmly, beside him were Crith and Sabrina, who looked up at Scorpios warily and in confusion.

"Welcome home...Sabrina." Scorpios says.

## Chapter 35

"Wow...what is all this?" Sabrina asks, before turning towards Scorpios. "And why did you bring us here? Who are you?" "My name is Scorpios." Scorpios answers. "I'm Kayden Dreidel's superior." "What...?" Sabrina breathes "I control the city, now. Although I myself am not quite sure what I want to do with it yet." Scorpios says. "Oh, and I'm sure you might like this place, eh?" "It's...very factory-like." Sabrina replies. "Well, it's meant to be part fortress, part factory and part hangar." Scorpios says to Sabrina. "I made it myself." "Hello, Crith..." Teremto says, as Crith looks at him with a drop of sweat moving down his face. "Hello...F-Father..." Crith replies, as Sabrina looks from him to Teremto. "What...? You're Crith's dad?" Sabrina asks, to which Teremto very slightly nods. "And I am glad to see he didn't choose a human." Teremto answers.

"What..." Sabrina asks. "What do you mean?" Scorpios laughs. "Oh, Sabrina. I brought you here partially so that you'd know. You'll be forgiven for seeing it as all too sudden, but I want to share my life story with you." Scorpios rises up off his throne and begins to walk down the massive staircase. "I was...never loved, never respected, never...noticed, despite my intelligence and Mutation. I always tried everything, making a perfectly realistic volcano that didn't even use baking soda, inventing a bunch of machines advanced even for this time, and, well...flirting without stalking. But it didn't matter what I did. I was always the laughing stock, or ignored." Scorpios says. "Then...the day came that my parents forced me to move out of the house when I was eighteen. I had no money, and clothing was something I basically stole, a suit. I also brought a toy I had when I was a baby. Some sort of toy robot. I managed to get a job as a fast food owner, so when I was inevitably kicked out of there too, I had enough money to sustain myself, as I knew I'd have to save it for when I was kicked out. Then...she came. A succubus."

"What?" Sabrina asks. "Why are you telling me all this?" "I'll tell you that at the end, now listen." Scorpios answers. "Anyways, this succubus, she was beautiful, as expected. Long, red hair, a curvy body, oh and that voice. She appeared in what I believed was a human form, and it is still roughly that in my mind. Regardless, she wanted me, I thought I was unlucky, and that this would be how I died. Then...I decided to agree, on one term. She would have the baby." Scorpios continues to walk, until he finally gets down the stairs, his eyes glowing less now that he was less contrasted by the screen. He walks over to Sabrina and places one finger on her forehead. "And the child...clearly turned out to be as beautiful as I imagined." "Wh--what...?" Sabrina trails off. "Sabrina...I...am your father." Scorpios finishes.

Khaldun's space jet had landed in somewhat rocky terrain with a mountain in the background. "We need to split up, I'll go and make sure that we weren't followed." Khaldun orders, as he leaps down to what looked like a Star-C settlement. Charlotte and Trevor walk to a more forested area, as Charlotte begins looking for things to make a shed with. "It's...heh...gonna' take a while..." Trevor remarks, as Charlotte holds his hand and hugs him. "At least we're alive." She says, as they go and begin to shape a furnace into the rock.

Khaldun was in the Star-C settlement, and saw that its civilians seemed to be over in the town square. "There wasn't a settlement here..." Khaldun whispers, knowing it would be foolish to think it around other Lanrete. "Hello, there." Khaldun says, as the civilians turn around to see him. "Hey, it's Khaldun." One of the civilians says. "How did that fight against the Crocatoid go?" "Vex, you need to give him more time." Another one of the civilians says. "It's alright, I've managed to cope with the loss of my teleporta..." Khaldun trails off, as he notices that the civilians seemed anxious. "What are they..." Khaldun trails off, before grunting and leaping back, the civilians began to explode one by one. "Wait, no!" Vex screams, as Khaldun growls. "So, they sent Krincax here..." Khaldun mutters, as Vex runs forward, holding his hand out towards, indeed, Krincax. "Please! I wanted to have a family! I wanted to capture someone!" Vex screams, as Krincax presses a button on his sword, making Vex explode as well.

"What was that?" Trevor asks, a drop of sweat rolling down his face. "We need to check it out." Charlotte replies, before a blast of fire blocks their way...a blast of purple fire. "Hello, Charlotte, Trevor." Daniel says, as they turn around and see Daniel standing there with a hand in his pocket and purple flames forming around his hand. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Did you have to do that?" Khaldun growls. "They were civilians, they didn't deserve to be blown up like that." "Oh, please. They only existed for me to blow them up as far as I'm concerned." Krincax replies. "I really wanted you to catch Scorpios for me, but...Star-C has ordered your capture and execution for the endangering of human lives." "Grr..." Khaldun growls, as he sees Krincax take out a badge. Khaldun takes out his blaster and fires at Krincax, who creates a forcefield with the badge to block the lasers before turning the badge into and energy shuriken and throwing it at Khaldun, who slashes it away with his sword. Krincax chuckles evilly as he aims his hand at Khaldun, the hand shooting towards him and hissing. Khaldun leaps over it and hears it explode as it hits a building. He then sees purple fire atop the mountain. "No!" Khaldun shouts, before grunting in pain as a massive robotic snake burrows out of the ground and bites down on his arm. He fires at its eyes to make it let go, managing to destroy its head as it falls to the ground and shuts down. Khaldun holds his somewhat melting arm in pain as he turns around to leap out of the way of a spider leg. "Damn tricks keep coming..." Khaldun remarks. "Yes, they do." Krincax replies, as he laughs.

Each blast of fire shook the mountain, as Charlotte and Trevor did their best to dodge the flames. "Don't make me too angry, I'm trying to take you two alive." Daniel says, as he snaps his fingers again, sending a wave of fire. Charlotte leaps between Trevor and the flames, before cutting them in half, grunting in pain as the heat seared across her arms and left burns. "Can't we just work together to stop this?! Kayden was evil!" Trevor yells. "You can tell me all about it in the questioning room." Daniel replies with a smile, as he snaps again, sending a blast of fire towards them. Charlotte and Trevor leap to the side to dodge, but the fire expands to still hit them, burning them badly as Charlotte tried to shield Trevor from the heat. "GAAAAAAH!" They scream, as they fall to the ground. The fire then dissipates, and they see Daniel ready to snap yet again. Charlotte sets Trevor down gently and rushes at Daniel to slash him, who snaps at the same time that he draws his rapier to block, the flames exploding and sending almost a fourth of the mountain tumbling down to the town below.

Khaldun does his best to weave around the rocks, as he slashes one in half to avoid being hit. Krincax takes out some sort of staff with a skull on it that fires a laser, said laser creating an explosion that wipes out another portion of the mountain and brings Khaldun down to the ground. He fires at Krincax, who tilts his head do dodge as he presses another button on his sword, summoning a pair of massive robotic arms with mouths on the palms and eyes on the backs. These arms then vomit out missiles that fly at Khaldun, who fires at them to try and destroy them all, and attempts kicking the rest off course, but one does hit, blasting him into a part of the mountain, which ends up burying him in a rockslide. Khaldun slashes his way out and leaps to the side, firing at Krincax again as he runs towards him, slashing at him. Krincax blocks with his sword and uses its hilt to block Khaldun's kick. Krincax then takes out a sai and thrusts it at Khaldun's face, Khaldun tilting his head to dodge as he leaps back and throws a rope around Krincax, who grunts for a bit as he presses all the buttons on his sword, summoning more mechanical monsters that rush at Khaldun.

Charlotte keeps trying to slash at Daniel, who lets himself slide back as he parries her sword strikes. Daniel then lights his rapier on fire and thrusts it at Charlotte's shoulder, managing to stab and burn it. "Gah!" Charlotte shouts in pain, as she grabs her sword with her other arm and slashes at Daniel's sword arm, managing to cut it as he twirls around to avoid losing his arm. Daniel grabs his sword with his other arm and thrusts it at Charlotte's knee, Charlotte swinging her sword to try and cut the rapier in half. Daniel pulls it back and holds his hand to Charlotte's face, before snapping it. Charlotte instinctively leapt back, as her face and body was badly burned. She was tearing up from the pain, but managed to stand her ground. "Don't tell me you're out of tricks. You're the Vampire Queen for God's sake." Charlotte doesn't respond for a while, before she runs at Daniel to slash at him, Daniel turning out of the way before stabbing Charlotte in the side with his burning rapier. "GRAH!" Charlotte roars in agony, as Daniel kicks her off his sword and lets her fall to the ground. Charlotte glares and growls at Daniel...before her eyes glowed and the red aura surrounded her again. "What the...?" Daniel asks slowly, as Charlotte is suddenly in his face, slashing at him again.

"Those idiots are really tearing up the mountain." Krincax remarks, as one of the machines Khaldun wasn't fighting breaks the rope off of him. "There, now to get you to stop moving." Krincax then presses a hidden button on his sword, as it begins to ooze some sort of purple and green steam. Khaldun manages to cut down the mechanical minotaur before noticing Krincax rushing at him with his sword. Khaldun locks Krincax' sword with his, before noticing Krincax putting a knife on his sword and stabbing Khaldun in his organic arm with the knife. "GAH! NO!" Khaldun roars, leaping back, as Krincax attempts to fire at the device on his chest plate, but Khaldun managed to dodge before...he could no longer move. "What...?" Khaldun demands. "A paralytic drug I made." Krincax says. "Of course, it sends pain signals to the brain when there's an...irritation. You may experience it soon." Khaldun sweats and grits his teeth but tries not to scream out in pain, as that would be giving Krincax what he wanted. He tries to think about how to get out of this while shielding his thoughts carefully. "I don't need to read your mind to know what you're thinking." Krincax says. "Why else would I attempt to destroy the enhancer?" "Well...good thing you forgot a part of me can't be paralyzed." Khaldun responds, as he moves his arm to press the button on the enhancer. "NO!" Krincax roars, as the enhancer glows brightly.

The light illuminated everything and made the shadows on them darker, as Charlotte slashed Daniel around, Daniel now having multiple large cuts in his body. He breathes heavily and snaps his fingers at Charlotte, burning her enough to reveal bones, yet she didn't relent. "She can't feel pain...?" Daniel thinks, before moving his rapier to block the sword slash from Charlotte but barely. She bares her fangs at him, and in fact...tries to bite him. Daniel grunts and snaps his fingers to blast her away, being angry enough to do so. Charlotte lands on her feet and scrapes her glowing sword against the ground, before rushing at Daniel to slash at him in the neck, Daniel managing to tilt backwards to dodge before thrusting his rapier towards Charlotte's heart. She grabs it and snaps it off, but not before her hand is burned by the flames. She kept coming despite this, and punches Daniel in the face. Daniel could hear, feel and he thought even see his skull crack, as he is sent flying back into the mountain, tumbling down it with the rock slide. Trevor began to wake up, as he saw Charlotte leaping down the mountain...to where Khaldun must be!

"Charlotte?!" Trevor shouts, as he gets up, holding his stomach in pain, and runs towards where he believes the best way down is.

A green aura surrounded Khaldun's body as his eyes glowed and his blood vessels seemed to have been enlarged, along with his muscles. "I should never have given you that steroid...or that arm." Krincax growls, as Khaldun holds not his gun, but an orb of energy in his hand and aims it at Krincax. "We need to stop Scorpios, and I can't let you stop us." Khaldun says, as Krincax snarls in rage. "Fine, then! I'll show you what I myself have been working on these past few months!" Krincax shouts, as he folds his sword to reveal yet another button and presses it, as all the machine parts fly together and build some sort of...massive metal monster with many legs, eyes and mouths all over it. It shrieks in fury and rushes at Khaldun, who dodges it, grunting slightly from the cut it left in his shoulder. He makes sure to inject a syringe into it, the medicine inside being a cure for whatever may have been on the blade. Krincax growls and calls his machine back to him. "Go ahead and try, fool! I'll just analyze it and make something better!" Krincax roars, as Khaldun sighs. "Then I'll aim for the head..." Khaldun replies, as he fires off the energy blast.

It was almost as big as the mountain itself, and went on for a couple moments. When it dissipated, Krincax was on the ground, missing an arm and his helmet, along with half his face. The machine he had built was essentially scrap metal, but had protected him. Krincax laughs, although he was clearly livid. "Even all that couldn't kill me!" Krincax shrieks, as he takes out a detonator and reveals hexagonal bombs placed in a hexagonal formation around the town. "I had this trap planted since before you landed here!" He shouts, as Khaldun sees them about to go off, before turning and seeing Charlotte rushing at him to slash him. Khaldun attempts to block with a blast of energy, as the bombs explode, completely obliterating the mountain and blasting down the surrounding forest, and sending chunks of rock flying into the air. Daniel had managed to get far enough away that he was only pushed back, but even he was having trouble standing his ground.

"AAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!" Trevor screams, as he tries to fly against the explosion, before it dissipated.

Krincax seemed to have teleported away, as Khaldun gets up of the ground, holding his stomach in pain and panting as blood ran down his face from his scalp, eyes, nose and mouth, along with a cut on his cheek. His sword had been broken in half and there was a cut in his armor, that also was somewhat in his skin. Charlotte stood there, burned and battered, but healing. She gave Khaldun an almost psychotic looking expression as she rushes at time, hissing. Khaldun uses the remainder of his Khopesh to block the sword slash, as he fires at Charlotte in the stomach to send her back. Charlotte kicks Khaldun's gun out of his hand as he leaps back and fires a blast at her. Charlotte crosses her arms and puts her sword in front of her to block, but seems to stop this halfway through, before rushing at Khaldun to kick him in the face, sending him crashing through the landscape, leaving a trail that one might see after a ship or meteor crash, which was on fire from the friction.

Khaldun's enhanced stated had timed out by now, as he lied there, his bones and armor broken as his body was bruised, burned and bleeding. He glares at Charlotte with his good eye, before remembering something he read. "Is this...Bloodlust...?" Khaldun thinks to himself, as he notices Charlotte about to slit his throat. Before she can however, Trevor grabs her arm with both of his own, with a greatly worried expression on his burned face. "Charlotte...what are you doing?" Trevor asks, as Charlotte doesn't look at him for a while. Before she turns and thrusts the sword into Trevor's stomach, sending him crashing into a rock, which shatters. "GRAH!" Trevor screams, as Charlotte's eyes widen briefly. Khaldun then punches her in the back of the head, as she is knocked out.

"What...what was that...?" Trevor asks. "I...think I know..." Khaldun replies, as he calls in the jet for healing supplies, which didn't come. "...Dammit." Khaldun mutters. "I'll do my best to heal us up with what I have, because...we're not getting out of here any time soon."

## Chapter 36

Epsilon walked through the entirety of the run-down warehouse district. It was overrun by plant life, and animal life, and it didn't seem that anyone had lived here in decades. Human beings always seemed to have more important things to do than clean up after their messes. At the very least, this spot could serve to be useful in the future. He turns around and sees someone standing there, a vampire with what looked like a bionic limb. This must be 'Voxir'. Epsilon begins to approach him, and speaks. "Is this your place of residence?" Epsilon asks, to which Voxir sees him, and laughs. "Well, now. Aren't we a little lost, Crocatoid?" Voxir snarks back. "I'm sure I could help you get back to the rotten planet you came from!" "...We were born in an asteroid system." Epsilon says, as he blocks Voxir's punch with an outstretched palm, and is suddenly behind Voxir. "Huh?!" Voxir demands, as he turns around, and is backhanded into a wall. Before Voxir can recover, Epsilon appears in front of him and delivers a nerve strike to his forehead, knocking him out. "I can't let you attack me." Epsilon mutters, as he vanishes.

"You did well, in choosing her, Crith." Teremto says. "Not choosing a human was the right choice." Crith nods, while shaking slightly. Sabrina glares at Teremto when he says this. "What's wrong with humans? I'm half human myself!" Sabrina says, which Teremto shakes his head at. "No, you are fully Succubus, regardless of Scorpios' ideas. When it is a magical creature, the child is fully that creature." Teremto groans in annoyance. "Regardless, I assume that Crith is fully submissive to you, whether you like it or not. It's because he is delusional." Crith bows his head down lower when hearing this, as Sabrina, angry, slaps Teremto, who didn't seem to feel it in the slightest. "...Do not do that again." Teremto orders. "Or I will turn your brain into glass." Sabrina glares at Teremto, who turns around and looks down at Crith. "You should feel lucky that you ended up with someone like her." He says, as he leaves the room. "Submissive...?" Sabrina asks, as Crith closes his eyes. "I am...weaker to all but humans." Crith answers. "I am not powerful enough to take my life into my hands. When my eldest brother tried...he was sent to Hell." "What...?" Sabrina breathes. "That's...horrible..." "I only heard of it...he was sent there before the rest of us were born." Crith replies.

"Ugh..." Charlotte groans, as she holds her head in pain. She notices Trevor sitting on a rock with a worried expression on his face. He looked lost in thought. "What was that...form...?" Trevor wonders, as he turns to Charlotte and sees that she is awake. "You're alright...right?" Trevor asks, as Charlotte laughs a little bit, before bowing her head down. "...I don't know if I am or not, because I don't know what's happening to me." She answers solemnly. "Recently, I've been...c-...craving blood...I think when I bit you, it jumpstarted some sort of instinct." "...You...y-you can control it, right?" Trevor asks. "When I'm able to focus on it." Charlotte answers. "But when I can't...I turn into...that." Charlotte was beginning to cry, as Trevor tries to comfort her by hugging her. "Then we...just have to find a way to control it." Trevor replies, as Charlotte gives him a small smile and kisses him. "The human does care for you...we take advantage of humans caring for us." The voice says again. "I love Trevor...I don't ever want to hurt him..." Charlotte thinks in her mind, trying to ward the voice off, but it laughs, before responding. "Then why does the image of draining him dry enter your mind?" The voice demands with an evil glee in their voice. Charlotte gasps and leans back a bit, breathing heavily.

"What's wrong?" Trevor asks, worried. "I keep hearing a...a voice." Charlotte says. "I can't remember...if I told you before for some reason...but...it says its my instincts, and wants me to obey it." "Then tell it 'no'." Trevor replies, gently placing a hand on Charlotte's cheek. She places her own hand on Trevor's, and closes her eyes as tears and sweat roll down her face. "I do, I try...but it's getting harder to do..." She whimpers, as Trevor hugs her again. "I'll help you, Charlotte. I'm here for you..." Trevor replies. "Because I--"

"Time to move." Khaldun's voice says, as Trevor and Charlotte yelp in surprise and turn to see Khaldun standing there, and wearing gym clothing while rubbing his neck. "What happened to your armor?" Trevor asks. "I had to get rid of it, and...agh...the chip in my neck. It was how Star-C could track us." Khaldun answers. "I have no weapons or armor, including my arm." "...How are we...gonna' get out of this place?" Trevor asks. "Surely they'll send more people here." "Yes...and we need to walk. There are no other options right now." Khaldun answers. "It's time to get back on our feet and keep walking. When everything's calmed down, we'll storm Scorpios' base."

"You'll need our help to do that." A voice says, a familiar voice...Charlotte looks up and notices that there was some sort of helicopter in the air, yet it made no sound for some reason. And riding the helicopter, looking down at them, was Pirani. "Hello to all three of you, odd not seeing Connor here." Pirani says. "He's looking for Reinhardt." Khaldun replies. "And you are the one who trained Adam, correct?" "Yes, I gave him the tools to learn how to fight. He was my best student." Pirani replies. "But here and now, I can give you shelter. All you need do is accept it." They don't say anything for a while, before Charlotte speaks. "There had better not be any tricks." She says, glaring at Pirani, who smiles, as she brings Charlotte and Trevor, along with Khaldun, up into the helicopter with her, and flies away from the area.

Connor had ended up in a shipyard, with hyper-futuristic looking ships docked there. "What the...?" Connor trails off, as he sees robotic beings walking around. "Cydran." He mutters, as he jumps into a crate which, rather than full of fish, was full of metals, and apparently to be transported on one of the ships. When the Cydran puts the crate down, Connor bursts out of it and slashes the Cydran, his scythe bouncing off the robot's skin. "...Great..." Connor growls, as he makes his blade into a sharp spear and thrusts it at the Cydran as hard as he can, destroying its heart...as it screamed. Connor shuddered from the scream and began to look around the ship, as he saw a trapdoor in the ground. He forces it open and leaps down, grabbing the ladder at the last second to not make as much noise.

As he walked, he made sure to catch as little attention as possible, rushing past security cameras as fast as he could, hoping they wouldn't register anything, and taking out any Cydran that notice him. He then sees the entrance to a door, and rushes at it, attempting to slash it open, but a forcefield not only stops him, but partially disintegrates his scythe blade. "What...?" Connor demands, as he hears energy rifles powering up and turns around to see two Cydran guards aiming said rifles at him. He wastes no time in grabbing the rifles and turning them away from himself, before stabbing the Cydran in their most vulnerable spots and destroying their hearts, wincing from the very human screams.

He then sees that one of the Cydran was still alive, as he tears its arm off and thrusts it onto the sensor, the forcefield deactivating as he slashes the door open and sees another Cydran inside, but a somewhat taller and thinner one, wearing metal robes and with glowing blue eyes, and holding a massive scythe with a glowing blue blade, in one hand. :Who are you supposed to be? These guys' leader?" Connor demands, as the Cydran nods. "My name is Corius. I am here on a mission to save your species, by bringing it into ours." The Cydran, Corius, says. "No thanks." Connor retorts, as he slashes at Corius, who blocks with the massive scythe before...holding Connor in the air.

"Wh-what?!" Connor roars. "Is this a joke?!" "It's gravity. If I wanted I could turn you into dust with this, but I don't." Corius says, as he slams Connor into the wall multiple times before letting him fall and stumble back to his feet. Connor slashes at Corius again, but some sort of forcefield blocks his blades. "Gh!" Connor grunts, as he tries to kick Corius, his foot being caught by the gravity field as Corius grabs his leg and flings him into the air, before whacking and slashing him with his scythe, cutting through his suit and leaving a bleeding slash in his stomach while also sending him crashing into, through, the wall. Connor tries to get back up and slash Corius, who catches the scythe blade with his hand before stomping on Connor's face, knocking him out. Corius then places a field around Connor to prevent his suit from moving him.

"Here we are." Pirani says. "One of many monasteries I live and work in." This one was inside a cave, and carved from stone, unlike the one Charlotte had visited prior on top of the mountain. "Wow..." Trevor breathes. "You guys built all this?" "Yes, over a long time." Pirani answers. "When Charlotte came to learn under us, this base was not even dug." "...Wait...what?" Trevor asks. "What did you expect?" Khaldun says. "There are Lanrete that are thousands of years old, and if our species didn't age more slowly than humans and have the technology to change body appearance, there are plenty of us who would look as decrepit as..." Khaldun hears his own heart jump in shock. "...him." "Him who?" Trevor asks, worried. "One of Scorpios' henchmen is...ancient." Khaldun breathes. "I...I'm not sure what to think of this..."

Teremto watches many hooded and masked men, his acolytes, leave the large, circular room, which had many floors and symbols everywhere. He then removes his mask and lowers his hood, revealing his stone-grey face, pitch black eyes with glowing red irises and long, shaggy blonde hair that was curled back, his ears pointed. He looked up at an image of a knight on the wall, a painting. The knight...was him in his ancient days.

"Are you just going to stare at the picture?" Scorpios asks from behind him. Teremto calmly turns around to face Scorpios when he hears this. "That was me, in my youth." Teremto responds. "You wore that in your youth?" Scorpios demands. "Must've been living in the past." "You could say that..." Teremto replies. "In news that will lift your spirits, the Cydran are returning with more of the required metal to build it, and they are bringing one of those heroes as a prisoner. You will soon rule the world, my lord." "We will rule it." Scorpios says. "I get the biggest share, but we're a team. My victory, is a victory for all of us."

Epsilon stands atop the tallest building and looks down upon Killeen, taking everything in. This was where that girl and her friends lived, Charlotte if he wasn't mistaken. He looks at his hand and sighs. It was infuriating to be a Crocatoid, it meant that everyone hated you...everyone except the Sky Pirates, who now were...dead.

Thanks to Scorpios.

Epsilon wouldn't cheat, he wanted to find Scorpios and bring an end to him personally, and wanted it to make him feel as accomplished as possible. He needed to avenge the deaths of the only living creatures that ever saw him as a person. Epsilon closes his eyes, and vanishes again.

"Ah, Earth...Beta, how did you fail at conquering it?" The alien demands. "I guess I shouldn't ask someone who's dead, but...agh...it just feels so impossible. The guy who took out star systems losing to one measly planet? Is this some kind of joke?" The Crocatoid with orange lights leans back in his chair and sighs. "Maybe I should beat the crap outta' those same heroes that Beta lost to so that I can establish I'm here to conquer this world." "We will assist you, Master Delta." Two blue-lighted Crocatoid guards respond. "Nope. I'm going by myself." Delta retorts. "Where are they right now?" "A temple inside a cave inside a mountain." One guard says. "Time to nuke the mountain." Delta says, as he vanishes from the guards' sight.

"Scorpios has an immortal on his side..." Khaldun groans, holding his head and gritting his teeth. "This is much more challenging than I thought it would be." "This guy really wants to one up everyone who came before." Trevor remarks. "He failed in being my problem." Charlotte mutters. "Once Scorpios is gone, it won't feel as good as finally beating that monster named Adam did."

"Is he the guy who worked with Beta last year?" A voice says, as they all turn to see Delta standing there, tossing a ninja guard away. "Where'd you come from?!" Trevor shouts. "That's Delta-Rigel..." Khaldun groans, as he was sweating a bit. "He's more powerful than Beta is." "And I'll prove it, by beating the shit out of all of you." Delta replies, smiling, before rushing in to punch Khaldun through the mountain, causing it to shake and begin caving in. "W-w-woah!" Trevor shouts. "What did--" "Fire the giant ninja star." Delta interrupts. "I wanna see it." Trevor gulps, as he begins to form a Bokyaku in his hand. "Bokyaku no Uzekara!" Trevor shouts, as he throws the Bokyaku at Delta, who sidesteps it. "How cute, he named it." Delta remarks with a chuckle, as he suddenly bends forwards to dodge a slash from Charlotte.

"Nice moves! I barely predicted that!" Delta says, as he kicks Charlotte upwards and throws an orb at her, as he then detonates it. Delta then catches another Bokyaku from Trevor, and tosses it aside as it explodes. "Is that made from regular Eletero?" Delta asks. "Regular Eletero sucks at attacks." Delta then catches Charlotte's sword, his previously metal-like skin now resembling a more dull, dark metal. "What?!" Charlotte shouts, as Delta throws Charlotte at Trevor, who catches her as they are both send flying into the cave wall. Delta forms a lance with curved blades on it from an orb and smiles, as he twitches his finger in the provocation pose. "Come at me, Earthlings." Delta sneers, as they rush at him. Delta then decides to spin and flip around while whacking and slashing them with his lance.

Charlotte and Trevor, although injured, keep attacking, as Delta either dodges or tanks their attacks with very little effort. "How did you guys even beat Beta? I'm not that much stronger than him." Delta whines, as he flips to kick Charlotte and Trevor through the mountain to the top. Before they could land, Delta grabs them both by their necks, kicking Charlotte's sword up so that it lands in its sheath. He then twirls around and flings the two of them into another mountain, causing fragments of it to fly into the air. Delta then creates more orbs and has them form into one massive orb. "This is the power of an alien! Kozmikus Eletero!" Delta roars, as he fires the blast from it at them, decimiating the mountain range below. The shockwave and heat blew away all the clouds and snow, as whatever rock wasn't sent flying up into the air was superheated into lava.

Delta floats down to see Charlotte and Trevor injured, badly, and laying on a non-molten fragment. "You fools just lay there, and know...the next time we meet, I will directly kill you." Delta says with a laugh, as he flies upwards and out of sight. "Gh...no..." Trevor moans, as he falls unconscious again.

## Chapter 37

Delta flies back to his ship, dusting himself off and smiling. "You are well, Master?" The guards ask. "Barely a ghost of a challenge. I wanna see what they do for round two." Delta replies, as he sits down.

Blood dripped down, making the puddle larger.

Heavy breathing filled the air with despair.

Charlotte looked down, holding Trevor's bleeding, dying body in her arms. But...her mouth dripped that same blood. Her hands stabbed into his flesh. It all felt muddled, but when she finally realized it. She gasped. "TREVOR!" Charlotte screams, as she sobs, holding him close. Then she felt something horrifying, the urge to drink his blood. "Do it..." The voice says. "Better yet, turn him. It would certainly save his life, and you could live together without complications." Charlotte cries harder and holds Trevor close. "I WON'T! I WON'T! I WON'T!" Charlotte shrieks at the voice, repeating it over and over. "I WON'T DO IT!" She continues to scream this for a while, until the urge becomes too strong, and she finds herself preparing to bite Trevor in the neck. Horrified at herself, she tried to stop, as the voice laughed.

Charlotte then wakes up with another gasp, and breathes quickly and heavily. She turns her head and sees Trevor laying in the same recovery bed as her, very much alive and not ripped apart. Charlotte then feels her face, and notices that she wasn't sweating, despite the fact that she should have been. "I'm a monster..." She cries, as she gets out of the bed and tries to find an exit to the recovery room they were in. Pirani turns and watches Charlotte kick down the door, pick up her sword, and run away. "Fear is a dangerous thing." Pirani remarks. "When not keeping one safe, it causes them to become a monster." Pirani then turns to look at Trevor, who was still sleeping, and like Charlotte, had been wrapped in bandages.

Charlotte kept running, as she cried, before sitting down on a rock and placing her hands on her face, still crying. She couldn't bear to see Trevor hurt, much less hurt him. And this voice, this evil voice, wanted her to kill him...and everyone else. "No...I want you to turn him, and everyone else, into more vampires." The voice says. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" Charlotte shrieks, as she sobs. She looks over at a tree and, in anger at the voice, slashes it, cutting it down immediately. Then, she sees multiple squirrels crawl out, injured. Charlotte tears up and cries yet again, as she stabs her sword into the ground. "Why...? Why is this happening to me...?" She whimpers.

"Charlotte?" She hears Trevor's voice ask, as she turns to see him looking at her with his worried expression, which was also one of pain, as he held his chest in that pain. He then sits down beside her, and looks at the tree. "Was it something you dreamed about?" He asks, as Charlotte nods shakily. "You were...bleeding...I...I bit you...and that voice...told me to...turn you..." She answers with a cracking voice, as she trails off. Trevor then hugs her gently. "Don't let it win. I'll help you." Trevor replies. "It's hard...the voice...it always says those things..." Charlotte whimpers. "The voice...isn't you." Trevor says. "You are you, not your instincts, not your destiny, you. The kind, gentle girl who helped me in school."

Trevor manages to spot a bullet moving towards them, as he yelps. He and Charlotte barely manage to dodge, or at least Trevor did, the bullet, which looked like it was made of wood, went through Charlotte's ear. "Gah!" Charlotte screams, as Trevor catches her and looks around to try and find the sniper.

There!

Trevor makes a Bokyaku and fires it at the sniper, who leaps out of their hiding spot to avoid it, landing behind Trevor and Charlotte. "God dammit. I've been spotted." The sniper remarks, as Trevor and Charlotte turn to see a man with very pale skin, very light blue eyes and brownish black hair. He wore a black leather suit with many pouches and metal parts, and a metal military helmet. He also carried what looked like a futuristic sniper rifle with him. "You're gonna' pay for that. I need to take you in." The sniper says. "My name is Veli Koskela." "That doesn't look like something that would fire wooden bullets." Trevor says nervously, as he prepares another Bokyaku.

Veli notices this as he throws a knife that seemed to not have an edge at Trevor, who dodges and sees it cut a squirrel's head off. Trevor then throws the Bokyaku at Veli, who dodges again as he takes out a pistol and shoots at Trevor, who dodges the bullets before Veli kicks him in the stomach with his foot one he gets close enough. "Gah!" Trevor grunts, as he stumbles back, dropping something on the ground. Veli looks down and sees that it is a bomb, as he leaps back and the bomb explodes, sending chunks of the ground towards him. Trevor turns and sees Veli land on the ground with dust surrounding him. He had destroyed the chunks of the ground.

"What...?" Trevor trails off, before thinking about it. "That gun...it fires lasers, doesn't it?" "...Ultraviolet lasers." Veli replies, as he fires one of these lasers at Trevor, who dodges and sees it burn a hole through a tree. Trevor then notices Charlotte getting up, as does Veli. Trevor then sees a stake of wood rising from the ground at Charlotte, as he pushes her out of the way and is stabbed in the stomach by the massive stake. "Gh!" Trevor groans, as Charlotte gasps and turns towards Veli, who fires a laser at her. Charlotte dodges and grabs her sword to use it to deflect the other laser, as red energy gathers around the blade and Charlotte swings it. "Viatatransa!" Charlotte shouts, as the energy flies off her blade in the form of the crescent-like slash, like the crescent moon, Veli dodging it as it explodes.

But this explosion was larger than the Bokyaku's, as it blasts Veli back. He kicks a tree to balance himself, as he lands on his feet, and blocks Charlotte's next slash with his rifle. "I won't let you hurt Trevor!" She roars. "Too late for that." Veli replies. "But you were my original target anyway." He then swings a kick at Charlotte, as she blocks it with her knee, and bends her leg around Veli's, kicking the ground with her other foot and flipping through the air, letting go of Veli and kicking him back to the ground, as he growls in pain. "Well, then..." Veli trails off, as he smiles, and makes a fist. Charlotte notices the trees around her turning into more massive stakes, which fly at her as she slashes them away, destroying them, and dodging the rest.

Charlotte notices a wooden stake flying down at her from above, as she swings a kick at it, her foot making contact with the side of the pointy edge, knocking it far away as she grabs another stake, wincing from the pain, and throwing it at Veli, who makes it explode into wood shards as the ones flying at his face turn into a mask which fits perfectly onto his helmet's straps. Charlotte then swings a kick at his face, as he tilts back to dodge, and kicks Charlotte in the back to send her flying upwards. He then makes multiple large blades of wood and has them fly at her, as she uses her sword to block them mid, air, leaping onto one to run on it, letting it cut through all but the last other wooden blade, which she herself cuts in half, before falling and swinging at Veli, who aims his gun and fires at her.

Charlotte tilts her head to dodge the UV blast, feeling the burning sensation of it grazing her cheek and ear. It knocks her off-balance, as she falls to the ground, and Veli kicks her in the face. Charlotte slashes upwards at him, as he quickly uses a knife to block, but her sword had managed to catch on one of the loops in his belts. She uses this to thrust her sword, and Veli, into the air, as she then punches him in the face to shatter the mask, tears forming in her eyes when a wood splinter gets in her finger. Veli falls on the ground and growls, before smiling. He presses a button, as multiple drones fly into the area, and form a forcefield around Charlotte, who tries to break it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Wh-what?!" Charlotte shouts. "It's a forcefield, made by these drones." Veli says. "I was buying time for them to show up." Charlotte growls and slashes the forcefield, but it still doesn't break. Veli has it generate an electric shock on the inside, as Charlotte screams in pain, before falling unconscious. "Charlotte!" Trevor shouts, as Veli turns towards him and throws a bomb at him. Trevor dodges, as the bomb explodes, being a flash, explosive, smoke and electric grenade all in one. Trevor is knocked out by it, as Veli looks up at a massive airship. It lands, as he walks inside, the drones carrying Charlotte with him. The aircraft's ramp then closes, as the aircraft flies back into the air, and flies away.

Trevor comes to moments later, as he sees the aircraft in the distance. "NO!" He screams, as he tries to calm down. "I...I have to get to that plane thing somehow..." He stutters, as he then stops, and looks at his own condition. "Wh...who am I kidding...There's a giant...piece of wood in my stomach...I can't help her..." "You're right." Pirani says. "And you will be unable to help her even after we heal you." "Wh-what...? Why...?" Trevor asks. "Because...that aircraft is a prison jet." Khaldun answers. "A prison jet, that leads to one of the deadliest prisons on this planet. The Obsidian Retreat Max Security Prison." "Wh-what's that?" Trevor asks nervously. "It's the place that spending a year in can kill you." Khaldun answers.

Teremto stands atop a building, creating an orb of energy with people wearing hoods and bird masks like him, yet shorter and with different patterned masks. The acolytes seemed to tremble as they helped to create the orb. Then, it dissipates into particles which fly down through a tube. "Well done. And people say magic is outdated." Scorpios says, as he walks up to stand beside Teremto. "This is...simply artificial Eletero...as you must know..." Teremto replies, the word 'moron' flying through his mind. Scorpios laughs. "Yes, and it will power our victory!" He shouts, as he spreads his arms out and up, his head looking up. "This will be perfect! I can guarantee it!" "Ugh..." Teremto mutters under his breath, as they turn to see Crith and Sabrina walk out of the elevator.

"You didn't need that human contraption, Crith." Teremto says, as he turns his back to his son. "You are right as always...F-Father..." Crith stutters. "Is that fear in your voice?" Teremto demands, sounding angered. "Do not show fear, fool. This behavior of yours makes me more keen on removing your emotions each passing day." "I won't let you!" Sabrina shouts, as she holds Crith close. Teremto turns around and glares at Sabrina, as she sees his glowing red eyes from behind the lenses of his bird mask. "Do not meddle in family affairs, girl." Teremto snarls. "I am someone you cannot face in any way. I am...the Elemental." "And you're also the reason Crith is this scared!" Sabrina roars back. Teremto just glares harder, as Scorpios stands between them, holding his arms out.

"Let's deflate this, shall we?" Scorpios asks with a nervous laugh. "I assume you want to know what this is?" "...Yes." Sabrina replies. "It's a surprise." He answers. "But I'll give you a hint...I loved Gundam growing up." Sabrina's eyes widen, as Scorpios turns around and looks at the new orb being created. "I can guess you want to relay your theory to your friends?" He asks. Sabrina doesn't answer, as Teremto is suddenly standing over her, towering. "You...will do no such thing." He growls. "I care not if you are his daughter. I will ensure your demise if you tell any of our enemies about this place." "Come on! Isn't there any way to de-fuse a situation around here?!" Scorpios demands.

Suddenly, Epsilon appears directly in front of Scorpios. "Eh?" Scorpios manages to say, before he and Epsilon vanish. "Wha?!" Sabrina shouts, as Teremto groans and walks forwards, seeming to walk in the air.

"So, you're the alien who's pirate ship I had downed." Scorpios says, as Epsilon's eyes narrow. "You are going to pay for that. They were...my only family." Epsilon retorts, as he is suddenly in front of Scorpios, placing two fingers against his forehead, yet nothing happens. "Pressure points? I don't have those." Scorpios says, as he grabs Epsilon's arm, twirls around and throws him into a building. Epsilon groans and fires a blast of Eletero at Scorpios, who deflects it with his sword that he just formed. Epsilon then quickly dodges a slash from Blackhound, before appearing behind him and delivering a nerve strike to his neck...which did nothing. "Another cyborg?!" Epsilon thinks, as he appears further away from Blackhound to dodge his next strike.

"It won't be that easy, Crocatoid." Blackhound says, as his sword turns into a gun and he fires rockets at Epsilon, who just stands there. Suddenly, the missiles, the villains and the heroes are frozen in time. Epsilon walks past the missiles, and lets time move again, as they hit the building and explode behind him, making him appear as a silhouette with glowing eyes and lights. Blackhound rushes at him and delivers a nerve strike to his forehead, as Epsilon grunts in pain, yet manages not to pass out. "He copied my technique..." He remarks in his mind, as he appears behind Blackhound and places a ball of Eletero on his back, before timeskipping away to dodge a kick. Blackhound turns around to glare at him, as Epsilon holds his hand out. "Életerőrobbanó." Epsilon says, as the orb explodes.

Epsilon then notices a kunai nearly hit his foot, as Dhezaex switches places with it and kicks Epsilon in the face. "Ugh!" Epsilon growls, as he makes another orb of Eletero and detonates it immediately, Dhezaex phasing through it and driving a kunai towards Epsilon's heart, Espilon timeskipping away again, as he fires a blast of Eletero at the building Dhezaex is on, destroying it. Epsilon then feels something hit him, as he stops time as quick as possible while grunting in pain. He turns his head to see that a missile had hit him, and was in the process of exploding. He then sees Ganymede standing atop a building, appearing to have aimed a forearm-mounted rocket launcher at him. "So he lived..." Epsilon remarks, as he timeskips in front of Ganymede and punches him in the stomach.

"Grr!" Ganymede growls, as Epsilon sees him throwing a punch at him, the fist having a wristblade on it! Epsilon grunts and ducks, feeling the wristblade clash against his armor briefly. Ganymede then knees Epsilon off of him and shoots him, Epsilon dodging the blasts as he kicks Ganymede in the face, speeding up the time of his foot to make it hit harder, and slowing down Ganymede to make it harder to dodge and make him take more of the force. When time returns to normal, Ganymede is sent flying through multiple buildings, and out of the factory city. "That guy is wrecking our Eletero factory!" Scorpios shouts. "Someone stop him!" Epsilon then looks around for more threats, and spots them.

Corius rushed to fly in front of Epsilon, yet far away. Beside him were the other two major Cydran. "Corius, Ohbator and Sona. The leaders of the Cydran." Scorpios remarks, as he laughs. "Let's see this time hopper fight them!" "You are the one interfering with our ally's operations?" Corius demands. "I am here to kill your ally." Epsilon retorts. "As revenge for him killing mine." "Then you are better than the other Crocatoan, at least." Sona replies, as Ohbator sends multiple chains with jagged blades at the ends of them and harpoons at Epsilon, who skips time to dodge them and deliver a karate chop to Ohbator, who seemed unfazed as he whacks Epsilon away and Sona begins to form a yellow forcefield around him. Epsilon skips time to avoid being trapped and barely dodges Corius' scythe.

"That is not an effective weapon..." Epsilon mutters. "It is when you, like me, can control gravity." Corius retorts. "Sona controls electromagnetic energy, and Ohbator can shapeshift. How will you deal with this information?" "You are fools to disclose it." Epsilon replies, as he appears behind Corius and tries to place an Eletero bomb on his back, but is stopped by a gravitational barrier. "Gh!" Epsilon grunts, as Ohbator wraps chains and harpoons around Epsilon and slams him through another building, toppling it. "Be careful!" Scorpios shouts, as Epsilon timeskips out of the chains and harpoons before countering Sona's electrical laser with his Eletero laser. He then proceeds to create a multitude of Eletero orbs, and sends them at the three Cydran, detonating them when they get close enough.

When the explosions subside, Epsilon sees that all three of the Cydran leaders were unharmed, protected by their shields. Corius' was invisible, Ohbator's was metal, and Sona's was the same yellow forcefield that she tried to form around him. "This is difficult..." Epsilon remarks, as Corius rushes behind him and swings his scythe at him. At the exact same time, Ohbator rushes in front of him and sends multiple bladed weapons at him, and at the same time as that, Sona appeared and drove her hand, which was now sharpened, towards his heart. Epsilon grunts in shock before quickly skipping time again to avoid the attacks. Corius' scythe cuts into Ohbator's chest, Ohbator's blades stab into Sona's stomach, and Sona's hand stabs into Corius' face.

Before they can do anything else, Epsilon forms an orb of Eletero orbs around them, and nine more layers around that orb, each layer bigger than the last. He then has them all slam into the three Cydran and explode repeatedly over time, causing a chain of explosions that illuminate and dwarf the city. When the explosions subside, the Cydran fall to the ground, damaged and seemingly unconscious, but likely not dead, Epsilon thought, as he then yelps and feels a cut in his arm, seeing multiple air blades rushing towards him. He sends Eletero orbs at them and explodes the orbs to dissipate the air blades, as the flames of the explosion wrap around him like ropes, and the fragments of the buildings rush at him to stab him. He timeskips out of this and roars in pain when Teremto slashes him in the chest.

Epsilon sees the sword that Teremto used for a brief moment, as water blades form in the air and rush at him. Epsilon stops him to dodge them as they slam into the ground, causing a massive explosion. Teremto has the explosion rush at Epsilon, as he blasts it with a laser to destroy it. He then screams in agony as he feels his skin and armor melting! He collapses to the ground, feeling himself bleeding. "Crocatoan...do not regenerate." Teremto says. "This one...his soul is mine." "Not if I blow him up first." Scorpios replies, aiming his missile arm at Epsilon, who glaring at them, timeskips away from the battle entirely. "Damn, he left so soon." Scorpios groans. "And he destroyed this place." "Then it is time...that I used another method." Teremto replies, as his eyes glow red again, and Scorpios looks as though he'd sweat.

**"My...method."**

When Charlotte wakes up, she finds herself wearing a prison uniform. Around her were pitch black walls, and the bars in the doors and windows looked as though they were made of a combination of silver and wood, and there was a jug of water above. The bars also glowed violet, which Charlotte knew meant they must be emitting UV radiation. This must be the prison...and this cell seemed perfectly designed to keep her in here. "Hello, girl." An Australian-accented male voice says, as Charlotte yelps and sees a tall, muscular man wearing prison clothes that he seems to have torn the sleeves off of in the cell parallel to hers. He smiles. "The name's Phoenix Griffin, and welcome to the Obsidian Retreat." The man, Phoenix, says.

## Chapter 38

A man was walking through a forest, holding a flashlight and a wooden sword. "Where are they...? I was told someone was here..." The man remarks. "This sword will kill them..." He continues to walk, as he sees the lifeless corpses of many people, plenty of them...had puncture marks on their necks. "So it is a vampire..." The man remarks. "Yes." A voice says. "But she is not here." The man turns around in shock and swings his sword, as the hooded figure grabs it, and destroys it. He then grabs the man by the neck, and pulls him close to his face, as the man sees greyish, ancient skin. The hooded figure then speaks again. "You...will feed my power." The man then screams, as he felt as if his entire being was being sucked out of him! The energy that was his soul and Eletero flew into the eyes and mouth of the hooded figure, of Teremto, who drops the man's withered corpse onto the ground like trash as he walks away, looking for another victim.

Charlotte watched the walls she had carved tallymarks into. These marks represented the time, and it had been...a while. She didn't bother counting, she just carved another mark into the wall with her finger. The marks were thin, and each carving took a while, bringing a lot of pain. So when she had finished carving the latest tallymark, it was already time for the prisoners to eat lunch. She gets up and sighs shakily, as she holds her arm in pain and walks to the bars, which have their UV radiation momentarily turned off. What she knew must be power dampening cuffs are placed on her arms, as she is walked over to the dining area. She looked down at what she was eating, and smelled something that offput her. "I...can't eat this..." She says weakly. "You can and you will." The guard replies. "No...it has garlic." Charlotte says, as she is slapped by the guard using a baton. "Don't talk back." He retorts. "Did anyone swap meals?" The rest of the prisoners shake their heads, as the guard looks down at Charlotte. "It's your meal. You can eat it or die."

Daniel finishes putting on his uniform as he walks out of his changing room and notices Trevor standing there. "...What...the Hell...are you doing...in my home...?" Daniel demands, immediately looking angry. "Sorry. I came because I need you to help get Charlotte out of prison." Trevor answers. "No." Daniel retorts, as he grabs Trevor by the shirt, opens a door and throws him inside a closet, before closing it and locking it. "You're being detained in there until the prison authorities arrive." He then says. "We were framed!" Trevor shouts. "Kayden was working with Scorpios! He was evil!" "...I suspected he did frame you." Daniel replies.

"But...who's...Scorpios?"

Dhezaex opens his eyes, and puts his hand to his face, his fixed mask blocking it. "...So it is fixed..." He remarks quietly, as he puts his robes back on.

"And that's my master plan!" Scorpios finishes, as Connor just glares at him. "What? Do you think it's cliché? Tell me exactly who still tries it."

"I have returned...Master." Teremto says, as he appears from the shadows, Connor immediately tensing up despite not remembering whether he had seen this man or not. No...not a man. Connor could feel it. Behind that mask was the face of a fiend, beneath that robe was the body of a monster. "From your soulsucking campaign?" Scorpios asks, sounding more deflated than usual. The word 'soulsucking' hit Connor, as he glares intensely at Teremto, who glares back, seeming to stare into Connor's soul. Connor shock in...fear. He backs away, as Teremto turns to look at Scorpios. "Indeed. The energy we need is now at out disposal." He says. "We will take this world for our own."

Charlotte was stumbling as her guard walked her back to her cell, as she falls into it and the bars close, once again emitting lethal radiation. She holds her stomach in pain, and allows herself to cry. "Aye, you're looking a bit rough." Phoenix says. "You dropped the soap, didn't ya'?" Charlotte glares at him and stumbles to her cell. "If only I could've been there." He continues. "This prison holds the worst of the worst. No doubt they went for all the...sensitive places. I wouldn't have engaged, I love a good show." "How are you the person I have come to hate the quickest?" Charlotte mutters. "Wait, not even that Adam guy that went through here?" Phoenix asks, shocking Charlotte. "What?!" She demands. "A guy named Adam came here. Said you were his worst enemy, and that the feeling was mutual." Phoenix answers. "That man is dead." Charlotte growls. "I can tell even you didn't believe that." Phoenix replies. "Smart man, but he did something stupid. He asked to go in solitary."

Charlotte shakes in anger. Of course Adam was alive! A gunshot wouldn't have killed someone with a healing factor. Why did she...let herself have wishful thinking? No, she knew why. She just...wanted to feel happier, and she did. "Oh yeah, how do the other guys look?" Phoenix asks, as Charlotte glares at him again. "What, did you not beat 'em up? You're a vampire, I hear the weakest of you guys have the strength of sixteen men!" "...Heard?" Charlotte demands. "I'm Australian if that wasn't obvious and cliché enough, I never saw one of ya' before. I have no clue what you can do apart from what legend tells. But I'm eager to find out." "What?" Charlotte retorts, as Phoenix turns away. "I don't care that you're a teenage girl." He says.

"If you're weaker than me, I'll be severely disappointed."

"I can't do anything." Daniel repeats for the tenth time. Trevor tried every plea he could, as he falls on his knees. "Please...we need your help." He replies. "I can't. The orders from the President are to arrest you all. I can't go around freeing you!" "Th-...then who will stop Scorpios and his crew?!" Trevor shouts, as a drop of sweat rolls down Daniel's face. "...I don't know." He replies. "But I can't let you go free." Trevor bows his head down and closes his eyes, as Daniel watches him begin to cry. He then sighs. "Actually...there was a planned execution at the prison. Phoenix Griffin, a notorious crime lord, known for challenging people to fights and then killing them when they lost. You can come with me to the prison, and see Charlotte again."

"Trevor has been taking too long." Khaldun remarks, as he puts his fingers together and places them to his forehead. "What did you expect? He's trying to negotiate with a military officer." Pirani replies. "Can you not negotiate with Star-C? They likely already know about Destiny's framing of you, and will be willing to help." "...I hope so." Khaldun replies. "But we...don't have anything to call them with." "As if you need a communications device." A familiar voice says, as Khaldun takes a moment to process it before groaning and turning to look at a random place, as Krincax seems to materialize out of thin air. "I invented a device that doubles for both teleportation and invisibility. Do you like it?" "Do I ever like anything you invent?" Khaldun retorts. "Fair. Regardless, I heard your cry for help, and...I can pinpoint where Scorpios' base might be, by bugging one of his minions." Krincax says. "...Fine. Let's get started, and I'm getting a new uniform and arsenal from someone who isn't you."

Charlotte walks through the prison halls, still guarded, as she thinks about Phoenix's words, before finally realizing...Adam was here, in this facility...and alive. The guard takes her to the Dining area, where Phoenix stood there, looking disappointed. "You either didn't fight back or were unable to damage everyone, and I refuse to believe the latter." He says. "Come on, where's your animal instinct?" Charlotte's heart pounds when she hears that word. "For once, I agree with the human..." The voice says, as Charlotte tries to ignore it. "Oh, have ya' got a bunch of personalities?" Phoenix asks, as he looks at the guards. "Heh...if only these guys knew...I don't have a Mutation."

"...What does...that matter?" Charlotte demands, as Phoenix chuckles. "I was just waiting for a worthy opponent." He replies, as he slams his fist on the table, breaking it in half, and his cuff. "What?! Stop him!" A guard shouts, as Phoenix snaps his neck at the same time as grabbing it. He tosses the guard aside and grabs Charlotte's cuffed arm, before tearing it completely off and kicking her into the wall, leaving a dent in it. "Gah..." Charlotte grunts, as Phoenix cracks his neck. He then throws a fork at the powerbox, with enough strength to destroy it. "Bet they didn't account for me." He remarks, as the other prisoners begin to fight off against the guards, overwhelming them until more came.

Charlotte had picked up a knife during this time, and rushes to slash it towards Phoenix's throat, Phoenix grabbing her arm with his hand as he twirls her around and throws her into the air, elbowing her in the stomach as she is sent flying at another wall, destroying it. Charlotte groans in pain as she notices her arm having regenerated. She gets back to her feet, holding her head in pain. "I won't...let you...get in control..." She groans, as Phoenix grabs her by the neck and slams her through the wall, as he kicks her away again. "This can't be right." He groans. "You're a Vampire! Their queen for crying out loud!" He throws another punch, as Charlotte thrusts both her arms forwards to catch it, barely doing so as she feels her arms break and winces from the pain.

"Once again, I agree with this human." The voice echoes. "You must show him why you are the Queen! Even the strongest of humans cannot defeat a vampire!" "I...refuse...to..." Charlotte growls at the voice, as Phoenix slams her into the control panel, shattered glass and torn metal flying everywhere. Phoenix then just starts punching her, even the first punch shattering her ribcage. "This is too damn easy! I expected so much more from ya'!" Phoenix roars, as he picks Charlotte up and throws her into the bathroom. Phoenix makes sure the ground was dry enough before he got in, and he saw the bloodstains that hadn't even dried yet. "Well...that's a bit confusing." He remarks, as he sees Charlotte trying to get up. He twists her leg by tilting his wrist when she tries to kick him, as he stomps on her other leg.

Charlotte stops trying to fight back, as Phoenix grabs her by the head and seems to be preparing to crush it. "Fuck. I did all this for nothin'. You should be ashamed of yourself. You got curbstomped by me." He mutters. "I'd say do better next time...but...there won't be...a next time."

Suddenly, a red aura blasts Phoenix back, and he slams into the wall, and sees Charlotte standing there, her wounds healing as the red aura surrounded her, and her eyes glowed red, with a bloodlusted expression. "That's what I'm talking about." He says, smiling as he wipes a drop of blood from his mouth.

Charlotte appears in front of Phoenix, as if teleporting, and looks at him in the eye, before grabbing him by the neck and throwing him into the other side of the prison. Phoenix gets up and checks his back, as he holds his hand up to catch the next punch from Charlotte, who's punch breaks all the bones in Phoenix' fingers. "Finally!" He shouts, as he punches Charlotte in the face to knock her back, punching her repeatedly, before she catches his punch and gives him a dead, yet crazed glare. She slams him through the wall and kicks him away, as he flies through the air. She appears behind him and flip kicks him down into, through, the ground, as he crashes through the lower levels and the sewer system.

Phoenix grabs a pipe and tears a piece of it out with his bare hands, as he swings it like a baseball bat at Charlotte, who grabs it and rips it in half as she kicks Phoenix in the face, breaking his skull, as she grabs him by the neck again, and prepares to bite him there, but he grabs her face with his hand and tries to crush it, being unsuccessful. "I've always wanted a challenge!" He shouts, laughing, as Charlotte grabs his arm and twists it. Phoenix roars in pain while still laughing in satisfaction. He knees her in the stomach and kicks her away, as she tilts her head to look at him, before righting herself with a couple cracking noises. A single drop of sweat moved down Phoenix's face when he heard the cracking, as Charlotte palms his face upwards before he can react.

Phoenix crashes through the floors again, as he flies through the air. Charlotte kicks him to one place, going there before he can fall to punch him upwards, and slashing him across the chest. When she rushes to bite him again, he grabs her face and punches it over and over, blood getting all over his hand, although it seemed to be his own! Phoenix then flips to kick Charlotte down, but she flips and throws him down, as he crashes on the ground, not going through it this time as she had grabbed him by the shirt. She looks him dead in the eye as she prepares to drive her hand through his heart, but is stopped when she is suddenly rendered unconscious. The weak-looking prisoner who had done it never took off his cuffs. "...Dammit...Jeremy...you ruined my fight..." Phoenix groans, before he passes out.

Charlotte didn't know how much time had passed, but she was cold when she awoke. She opened her eyes with difficulty, and saw someone else there. She noticed this person, and she, were chained to pipes, and she could tell, that this room was horrifyingly chilling. Then...it registered. Right when the figure spoke. "Hello again...Charlotte." That voice said, the voice...of Adam. Even here, his piercing, soulless blue eyes could see, and be seen. "You!" Charlotte roars, as she shivers. Adam lets out a dry laugh, as his breath could be seen. "I bet you already know the explanation, so I won't give it to you." He says. "I just wanted to say...how are you doing, these days?"

Charlotte stares in horror, as she then glares at Adam, who just looks back. "So many emotions, you must be feeling." He remarks. "I bet you wanna know...how to control your Bloodlust." "What...?" Charlotte demands, as Adam chuckles. "Your Bloodlusted State. I can teach you how to activate it...on your own...and control it." "I won't be taking lessons from you." She growls, as Adam smiles. "All you need to do...is actively focus on your power." He says, as his hands shake. "Being cold...? S-serves you r-right..." Charlotte says, as Adam smiles. "I'm just...jostling something loose." The handcuffs then fall to the ground, as Adam lands on his feet. Charlotte glares in shock, as he grabs her handcuffs, and destroys them as well. "You must have known...I just wanted to see you again."

Charlotte walks through the prison, the prisoners seeming to have all been killed by Adam, as she sees Daniel and, more importantly to her, Trevor. "Trevor!" She shouts, as she runs to hug him, Trevor hugging back, as Daniel looks at the prison in shock. "Wh...what happened...?" Daniel breathes, as Charlotte bows her head down. "...Adam...is free." She answers.

## Chapter 39

"Be ready for anything. No one is allowed in or out of this battlefield until he's defeated." The general says from his super tank, many smaller tanks, planes, helicopters and soldiers surrounding it. The army had now reached a city, where they saw him standing there...Adam, wearing a red suit and yellow tie, his burning scar shown fully, his terrifying bright eyes staring into their soul even from here. He was holding what looked like a regular cutlass, as he flicks it, the cutlass reflecting light.

"Greetings, soldiers..." Adam remarks, smiling.

"Is he actually going to challenge us with just a cutlass?!" One of the tank operators demands. "Don't even waste any time! Fire!" The general shouts, as one of the tanks takes aim at Adam, who eyes it. The rest follow, before firing.

The explosion rendered the city as a wasteland, the general hoping it had been evacuated in time. But...more likely, Adam killed the civilians himself prior.

"DAMMIT! HE'S ALIVE!" A soldier shouts.

"What do you mean he's--" The general demands, before being cut off, as he sees the top of a tank come off, the tank exploding.

Adam's eyes lock onto the barrel of the super tank, as he dodges another tank round, and kicks the hatch open to throw down a grenade he took off a soldier, before leaping off the tank as the grenade exploded inside, destroying it. More tanks, more rockets, more bullets. fired, but none reached Adam, as some hit their own army on accident. Adam leaps into a helicopter, slitting the pilots' throats before manning the helicopter himself and sending it on a collision course for the super tank, before jumping out, as the helicopter hits, exploding, as more grenades explode, destroying more of the army.

Adam then kills the personnel inside the most recent tank he had gotten inside, as he aims at the super tank and fires repeatedly, until getting out to avoid being in the tank explosion. He runs towards the hole in the super tank and into it, as he runs along corridors, killing any soldiers he comes across without fully noticing them. One of the soldiers had managed to survive the initial slash, and attempts to fire at Adam with a grenade launcher, but Adam had jammed it with a piece of rubble. The grenade launcher explodes, killing the soldier as Adam continues moving.

Adam then gets to a ladder and begins to climb it, as the hatch opens and soldiers aim guns directly at Adam's face. He dodges the bullets and slashes the soldiers with the cutlass, cutting between their armor plating as they fall dead. Adam fully climbs up the ladder and picks up a tear gas grenade, when he notices at least fifty soldiers aiming at him from either side. He crushes the tear gas grenade in his hand and, in the confusion, slashes down all the soldiers, avoiding the gunfire of any who manage to notice him.

"This is bad..." The general remarks, as he takes out what looked like a flat out broadsword. "We aren't playing nice anymore, aim every internal weapon at him." "You mean the weapons I already disabled?" Adam asks, as he walks out of the shadows, smiling and covered in blood. "You..." The general grows, as he readies his sword.

He then swings at Adam, roaring in anger, as Adam ducks beneath the sword slash and slashes the general in the side, as he leaps back to avoid a kick and just barely avoids hitting a mine. Soldiers keep firing at him, as he dodges or deflects the bullets, sometimes flipping and twirling to do so, and just kicking the soldiers to save the energy of finding their exact weak spot. They lay there, dead, as the general laughs, Adam turning to see him holding a detonator.

"Say goodbye to your plans, Nameless!" He shouts, as he presses the button.

...

The button of a denotator already cut in half, as a gash was in the general's neck.

"...This was a disappointment." Adam remarks. "But a good workout." He then walks out of the super tank, chucking more grenades at the remaining vehicles as he walks away, the explosion making him appear as a silhouette.

Connor woke up, in total darkness, as he noticed that he was missing his suit, said suit being on the table. He grunts in exclamation, as he looks around. The cell seemed to have a lot of blood spots in it, but no bodies...he couldn't stay here. He looked at the bars to try and discern what they were. Perhaps he could break out in a few months if he did nothing but scratch at them...no, it would be too late by then.

Then, the cells opened, as he thought he saw movement. Someone invisible had freed him...Rosette? He hoped so, he wanted to see her again. He stumbles up and walks to his suit, silently thanking whoever freed him.

The figure who had freed Connor was finally out of sight of, she thought, everyone, as Sabrina turns off the invisibility on her suit, a pitch black one that was skintight. She preferred her old suit, but this one was better for sneaking around. She then heard footsteps, and turned around, hoping it would be Crith.

It wasn't.

Teremto towered over her like a totem pole, and he looked about as friendly as the Hydra. "What exactly do you think you are doing, human?" He demands, as Sabrina tenses up, knowing she couldn't fight him. "I was...testing out this suit." She answers, as Teremto bends his back forwards, making her bend backwards and end up seeing his glowing red eyes through his Plague Doctor mask. "I will be checking the prison block, now." He replies without an inch of warmth, or anything close, as he walks away, slipping through the darkness like an actual shadow. Sabrina sighs in relief and feels her heart pounding still.

"...Adam just destroyed the entire army sent after him." Daniel remarks. "Pardon Reaper High's students, we need them...all of them." He then prepares his new Rapier and begins to walk away. "And where will you be going, Sir?" Maria asks. "I'm going to make sure Adam is dead this time." Daniel replies. "Then I'm coming with you." Maria replies.

Adam stood atop a crane, looking down upon the ocean, and the oil freighter that was docked. He then smiles. "Hello, Charlotte. I am very glad you could make it here." He says, as he turns around, holding his original sword, Charlotte standing there, holding her own. "You know, for all my brain power, I forgot whether or not I told you the name of my blade." Adam says. "It is...Teufelkante, 'Devil's Edge'. It's power...is the same as your sword's. Have you named your sword yet?" Charlotte doesn't answer, but instead gets into a combat stance. "I have had enough of you." She finally replies, rushing at Adam to slash him.

Adam blocks Charlotte's slash with his own, as he avoids a kick by sliding his leg back. Adam then swings his own kick at Charlotte, who leaps back and prepares to slash again, Adam preparing to block until Charlotte slides beneath him to slash him in the leg. Adam leaps into the air and grinds his sword across the ground, it getting closer to Charlotte as she manages to block with her sword at the last second. Adam then kicks Charlotte's sword out of the way before swinging his own at her head, Charlotte barely dodging as it cuts her shoulder. Charlotte does her best to not scream in agony from the searing pain, as she flips backwards to kick Adam in the chin with both her feet, but Adam tilts his head back to dodge and handstands on one hand while flipping to kick both her feet away with his own, swinging his sword at her leg to leave a cut in it.

Charlotte yells in pain and stumbles back, letting her leg heal as she spins her blade in a helicopter motion to keep Adam away. Adam eyes the blade, before sticking his own blade in to stop Charlotte's. By now Charlotte's leg had healed, and she twirls on the ground to knock Adam off balance and kick him in the side. Adam avoids the latter by backflipping away and landing a few feet in front of Charlotte, who stands up and glares at him. "Let's see how much you've learned since we first dueled." Adam says, as this gives Charlotte an idea she wished she had earlier. She then holds her sword out to her right with both hands and turning to her left, as it glows with red aura. "Viatatransa!" She shouts, now turning to her right while swinging to her right and swinging the massive blast of energy at Adam, who uses his sword to block most of it but is still blasted back!

Adam grunts and gets up, any wounds he had healing as he makes the same stance as Charlotte, his sword glowing with blue aura. "Schnitt des Dämonischen Lichts." He says, as he swings the same way Charlotte did, sending the same wave of energy as her, but blue. Charlotte yelps and leaps over it, as she turns her head to see a second wave coming her way, as it strikes her, exploding! The explosion darkens the sky as Charlotte is send bouncing across the crane. She nearly falls off, but stabs her sword through the holes in the scaffolding to stay put. She then begins to climb back up, Adam's sword being pointed at her when she reaches the top. "Don't tell me that's all you know." He says. "It isn't..." Charlotte remarks, as she swings through the crane and climbs up behind Adam, as he turns around to face her. They both grasp their swords with both hands, ready to clash again.

They hear a gunshot, and turn to see both Daniel and Maria there, while Trevor was standing beside them, panting from exhaustion.

"This is as long as you live, Nameless!" Daniel shouts.

Connor was slashing apart any Cydran he came across, although doing so was difficult, and he needed to put all his energy into his incredibly thin and sharp cloth blades. He managed to take the blasts and other attacks from them with little damage, but wasn't willing to take his chances, and he outright avoided groups of three or more. He walked normally when he thought he was safe and undetected, and found a door guarded by many Cydran. He decided to use the core of a Cydran he had killed as a bomb, exploding and killing the others...it then dawned on him that they seemed like they...may have once been people. What horrible things happened here? He then slashed down the door and looked...as he realized just how horrible things really were.

"This can't be happening..." He remarks. "But it can." Teremto's voice rumbles behind him, as he turns around, slashing.

Daniel was snapping his fingers to erupt explosion after explosion of purple flames, all of which Adam dodged. Some explosions hit below, one igniting the tanker on fire, and others igniting the docks. Charlotte dodged the flames while slashing at Adam, who would block, dodge and kick, Charlotte doing the same. Maria was also firing her pistols at them, these too being dodged, except for seemingly one that had hit Adam's scar, which was bleeding. "It's not regenerating..." She remarks. "Are we overtaxing it?" She keeps firing, as Daniel keeps snapping, and Charlotte keeps slashing. They were, very slowly, beginning to overwhelm Adam. Maria then takes a moment to reload, and notices the flames. "Sir, if you keep snapping, we'll all be destroyed!" She snaps at Daniel, who notices and looks a bit shocked, as he takes out his new rapier and rushes to help Charlotte against Adam.

"So many different things you're trying and yet you can barely scratch me." Adam remarks, blocking their sword strikes. "It certainly helps that you don't have all your gadgets!" Daniel replies, as he thrusts his rapier forwards, managing to barely slip past Adam's sword and stab into his side, which burned. "Gh. A burning hot sword?" Adam asks, as Daniel grins and takes it out, before thrusting it towards Adam's eye. Adam barely dodges, as he blocks a slash from Charlotte, who, just then, Maria had accidentally shot in the spine! "Gah!" Charlotte screams, as Maria gasps. Adam kicks Charlotte away, and grabs Daniel by the neck before kneeing him in the stomach, making him drop his rapier and fall to the ground. As he falls, Adam takes out a small rapier-like dagger from Daniel's pocket.

Maria continues shooting at Adam, who was spinning his sword to deflect the bullets, smiling, until a bullet hits his right shoulder, and he turns his eye to see it. He throws his dagger at Maria, who dodges it, as Adam had already closed the distance, and slashes Maria's guns to pieces, slashing her in the stomach before she can react, but feeling a gun be shot at his side, seeing that she had drawn one mid-slash. Adam stabs her arms, and turns to see that Charlotte was enveloped in flames and smoke. He continues to watch this, until a red aura seems to form in the flames and smoke. The aura brightens, before expanding rapidly, blasting the flames away as Adam covers his eyes and plants his feet. When he looks, he smiles.

Sabrina walks out of the changing room in her normal clothing, as she sees Dhezaex standing there, and watching her, with that odd, glowing eye. "Is something wrong?" She asks, already knowing that Dhezaex already knew, or at least suspected. "You freed Zelinger, did you?" Blackhound demands, as Sabrina sees him walk out of the shadows. "Be lucky that this plan seems like a game to him, and that he's merciful." Ganymede continues, walking out of the shadows in the other direction. "His second in command, though...he makes Hell look hospitable." Sabrina's eyes widen in shock, as she runs past them, knowing that Teremto was probably already on Connor's trail!

Connor was on the ground, his cloths broken and his body bleeding. Teremto hadn't taken even a bit of damage it had seemed, as he stares down at Connor with those evil eyes. He holds his seemingly rotting hand out and grabs Connor with it, as if being grabbed by Satan himself. That thought terrified and enraged Connor, but suddenly, pain. White hot pain. He shrieks in agony as it felt like he had just been plunged into the sun while his insides were being siphoned out by really powerful straws that had pierced through every part of his body! Teremto holds Connor up, as he began to slowly, but surely, devour his soul and Eletero. "You alone will power our device, and you alone will be the reason the world is brought to its knees." Teremto says, as Connor continues to scream, but never gave way.

Teremto then finally realized, Connor had not one, not two, but hundreds of thousands of souls in him! And they were all protecting him! No matter, in his mind, Connor and all those who protected him would become energy for Fadepawe. "Stop!" Sabrina shouts, as she was forming a sword and shield, and pointing the sword at Teremto, from behind him. "...Ugh..." Teremto growls, throwing Connor aside like trash and forming what looked like an old Celtic longsword in his hand...a *really, **obscenely*** old design, as he glares at Sabrina. "If you kill me, you lose favor with your father." He growls. "If you kill me...you lose favor with my father." Sabrina retorts. "And if you kill my friends...you lose favor with me." "I care not about your favor." He replies, as he rushes at Sabrina and slashes at her.

Sabrina blocks the slash with her shield, and slashes Teremto, who blocks with his sword before slashing her in the arm, making her drop her sword as she shouts in pain. Sabrina stumbles back and forms a new sword to block Teremto's next slash, as she attempts to bash him with her shield, but he reconstitutes it and absorbs the remaining Eletero. "Wh--" Sabrina starts, before Teremto slashes her across the stomach and kicks her away, fusing her arms and legs with the walls. "I've entertained my skill enough today." He remarks. "Now, then, to deal with the escapee..." He then turns around to notice that Connor had run away, and was nowhere to be seen. "Bah!" He roars in anger, as he turns towards Sabrina and prepares to grab her head. Sabrina closes her eyes and winces.

"What are you doing to my daughter?!" Scorpios shouts, as he appears from the shadows. Teremto looks at him, then Sabrina, then him again, and narrows his eyes, as he stands fully upright, leaving Sabrina alone and unfusing her from the wall. "...Nothing, Sir." He answers.

Adam watches Charlotte walk closer, as the red aura surrounded her, her eyes glowing red, as she gave Adam a hungry, evil look, and her hair had red strands in it. "Finally...a chance to educate you." He remarks, as he rushes at her, swinging his sword. Charlotte grabs it with her slightly claw-like hand, as she kicks Adam in the stomach with her slightly claw-like foot. Adam stumbles back, and dodges her next strike, as he spin-kicks her in the back to send her falling flat on her face. Adam prepares to slash her spine, but Charlotte vanishes in a blur, and reappears behind him. Adam prepares to slash her again, but she casually dodges the slash, and swings her own sword, cutting off Adam's arm by the shoulder before he can react! "Gh! No!" Adam shouts, as Charlotte prepares to stab him, but he places Maria's gun directly at Charlotte's forehead and pulls the trigger the instant it's there.

Charlotte falls backwards, the aura vanishing, as her closing eyes stop glowing, her sword clattering beside her. Adam then turns around to see Daniel drive his rapier through his right eye! "Grr!" Adam shouts, as he shoots Daniel, who had grabbed the gun and moved it away before a fatal spot could be aimed at, and shouts in pain from the bullet ripping through his hand. Adam then kicks Daniel's arm to send it away, shooting Daniel in the shoulder as Daniel drives his rapier into Adam's remaining arm and kicking him in the stomach as he falls backwards. Adam stumbles back, and falls into the tanker below, as it explodes, other explosions occurring around the docks, as Daniel like the other two, loses consciousness. Trevor rushes to their aid, prioritizing Charlotte as...she had been shot in the head...

However long it had been was not clear, but Charlotte soon woke up in a hospital bed, Trevor sitting in a chair to watch over her. She smiles, and holds her hand to touch Trevor's cheek. "Trevor...you saved us..." She whispers, as Trevor holds her hand, and smiles as well. "I'm so glad you're alright now." He replies. "Do you...think that will be the last we see of Adam?" He asks a bit nervously. "...I hope. But we'll have to be ready next time." She answers, as she notices Khaldun standing there, with a look of worry on his face.

"I have something to tell everyone." He says.

It was later, as not only the four of them, but everyone, was at their base, including Epsilon. "When Connor came to, he told me what he saw when he opened a highly guarded hatch." Khaldun says. "A robot, a massive one, possibly as big as a skyscraper or a city." "WHAT?!" Trevor shouts, as Khaldun winces from the volume of his scream. "Sorry." He then says. "No...we have every right to be panicked." Khaldun says. "Because a robot like this..."

"...could destroy the world?" Sabrina asks, as Scorpios nods. "Indeed! By destroying the planet, I'll succeed where Beta failed, and thus be seen as the ultimate villain! No more will I be ridiculed as a fool or lesser! And don't worry...I have a plan for all this, and need people alive to make sure it goes right." He answers, as Teremto watches silently.

## Chapter 40

A few hours had passed, Star-C's healing technology coming in handy, but barely doing the job on time.

"We have no time to waste, Connor knows the location of Scorpios' base, and that they have a lot of Cydran guards." Khaldun says. "But we still don't know where they came from." Connor follows up with. "It seems like Scorpios built them, but we can't be sure." "Regardless, now that everyone's back, we need all the help we can get." Khaldun finishes. "So will we get that help?" "Yes." Epsilon says. "Scorpios took the only ones who ever treated me like family away from me, I must pay them back in blood." "How did you even end up on Earth?" Trevor asks nervously, as Epsilon closes his eyes and sighs. "I was once just another drone, but a mutation occurred in my brain that made me disconnect from the hivemind at birth. Omicron couldn't control me, so he sent me here." He says. "I thought I had nowhere to go, but a group of what you call pirates took me in, their families treated me as one of their own for centuries, and now...they're gone. I must avenge them."

"Where will we be going?" Daniel asks. "We're going to bring their forces to us." Khaldun answers. "Charlotte, Trevor, you will lure Blackhound. Connor, you will lure Dhezaex. I'll deal with Teremto. Daniel, Maria, can you handle the Cydran Leaders? And Epsilon...you can deal with Scorpios." "Good." Epsilon replies. "And once he is gone, I will fight against the Crocatoan, and try to keep them away from this planet." "I'll go with Connor." Rosette says. "Let me, please." "...Alright." Khaldun replies. "And...we need to deal with Ganymede, somehow." "We'll deal with him." Marshall says, as he and Coffey walk into the base. "Are you sure you can?" Khaldun asks. "There's no one else who can help us, right?" Marshall asks.

"Wrong."

They turn towards the other door, where Marcus stood. "You came back?" Marshall demands. "You certainly do have a lot of nerve." "I was alerted when I heard that this 'Scorpios' wants to destroy the world." Marcus retorts. "Do you think I want the world to be destroyed? I live in this world." "We very much want your help, we need all the help we can get." Coffey says. "I know I can't really fight, but...I do think I might be able to help in another way. The Cydran...they're..."

"Infected humans."

They all turn to see glowing eyes in the dark, as the lights illuminated, showing...Kayden, but more robotic. He...was a Cydran now. "What...what the...?" Trevor breathes, as they all take a few steps back. "You really think you can stop what is to come?" Kayden asks, as he tilts his head back and smiles wide. Charlotte draws her sword and prepares to fight, as Kayden watches, before shapeshifting his own hand into a sword. "Come on, fight me then. All of you." He says with an evil grin on his face. "You're insane..." Epsilon remarks, as Kayden's grin widens. "Aren't we all?!" He shouts, as his eyes glow, blasting heat and light across the room at them.

Connor leaps in front of everyone to block the light, as shortly after, a metal hand grabs him by the face and throws him aside. Connor is sent crashing through the wall, as Rosette runs to him. Charlotte swings her sword at Kayden, who blocks with his sword hand and dodges a Rapier strike from Daniel. Khaldun wraps his Khopesh around Kayden's neck, and pulls it to begin cutting into the back of it, but it was very slowly cutting, to the point of ineffectiveness. Kayden leans forwards and then slides backwards, before blasting lasers at them from his hands. Maria reflects them with a broken piece of glass and shoots at Kayden, who is again very, very barely damaged. Kayden then turns his fingers into five bladed tendrils which rush at each of them. Charlotte, Daniel, Khaldun, Trevor, and Epsilon all block one each, as Epsilon aims his hand at Kayden. "Életerőlabda." He says, as multiple orbs of Eletero form around him and rush at Kayden, who deflects them as they explode on his arm, managing to destroy it partially.

"Oh?" Kayden demands, as Epsilon appears in front of him to punch him in the gut, sending him flying back and crashing through another wall. Epsilon rushes after him as Charlotte and Trevor follow. Rosette and Conner come back into the room to see Epsilon, Charlotte, Trevor and Kayden gone. "What happened?" Rosette asks. "They went through there." Connor says, pointing his arm at the other broken wall, which everyone began running towards.

Charlotte slashes at Kayden, who blocks each slash with his arms as he then grabs Charlotte's blade, and flips to fling her into a generator, which explodes. "Charlotte!" Trevor shouts, as he throws a Bokyaku at Kayden, who bats it away with his hand. "Is that all you can do, Trevor?!" Kayden demands, as Trevor glares at him and takes a nearby Star-C gun off its holster on a wall, and aims it at Kayden, firing it, the blast going clean through Kayden's shoulder, which regenerates. "...Well, then..." Kayden remarks, as he blasts the gun out of Trevor's hand. "Gh!" Trevor grunts, as Epsilon appears again and kicks Kayden away.

"You're relying too much on your Crocatoid friend." Kayden remarks. "If he wasn't on your side, he'd have killed you all already." Epsilon holds his hand out towards Kayden again. "Életerőgerenda." Epsilon says, as a beam of Eletero appears out of his hand, and hits Kayden, exploding. When the smoke clears, Kayden is seen to be blocking with his currently badly damaged arms, which began to regenerate quickly again. "Wait...how is a robot regenerating?" Trevor asks. "It's biometal. Remember, we were infected to be this way." Kayden answers, as he fires blasts at them, Epsilon dodging them and throwing Trevor past Kayden. "Ow!" Trevor shouts, as Epsilon attempts to hit Kayden with a pressure point on his forehead, but it does nothing. "Gh..." Epsilon growls, as Kayden grabs his arm and nearly chops it off, before Epsilon is suddenly behind him, and karate chops him in the back. Kayden attempts to stay upright, but Epsilon sweeps him off his feet with his leg, making Kayden fall on his face. Epsilon then places his hand on Kayden's back after this.

Trevor helps Charlotte up, as Charlotte groans in pain and looks at her blade, which was undamaged by what Kayden had done. "I really wanna know what this is made of." Trevor says. "Yeah, me too." Charlotte replies, as they prepare to face Kayden again, but Epsilon was in front of them. "Do not go out there." He says. Kayden gets up, and aims his hands at Epsilon. "No dodging this time, we just blast each other!" He shouts. "On the count of three!" Epsilon bows his head down, closing his eyes, and sighing, before lifting his head up and opening his eyes. "Alright." He says, as he aims his hands at Kayden, who grins evilly. "One...two..." Kayden starts. "...Életerőrobbanó." Epsilon says, as the orb from before explodes. "GAH!" Kayden roars in anger, as he collapses to the ground, too injured to regenerate. "For the record, we did count to three." Epsilon says. "...You can't stop Scorpios..." Kayden snarls.

"...You are incorrect." Epsilon replies, as he blasts a hole right through Kayden's chest. Only this seemed to be enough, as Kayden's lights turned off, and his eyes closed. He was dead.

"We...we won!" Trevor shouts. "I think that's the first time we've actually won one of these fights in a while!" "And we'll keep winning." Epsilon replies.

"Ugh, I'm so bored." Delta groans. "I think I'll go fight the U.S. military just for the heck of it." "May we assist you?" One of the guards asks. "Sure, whatever." Delta replies. "Just make sure I get to fight those things they call tanks."

What seemed like hundreds of tanks, planes, and boats were assembled at the shoreline, hundreds of thousands of soldiers in every direction. A tall, thin man with shaggy, yet somewhat neat black hair, wearing a white Admiral's suit with five stars on each shoulderpad, with what looked like a Spadroon in its hilt, stood in the bridge of an Aircraft Carrier, and looked around. "Has anyone yet spotted Scorpios and his gang?" The man asks. "I hear they're dangerous enough to warrant this massive force." "Not yet, Fleet Admiral Graham." One of the soldiers on the Aircraft Carrier's bridge answers. "That's unfortunate, we might be dealing with a threat bigger than REICH ever was." Graham replies, as they then see what looked like a pitch black UFO with yellowish orange lights on it descend from the skies. "Hmm?" Graham wonders, as he looks on.

As the ship landed, it sent down a transparent beam of light, and what looked like a small Squadron of Crocatoan Soldiers appeared at the part of the ground the beam touched, along with four Crocatoan guards, and Delta, though they did not know that was his name. "More of those things? I only heard about them from reports." Graham remarks. "Sir, we should immediately open fire. They are using spears, which means they won't be able to fight at a range." The same soldier from before says. "More importantly...those spears probably can fire projectiles." Graham replies, as he takes out a communication device and speaks into it. "Destroy the invaders with maximum force, and seize their ship." He orders, as the soldiers, tanks, et cetera immediately began to open fire on the Crocatoan.

They spin their spears to block the bullets, and any they can't block don't do much real damage, barely scraping pieces off their armor. A few of them aim the tips of their spears at a large group of soldiers, and begin firing lasers from said spears. Delta laughs as he rushes at a tank and slashes it with his Jintachi, cutting it in two as it explodes behind him. He goes on to cut another tank off, separating the turret from the main body. The soldiers inside scream as they fire at Delta with their guns, doing basically no damage. He decapitates them, and sends a blast at a few more tanks, creating an explosion that atomizes the nearest ones to ground zero and simply blasts away the ones furthest from it. "Is this all these damn humans have?! How did Beta lose to this?!" Delta roars, as he laughs and sends multiple more blasts to decimate more and more of the army.

Graham shields his eyes with his arm as a small frown was on his face. "Fire anti-battleship harpoons at the guards and Crocatoan soldiers. They probably can't block those." He orders. "What about their leader?" The soldier asks. "I have a plan to deal with him." Graham replies. "Just do what you can against him." He says this as he watches the destruction unfold. The guards were driving their spears through the hearts of multiple soldiers at a time, as the mere Crocatoan soldiers took dead and dying human soldiers to the beam to be sent up to their ship. "So that's how they replenish their numbers..." He remarks, as he looks on at Delta tossing around multiple battleships in the directions of air fleets.

"Hahahaha! I don't know whether this is fun or boring!" Delta shouts, as he slashes down more jets that try to simply ram him, killing the soldiers in the process. He unleashes an energy blast from his sword to vaporize multiple more fleets of jets, as he catches a missile with his hand and crushes it, tossing it to the side. He then sees multiple harpoons be shot at the soldiers and guards, killing some and wounding others. "Well, I'll be damned..." He remarks, as he flies down to begin slashing apart any boats still firing harpoons, before seeing Graham in the aircraft carrier. "I'll bet that's their leader..." Delta remarks, as he flies to the aircraft carrier, slashing down anything that got in his way, be it person, vehicle or projectile.

"Outta' my way, you stupid humans, I wanna fight the idiot controlling you guys!" He roars, cutting down jets and helicopters before they can take off, and destroying turrets and soldiers alike. He lands at the door of the tower the bridge was on, and slashes it down, before fling up the stairs, cutting more doors out of his way. He eventually makes it up, and lands on the floor. "Stop!" A soldier shouts, as they all aim at Delta, who smiles. In the blink of an eye, all the soldiers are dead, the windows shattered and the control panel destroyed. "Wh...?!" Graham exclaims, as Delta points his Jintachi at him. "How does it feel to die? I bet you have no combat training whatsoever!"

"Because I'm never on the frontlines?" Graham asks, as he draws the Spadroon, revealing that it had a Katana's blade. "Oh, that's a cool design." Delta remarks. "I have to admit, you humans do have style. But you do know how brittle a Katana blade is, right?" "Actually, Katanas are less likely to snap in half." Graham replies. "And this blade is made of Tungsten Carbide." "Eh, whatever. I'm way too strong for you to deal with even with a Neutronium sword." Delta retorts. "Let's get this over with." "A swordfight, correct?" Graham asks. "Yeah, sure. Nothin' but swords." Delta replies. "In that case, if I beat you in this swordfight, you have to leave, regardless of your condition after it." Graham says. "The win condition is to disarm the opponent once. And firstly, change your stance. You hold a Jintachi with two hands." "Oh, so that's how you wield this thing." Delta replies, as he places his other hand on his sword.

Delta rushes at Graham, who barely manages to block his blade with his own, as he thrusts it at Delta's shoulder, not managing to cut it. "Woah, what's that thing made of? It took a hit from my Jintachi!" Delta shouts. "I told you, it's made of Tungsten Carbide. Hundreds of hundreds of layers of it. And I added on my Mutation to it as well." Graham replies, as he pulls his sword back and leaps up, bending his knees to avoid another slash from Delta, as he kicks Delta in the face to leap back, wincing from the pain of doing so. "What is your skin made of...?" Graham asks. "Dunno, metal-ey stuff I guess." Delta answers, as he rushes to slash at Graham again, Graham parrying the strike, and the next one, and the next after that, regardless of what angle Delta chose to swing his blade in. "I should have expected that you would have such little skill, given your power." Graham remarks. "Shut up, fodder!" Delta roars. "...Fodder? You think that's what I am?" Graham asks, as he thrusts his blade towards Delta's eye, Delta leaping back and holding his eye in pain despite it not being damaged.

"Damn...I guess I have to use my ability." Delta growls, as Graham rushes at him to stab him again. Delta moves behind him as an attempt to slash, as Graham both blocks the strike and thrusts his sword behind himself at Delta, who leaps back. "You could tell what I was going to do rather quickly." Graham remarks. "Yeah...you're not gonna' beat me, now." Delta says, as Graham smiles. "But it's worthless. Even if you know an attack is coming..." He rushes at Delta, thrusting his sword at his eye again. "...it means nothing if you don't have the skill to defend yourself." Delta then swings his Jintachi at Graham, who notices and leaps over it, slashing Delta in the back, knowing it did no damage. "Damn you...that's a Spadroon. Say what you want, it is! With a weapon like that, you're the most pathetic person on this planet, even by the standards of other humans called pathetic by the standards of your own soldiers!" Delta roars. "How rude of you, the fact that I lasted this long against you should be evidence of my combat ability." Graham retorts. "Please, you're only still alive because I agreed to your terms." Delta retorts back, as he aims his hand at Graham and fires an Eletero orb at him.

Graham notices and ducks in surprise, as the Orb goes over him and hits a jet, exploding with the force of a nuclear blast. Graham rides the blast wave and uses it to finally cut Delta, but before the cut could be complete, Delta's skin turned into a dark grey where the blade was, forcing Graham to pull it back as he could tell by looking that Delta's skin had hardened. "I take it that is your real ability?" Graham asks. "You can take it like that, sure." Delta replies, as he swings his sword at Graham again, Graham dodging as he swings his sword at Delta's hand, jamming it between his hand and his blade's hilt. Before Delta could react, Graham pulled his sword out, ending up pulling the Jintachi out of Delta's grip as it fell to the ground and dissipated.

"Ghhhhh...dammit." Delta growls. "No doubt, you would have beaten me if this was a battle of power." Graham says. "But, as we have now seen, your skill is vastly inferior to mine." "...Have fun with a broken-in-half ship." Delta retorts, as he leaps down and kicks the Aircraft Carrier, breaking it in half. "Gh!" Graham exclaims, holding onto a metal rod to balance himself. He had long removed the Admiral's shirt, revealing his more butler-like clothing beneath it, as he takes out his communicator again, and speaks into it. "Sir, we are requesting assistance." He says, as he watches the remaining Crocatoan, and Delta himself, get into their ship, as it flies up, away and out of sight.

Charlotte and Trevor were in a long abandoned city, near the ravine that had been created by an earthquake. They chose here because there would be no innocents to get hurt here. They the heard footsteps, and turned around, expecting to see Blackhound. But it wasn't, it was Pyro, his rapier and pistol already drawn. "Pyro..." Charlotte trails off, glaring at the red-clad fellow vampire. "Nice to see you again, Charlotte. How much longer do you wanna' play Samurai for?" Charlotte draws her sword, and gets into a Kendo position, as Pyro smiles. "That's one of the weaknesses of a Katana, it requires both hands to use." He mocks, as he aims his gun at Trevor, firing at him. Trevor dodges the flaming bullets, and throws a Bokyaku at Pyro, who ducks to avoid it and keeps firing, Charlotte blocking the bullets as she rushes to slash at him.

Pyro leaps backwards to avoid the slash, before leaping forwards and thrusting his Rapier forwards. Charlotte tilts to the side to avoid it stabbing through her neck, as she slashes at the blade, attempting to cut it in half. Pyro pulls the Rapier back, and aims his gun directly at Charlotte's face, as he pulls the trigger. The explosion from the gun sent Charlotte flying back, as she digs her sword into the ground and backflips, before landing on her feet and pulling her sword out of the ground. She rushes at Pyro, dodging the bullets, as she slashes at his feet. Pyro leaps up to avoid it, and kicks Charlotte in the face, as she stumbles back. Charlotte leaps backwards again, and gets into position, placing her left foot forwards, her right foot backwards, her Katana and torso to her right, as her sword emits a red aura. "That again?" Pyro asks. "Viata...Transa!" Charlotte shouts, swinging her sword as it unleashes the now-familiar energy blast at Pyro, who throws his weapons up and holds his hand forwards, snapping his fingers to unleash a mass of Hellfire at the Viatatransa. The attacks clash, before exploding, as Pyro leaps up to catch his weapons, twirling through the air, and lands.

Charlotte stomps on his trenchcoat, and keeps her foot there, as she swings her blade at his neck. Pyro tilts forwards to dodge and drives his rapier towards her arm, as she leaps backwards and Pyro rushes towards her, thrusting his Rapier at her as she uses the side of her Katana's blade to block the strike. Charlotte notices Pyro aiming at her with his gun again, as she tilts her head to dodge the gunshot and explosion before sweeping Pyro off his feet with her leg. However, Pyro plants a foot on the ground the instant the other foot is off of it, before kicking Charlotte in the knee, making her shout in pain as he stabs her again, just between the diaphragm and stomach. Charlotte grunts and grabs the Rapier, as she swings her sword at Pyro, who lets go of his Rapier and leaps back to dodge the slash. Pyro takes out his gun and prepares to fire at her, but sees Trevor running at him. Pyro turns his gun towards Trevor, and begins rapidly pulling the trigger, as Trevor ducks, weaves and leaps to avoid the bullets, and forms a Bokyaku. "That again? Try a new one!" Pyro shouts, but Trevor doesn't let go of the Bokyaku. He rushes to be directly in front of Pyro, and punches him with the hand holding the Bokyaku!

"Gh!" Pyro grunts, as Trevor leaps back, leaving the Bokyaku to explode. Pyro's gun falls to the side, as the explosion ends. The smoke clears, showing Pyro there, his clothing and skin damaged, but he didn't seem damaged beyond that. "Gh..." Trevor exclaims, as Pyro prepares to snap his fingers again. However, before he can, his hand is cut off. "Wha?" Pyro demands, as he turns around to see Blackhound there, Charlotte and Trevor seeing him as well.

"It appears...I was late to the party." Blackhound remarks.

## Chapter 41

Charlotte and Trevor quickly do their best to dodge Blackhound's initial strike, which leveled a small mountain behind them from the shockwave. "Gh! How does that even work?!" Trevor shouts, as Blackhound turns towards him and rushes at him, Trevor forming a Bokyaku to block just in time, Blackhound quickly forming another sword to block a slash from Charlotte with, before thrusting the sword at her eye. Charlotte narrowly dodges by tilting her head out of the way, feeling the searing pain of her ear being slashed. "Gah!" She shouts, as she nearly drops her blade. Blackhound kicks both away, as they tumble for a bit. Charlotte manages to land on her feet, and rushes to catch Trevor before he falls on his back. "Thanks." He says, as they turn towards their cybernetic opponent.

"I remember you, Charlotte." Blackhound says. "I definitely didn't look like this when we first fought, but...my brain was all that was left. Scorpios and his fourteenth century lackey saw to it that I didn't perish, they even brought my soul back from Hell." "Wh...what...?" Charlotte breathes. "Oh, you don't remember me? You thought I was a 'villain of the week'?" Blackhound demands. "Then again...I suppose it's warranted, we knew each other for like five minutes back then." "Wait, who are you?" Trevor asks. "Apart from the scary cyborg guy with swords." Blackhound looked as if he would smile, as...his sword turns into a gun. "...Gh..." Charlotte grunts. "My old name was...Theodoric, I fought Charlotte during the massive invasion of Killeen." Blackhound says.

Blackhound then begins firing lasers at them both, like a machine gun. Charlotte grabs Trevor and begins running around Blackhound to do her best to dodge them all, knowing they were Ultraviolet. "So, you can dodge one..." Blackhound remarks, as he forms his other sword into another gun, and fires the same storm of blasts from it. "Gh!" Charlotte grunts, as Blackhound moves the lasers in on them, keeping them there for a while before stopping, and forming his guns back into swords. The dust clears, and he sees that Trevor had protected Charlotte with a Bokyaku. "Clever." Blackhound remarks, rushing at them to slash them. Charlotte leaps over the first slash and parries the next, kicking Blackhound in the face, or trying to, as Blackhound tilts backwards to dodge the kick, and flips to kick them like that, sending them both crashing to the ground. "Gah!" Trevor shouts. "Gh!" Charlotte grunts.

"Now, to deal with you." Blackhound remarks, as he runs at them, spinning his sword in front of him, one sword in front of the other, one sword longer than the other, one arm higher than the other. Charlotte notices, and thrusts her sword in to parry both swords at once, but Blackhound tilts his wrists to move the swords forwards, Charlotte barely avoiding decapitation by ducking before she swings her sword at Blackhound's legs, Blackhound leaping over the slash and stomping on Charlotte's blade. Charlotte attempts to sweep him with her leg, but he doesn't even budge. "Agh!" Charlotte shouts, the pain of kicking a...robot...throbbing throughout her leg. Blackhound then kicks Charlotte in the face, Charlotte barely holding onto her blade as she flies back.

"Charlotte!" Trevor shouts, as he throws a Bokyaku at Blackhound, who leaps over it and rushes at Trevor, who barely dodges each slash, knowing they at the very least were cutting into his flesh and clothing, which...was what katanas did, now that he thought about it. But these were no ordinary katanas, if he wasn't careful, he would be cut into fours! He attempts flying into the air to avoid the slashes, but Blackhound leaps up at him, his feet turning into thrusters. Trevor flies back and begins forming two Bokyakus at once. "Let's see if this pays off..." He remarks, as he throws one at Blackhound, and, while Blackhound is still in the act of beginning to dodge, throws the other at him, but he deflects it with his sword. "Gh!" Trevor exclaims, as Blackhound rushes at him again.

Trevor flies beneath Blackhound, and behind him, dodging more slashes as he grabs the hilt of a sword, and tries to wrench it out of Blackhound's grip, using another Bokyaku to block Blackhound's other sword. "What a clever one, you are." He says. "...Most of these were last second." Trevor replies. "Don't be humble. You're putting up far more of a fight than I expected." Blackhound retorts, as he kicks Trevor in the stomach. "Guh!" Trevor grunts, before groaning weakly in agony. "But...you do still have your weaknesses...and I...capitalize on those weaknesses." Blackhound finishes, before frontflipping and kicking Trevor in the head to send him crashing to the ground.

Charotte and Trevor were both nearly unconscious, as Blackhound readied to cut them both apart. "You fought much better than I thought, and much better than last time we met, but it's over now." He says. "Gee, you couldn't give a better monologue than that?" A voice demands, as Blackhound, Charlotte and Trevor all turn towards the one who had said this, and it was a man only Blackhound knew, out of the three of them, Jordan Graham, who had his Spadroon currently drawn. "Were you not attacked by Delta-Rigel?" Blackhound asks. "I was, but I escaped, and wasn't too badly injured." Graham answers, before pointing his sword forwards. "Let's get this over with." Blackhound chuckles. "Very well, then, Mr. Savior." He replies.

Blackhound rushes at Graham and slashes at him, Graham parrying immediately, before tilting his sword down to parry Blackhound's other blade. "Gh! You're certainly doing better than they did!" Blackhound shouts. "I'm also a far, far better swordfighter than those novices." Graham replies. "You? You're holding those katanas absurdly poorly." Graham then tilts his sword forwards to slash at Blackhound's wrists, forcing him to leap away from the Fleet Admiral to avoid losing his hands. "I got to keep this sword my whole rising through the military because I proved I could handle myself with it." Graham says. "Do not expect me to be easy pickings, and choose better weapons." "Heh...says the guy with a Spadroon." Blackhound replies, as he turns his katanas into Sabers.

"Weapon Manipulation...? You're Theodoric." Graham says. "How truly incredible that there were those smart enough to put Mutations into cyberformed bodies. Are you also a Cydran?" "I can't answer, they never told me what I am." Blackhound replies, as he rushes at Graham and slashes at him, Graham parrying again, but with some more difficulty. Still, he wasn't slashed even once in what must have been the ten slashes per-second that Blackhound was dishing out. Graham then saw an opening, and thrusted his sword forwards, cutting into Blackhound's shoulder to show advanced circuitry. "Well, you definitely are not organic in any sense of the word." Graham remarks.

"That was rather obvious from the get-go, was it not?" Blackhound demands, as he rushes at Graham again, spinning like a helicopter. Graham still manages to block, but there were a few close calls. He then noticed kicks swinging at him, and narrowly dodged these by leaping and weaving. He leaps back from a kick he knew he couldn't stay at a close range to dodge, and swings his sword forwards to keep Blackhound from continuing his next rush. "Take this." He says, as he swings his sword across Blackhound's face before Blackhound could properly react, cutting out one of his eyes. "Gah! No!" Blackhound shouts, as he leaps back and glares at Graham. "You are a pain in the ass." He growls. "I know." Graham replies with a cold smile on his face.

Khaldun walked through the foggy forest, filled with twisted, dead trees, where pillars stood tall and firm, in them, fused with them, were people, hunters, who had gone around these woods, looking for one demon...but encountering the Devil. And of course...the Devil couldn't be fought against with spears and swords...so why was Khaldun bringing those very kinds of weapons with him? He already knew how difficult it was to even survive Teremto, let alone fight him. But...he had to. It was his duty. To ensure Teremto didn't see any fear, Khaldun closes his visor.

"It is far too late for that, child." Teremto's voice says, from what sounded like all around Khaldun, and inside his head.

Khaldun felt chills go down his spine, he...he was shaking. He readies his Khopesh and blaster, and looks around frantically. "Teremto! Enough of these mind games! Show your face here and now!" Khaldun shouts, as he sees the robed, hooded plague doctor walk out of the shadows, his rotting hands the only indicator of his true age. Then again, the mask, the robes, they all looked old. The robes, in fact, looked far older than the mask. Khaldun felt himself sweat, as he gulped, hoping Teremto didn't hear it, yet knowing he did.

"Face me, boy. Face your destiny." Teremto says, as he forms a longsword with what looked like a goat skull on its hilt, the horns forming the crossguard, in his hand. "...Come face the law." Khaldun replies, as he fires his blaster at Teremto. No way in Hell was he going to have a swordfight with someone that could have hundreds of years of experience. However, a crystal forms in front of Teremto, refracting the laser as it was rendered useless. Khaldun then watches in horror as his gun is dismantled by what seemed like a single ***thought*** from this monster. "Gh!" Khaldun grunts, as he runs at Teremto.

Khaldun swings his sword at Teremto to slash, as Teremto parries this with such ease that Khaldun could practically feel the ancientness of his opponent, just from his swordfighting alone. He so...very clearly...hadn't stopped training all that time. How was he going to beat this thing?! This thing that had lost its right and willingness to be called a man long ago! Khaldun pulls his sword back and attempts to trap Teremto's sword arm, but Teremto easily blocks this as well, before thrusting his sword forwards to stab at Khaldun's chest. Luckily, Khaldun's armor protected him from being impaled, but he leaped back anyways. "Perish, boy." Teremto says, as he rushes at Khaldun, slashing at him. Khaldun tries to block, but Teremto moves the sword through the curve of the Khopesh, and stabs Khaldun in the eye through the visor!

"Gah!" Khaldun yelps, as he swings his Khopesh at Teremto, who blocks by simply tilting his sword down. Khaldun then decides to kick Teremto back and leap away, his thrusters helping him do so. However, Teremto vanishes in a cloud of smoke, and Khaldun feels a blast hit him from behind. "No!" Khaldun shouts, as he tumbles forwards. Teremto creates multiple lava spikes and has them rush at Khaldun, who barely dodges most of them, but a few hit him, beginning to damage his armor as they overwhelmed him. "ARGH!" Khaldun roars, as he whacks his robot arm at the last spikes sent, before deflecting another blast from Teremto with his sword. Khaldun then takes out a detonator, and presses the button on it, detonating a bomb he had left on Teremto earlier. "What--" Teremto starts, as the bomb explodes, blasting plenty of trees away.

Khaldun watched, as Teremto began to walk out of the fire, wearing full armor that looked to be made of bronze, over thin chainmail and a regular, albeit old, suit. "...Ghhhh..." Khaldun exclaims, as he throws his Khopesh at Teremto, who deflects it fast enough that Khaldun didn't even process him moving! "Are you kidding me...?" Khaldun groans, as he sees blasts of lightning rush at him. Khaldun leaps over the lightning and throws more bombs at Teremto, who turns them to stone with a glare. Khaldun knew how damaged his armor was, as he looked on at his opponent, who was made to look like a silhouette by the flames around and behind him, his now not covered face dimly illuminated. All Khaldun could tell was that his eyes were of a black as dark as the void itself, his eyes glowing red as if it was the very gaze of Hell itself...of Satan itself.

"...This...has to end..." Khaldun groans weakly, as he shakily gets up, and aims his robotic arm at Teremto. "There is nothing you could possibly do to me, boy." Teremto says in a voice that almost eradicated Khaldun's resolved, a voice that made him see and feel emptiness, made him want to give up...but he couldn't. He wouldn't. He had to do this...everyone was depending upon him. "Teremto...whatever you are...I will...destroy you!" Khaldun roars, as he puts every last ounce of power into his arm, firing a massive blast at Teremto, who raises five metal walls in response, the beam tearing through each one like butter. "NO!" Teremto roars, as the blast hits him, and seems...to vaporize him, slowly. Khaldun eventually has to stop, and watches, as Teremto's burning body falls backwards onto the ground, his sword stabbing into the ground.

"...Stay dead, you monster." Khaldun says.

Graham was still parrying all of Blackhound's slashes, but with much greater effort than before. Blackhound was fast, relentless, aggressive, a killing machine using powerful weapons. Graham, he was human, he was tiring, he was...thinking. A slash manages to disarm Graham, as his sword flies into the air. Blackhound kicks Graham back, as he grunts in pain, and seems to send a force blast to the ground to boost himself into the air and grab his sword, before catching himself in the air and landing safely on the ground. "What...is that power?" Blackhound demands. "See for yourself." Graham replies, as Blackhound, enranged, turns his swords into machine guns. "Wha--" Graham starts, but Blackhound fires, cutting him off before he could react.

Hundreds, thousands of Gamma Blasts rushed across the battlefield, and far beyond, as Blackhound didn't stop, the heat beginning to ignite absolutely everything around them on fire. Blackhound continues this for a little bit longer, before finally stopping, and watching, appalled, as Graham just stood there, *unscathed!* "What are you?!" Blackhound roars, as Graham chuckles. "I am human." He replies. "And my Mutation...is the ability to create...forcefields." Blackhound fires again, and again, as Graham's shield deflects the blasts, and Graham rushes to slash at Blackhound, cutting an arm off. "No!" Blackhound roars, as he swings at kick at Graham, Graham leaping over it and slashing Blackhound across the chest, making him leap back.

"Ready to surrender?" Graham asks, as Blackhound glares at him. "You are a fool." He says. "You cannot possibly match all I have." Blackhound then turned his gun into his original sword, but...off. "What did you--" Graham starts, but is interrupted when Blackhound slashes him. Graham quickly blocks, but the blade cleaves through his sword like nothing! "Wh-what?!" Graham screams, as he leaps back. "Now that I know you use forcefields, I made this sword cut through space." Blackhound replies. "Wasn't hard to figure out that weakness, really." "Dammit..." Graham breathes, as Blackhound rushes him. Graham attempts to leap back, but there is no time! Blackhound slashes through the forcefield with ease, and slashes Graham in the chest, blood fountaining out!

Graham falls on his back, gasping, choking, wheezing for air, as the pain was so excruciating, yet he could not scream. "Now, to bring the ones Scorpios wanted." Blackhound remarks, as he walks away, not seeing Graham's smile as...Charlotte and Trevor had long escaped. "...Damn you, Fleet Admiral." Blackhound growls.

## Chapter 42

Sabrina walked into Scorpios' throne room, where her father, more machine than man, sat. Scorpios seemed to be speaking to Delta, when he turns his attention towards his daughter, swiveling his throne dramatically. "Hello, my daughter Sabrina!" Scorpios shouts, as Sabrina looks up at him with a worried expression on her face. "...Father..." She starts. "...why do you want to destroy the world?" Scorpios is silent for a while. For the first time, he didn't answer with a joke, or even a hint of glee in his voice, as he begins to walk down to Sabrina. "...All my life, I was made fun of, bullied." He says. "No matter my talent or effort, I was always either beaten or ignored. No one cared about me, not even my own parents. It was for that reason that I let your mother have her way with me. It was the only time...that I felt like I mattered to someone." Sabrina bows her head down, as Scorpios reaches the bottom of the stairs. "I must destroy this planet, so that those placed on my artificial world will finally...recognize, and respect me." He finishes.

Marshall, Coffey and Marcus walked through the city, reaching a warehouse. "Hmph, this isn't obvious at all." Marshall remarks, as Marcus' eyes dart around, looking for their opponent. "He's large, but he knows how to hide..." Marcus says. "Coffey, is it? Can you alter biology in truly any way imaginable?" "Yes, I can." Coffey replies. "Good. You could be the saving grace of all of us." Marcus responds, as they walk towards the warehouse, and into it. "This must have been how Daniel and his team felt walking into here." Marshall says, as they come across a room, a large room, and walk into it. This was the main part of the warehouse, and the moonlight illuminated the one standing in the middle, Ganymede, who turns around to look at them.

"You three...I don't believe I've met you three." Ganymede remarks. "I am certain you wanted to once again face the vampire." Marcus replies, as he turns his hand into a blood scythe. "I wanted to tear her in half." Ganymede retorts, as the moonlight shines off of Marcus' glasses, hiding his eyes. "...I felt the same way, once." Marcus says, as he rushes at Ganymede to slash at him, Ganymede blocking with a wrist blade as he grabs Marcus by the neck and throws him into a shelf, knocking it and all the shelves it hits over. Ganymede then fires a rocket at Coffey, but Marshall grabs it and throws it back at Ganymede, grunting from the effort of doing so, as Ganymede cuts the missile in half and rushes to slash at Marshall, who dodges and grabs Ganymede's wrist, aiming to snap his arm, but Ganymede kicks Marshall in the leg while simultaneously kneeing him in the stomach!

"Rrgh!" Marshall growls, as he headbutts Ganymede, somewhat cracking his helmet, as Ganymede backflips to throw Marshall into the roof, through it, as Marshall grabs a steel beam to not be sent flying away. Coffey begins to step backwards, as Ganymede turns towards him and prepares to fire at him with a pistol. However, Marcus slashes the pistol's barrel off and kicks Ganymede in the knee. Ganymede is not much phased as he whacks Marcus aside with his arm. Marcus wraps his arms around Ganymede's arm to not be sent back, as he turns his hands into claws to begin digging into Ganymede's armor. "Damn you!" Ganymede roars, as he throws Marcus up and throws multiple combat knives at him. Marcus weaves around these and slashes Ganymede with both his scythe arms, Ganymede blocking with both his wrist bladed arms as he then front flips to kick Marcus in the back and send him into the ground hard enough to form a crater and shake the warehouse.

"Guh!" Marcus grunts, as Ganymede kicks him in the face to send him away, shattering his glasses and showing his dark blood red eyes, which almost seemed to glow in this light. Marcus holds his bleeding face in pain, as he turns the fingers on his other hand into bladed tendrils to stab Ganymede with, Ganymede catching all five with his right arm as he yanks Marcus towards him and punches Marcus in the side of the head, before punching him in the face repeatedly. Ganymede is then hit in the back by multiple rock formations sent at him by Marshall, as he swings Marcus at the gym teacher. Marshall catches Marcus and rushes at Ganymede to punch him in the face, Ganymede catching the punch with both hands as he began to crush Marshall's fist. "Ghhhhhhhh!" Marshall growls, as he turns his attention to Coffey, who was mostly hiding behind a fallen crate. "What're you waiting for?! Do something!" Marshall shouts at Coffey, who nods.

Daniel and Maria walked through one of the futuristic cargo ships Connor had told them about, as they passed the Cydran guards they had killed. "It's just like old times." Maria remarks. "Yeah, except this time we're dealing with alien robots and not people." Daniel replies, as he snaps his fingers to burn a door in front of them into ash. When they walk inside, they see the three major Cydran standing there. Corius, Ohbator and Sona. All three of them turn to face Daniel and Maria, their lights being all that illuminated the dark room apart from the flames behind the soldiers. "You must be the freaks turning people into robots." Daniel says. "We are merely attempting to save your species from his wrath." Corius replies. "Who, Scorpios?" Daniel demands, as Corius shakes his head. "You would be incapable of comprehending the threat as you are." Sona responds, as Maria points her guns at the Cydran.

"Whoever it is, we'll deal with them, too!" Maria shouts, as she begins firing. Sona stops the bullets in front of her, and sends them back at Maria, who dodges them without concern while still firing. "All you do is give me ammunition." Sona says, as Maria just continues to fire. "Yeah, well my guns have a better chance of hurting you than my fists!" She retorts, as Sona sighs and holds out her hands to charge an electric light blast and fire it at Maria, who flips over it and starts firing yet again, until her guns are pulled out of her hands and crushed in mid-air by Sona's power. "Gh! Well, I've got more where that came from!" Maria shouts, as she takes a rifle off her back and fires an RPG from it at Sona, who just moves her hand to her left to send the rocket crashing into the wall and exploding, Sona's shield protecting her from the blast as Maria is sent back by the shockwave.

Daniel was ducking and leaping away from Corius' scythe each time the latter swung it. The scythe was massive, and looked unwieldy. Daniel then remembered who he was dealing with, a robot that could control gravity, and becomes irritated. "Why were we chosen for this?" Daniel demands, as he ducks beneath another slash and thrusts his Rapier towards Corius' stomach, but Corius grabs the blade with his hand and snaps half of it off. "Gh!" Daniel grunts. "Well, at least I found the safe-zone." Daniel then notices Ohbator leaping at him to send bladed chains at him, and leaps back to avoid them, narrowly dodging a few thrown pieces of metal, one cutting his cheek, as he snaps his fingers to erupt a flame explosion inside of Ohbator, seemingly doing some damage to it but not enough for it to really matter. "Dammit!" Daniel roars, as he leaps back again to dodge more slashes from Corius and Ohbator.

Maria manages to dodge a few blade slashes from Ohbator, who had turned its attention to her, and fires RPGs at it from two pistol-shortened RPG launchers in her hands. Ohbator, while hit, simply regenerates. "Well...that's not something you see every day." Maria remarks, as she fires again, and again, rapidly pulling the triggers. Sona quickly redirects the RPGs at Maria, who dodges them all and even kicks one at Sona, who stops it with her electromagnetic barrier as she pulls a grenade off of Maria's belt and then magnetizes the grenade to Maria, firing a laser at it to make it explode. "Gah!" Maria shouts, as she is sent into a wall by the blast. Before she can get up, an electric blast hits her, causing even more damage as she screamed in pain. "Maria!" Daniel roars, as he ducks beneath a scythe slash to snap his fingers again, both of them!

Connor was currently slashing kunai out of the air, said kunai exploding upon impact with his scythe blade hands due to the tags on them. He turns towads Dhezaex, who takes out a Wakizashi and rushes at the green-clad warrior. Connor parries all of Dhezaex' slashes and sends multiple bladed tendrils at him to slash and restrain him. However, Dhezaex phased through the tendrils, and Connor, ceasing to do this once behind him, as Connor grabs his arm. "Not on my watch!" He shouts, as he slams Dhezaex into the ground. Dhezaex had again phased through the ground, and leaps up to throw multiple Kukri at Connor, who spins his blades like those of a helicopter to deflect the Kukri. "Your watch means nothing! Scorpios will succeed!" Dhezaex shouts. "Well, that's a new one. You actually talked." Rosette replies, as Dhezaex looks at her, before looking down, noticing Eletero bombs!

Dhezaex leaps up to avoid the explosions, as he twirls mid-air to throw Kunai at Connor and Rosette, both of whom block as they then send their attacks towards the ninja, who phases through them to let them become tangled. "Gh!" Connor grunts. "No!" Rosette shouts, as they are both hit in the stomachs by thrown Shurikens. "This will end." Dhezaex remarks, as he rushes at Rosette with Tanto in each hand. Rosette swings a kick at him, which he flips over as he slashes Rosette's horns off, and stabs her wrists. "Gah!" Rosette shouts. "Rose!" Connor roars, as Dhezaex turns to look at him, taking out a Chakram and throwing it at the green-clad warrior, who slashes it into four pieces as he rushses at the ninja. Dhezaex twirls to avoid the slash, swinging a kick at Connor's head, but Connor slashes Dhezaex' leg, and would have cut through it had the ninja not phased at the last second.

Dhezaex glared at Connor, and threw a Tanto at him. Connor slashes the Tanto away, and in the time he did so, Dhexaex had vanished, leaving an explosive Kunai. Connor lets it explode as it does minimal damage to him. "...Coward..." He remarks, as he rushes over to Rosette to help her. "Agh...Connor...we have to...stop him..." Rosette groans weakly. "No...we have to get you healed up right now." Connor replies, as he picks Rosette up and begins to run towards the nearest hospital. It could or could not be difficult to explain.

Marcus was slashing at Ganymede, who was still blocking as he fired. Marcus dodged the bullets and kicked the gun out of Ganymede's hand, finally managing to slash him across the chest. "Now I've got you!" Marcus shouts, as he attempts to reverse Ganymede's blood flow...but found he couldn't! He tried other methods, still nothing! "What?!" Marcus roars, as Ganymede drives a wrist blade through the monster hunter's stomach. "Gh!" Marcus growls, as the gun mounted on Ganymede's forearm fires Marcus away. Marshall rushes to punch at Ganymede, who dodges the punch and throws his own, sending Marshall stumbling back, holding his stomach in pain. "Ghhhhh..." Marshall growled, as Ganymede prepared to blast him. "Wait!" Coffey shouts, as Ganymede turns towards him. "Yes...?" Ganymede demands, as Coffey seemed to concentrate...nothing happened.

"...No..." Coffey breathes. "Your...your Mutation is..." "I am immune to other Mutations." Ganymede finishes. "What...? That sounds like bullshit." Marshall growls. "It isn't. After experiencing some Mutations, I was able to become immune to them, quicker than what Eletero allows." Ganymede retorts, as he fires both Marshall and Coffey down. Marcus roars in anger and slashes at Ganymede, who grabs his arms and throws him aside, impaling him on a metal rod. "Gh! You..." Marcus growls, as Ganymede turns towards the others. "This...is over." Ganymede says, as he grabs Marshall by the head, and punches him in the chest repeatedly. "Gh! Agh! Argh! Guh! Rrgh!" Marshall growls, over and over, as blood began trickling from his mouth. "No!" Coffey shouts, as Ganymede punches Marshall quite a bit harder this time, multiple sickening *cracks* being heard at once, as he drops Marshall on the ground.

"It's about time I killed one of you." Ganymede remarks. "No!" Marcus roars, as he rushes at Ganymede. However, Ganymede threw down a flash grenade, that exploded. When the flash stopped, there was smoke everywhere, and Marcus ended up hitting nothing. "We...we lost..." Marcus remarks, falling on his knees.

Daniel held Maria close, on the last part of the ship that was not sinking, and looked up. Ohbator and Sona were seemingly destroyed, but...up in the sky was...Corius, completely fine. Corius glared down at Daniel, as lightning behind the Cydran rendered all but his eyes silhouettes. "This is over." Corius says, as the lightning dissipates, and the Cydran was gone.

"...Dammit..." Daniel groans.

## Chapter 43

"Hector Kirkland was the name of my greatest ally yet..."

"...he was a boy tortured and abused by few, all others ignoring him..."

"...he felt no love..."

"...he had no drive..."

"...he was a worthless..."

"...pathetic..."

"...mess..."

"...so I gave him a woman whom he could love..."

"...who bore him a daughter..."

"...I regret that daughter's existence...but that confidence was crucial..."

"...for me to have him..."

"...destroy the world."

Scorpios' armored gauntlet clashed with Epsilon's arm, as they both leaped back and fired lasers at each other, the lasers colliding and creating a bright flash that blinded Epsilon. "Ugh!" Epsilon growls, as he notices, at the last second, Scorpios slashing at his neck with his gauntlet sword. Epsilon manages to appear behind Scorpios, and blasts him back. However, Scorpios' shield protected him. "Ha! Bet you didn't expect that, bastard!" Scorpios shouts, as Epsilon's glare becomes more filled with anger. "You...are the one...who killed...the only family...I knew." Epsilon retorts, as he fires more blasts at Scorpios, who dodges and deflects them, cutting one in half! "Gh...that shouldn't be possible..." Epsilon remarks, as Scorpios jumps into the air and aims his left gauntlet at the Crocatoid, firing missiles out of said gauntlet at him. Epsilon notices and, shocked, flies back to avoid them, but they were heat-seekers, and continued to rush at him. Epsilon sends Eletero blasts at them, the resulting explosions blasting apart a good portion of the part of the base they were currently in.

"Humans are so easy to manipulate."

Charlotte and Trevor had managed to heal using those weird herbs Pirani had given them, as they walked together, hand in hand, looking for Scorpios' base. Apparently...it was a mix between a Medieval castle and an Industrial factory. "Hey, Char." Trevor starts. "Yeah, Trev?" Charlotte replies. "What do you wanna do once we take Scorpios down? I mean, all his minions will probably be gone by then." He asks. "Oh...I haven't thought about it." She answers. "But I do think...I wanna have some peacetime with you." They smiled, and held each other close, as they heard a foot stomp on the ground. "Wha?" Trevor exclaims, as he and Charlotte turn to see Ganymede standing there. "Gh!" Trevor grunts, as Charlotte drew her sword. "Look at you two fools...you still don't get it." Ganymede remarks. "Get what?" Trevor asks. "This world has much more in store for you two than us...even I know I'm not the main character of this story. I, my family and my sob story probably mean nothing to you."

"...Why would you work with Scorpios?" Trevor demands. "He wants to destroy the world--" "I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE WORLD!" Ganymede screams. "If this planet cannot have my family in it, this planet can go to Hell!" He fires at them with his hand rail gun, as they dodge the shots and explosions. Ganymede draws two swords and throws them at them, as they dodge. Before they could begin their attacks, he grabs Trevor by the head and throws him at Charlotte, who catches him and parries Ganymede's wrist blade. Ganymede quickly retracts the wrist blade and grabs Charlotte's sword, before twirling around to throw her through a building, causing it to crumble to the ground.

"Guh!" Charlotte grunts, as she held Trevor close. They began to get to their feet, as Ganymede walked out of the smoke, glaring viciously at them. Trevor begins to form a Bokyaku, as Charlotte rushes at Ganymede to slash at him, having noticed that he was about to sprint towards Trevor. Their blades clash again, as Charlotte ducks under Ganymede's next slash and slashes at his side, Ganymede being unable to dodge it as she manages to cut into his armor, and draw blood. "You!" Ganymede roars, as he kicks Charlotte in the stomach, sending her flying backwards, but she had bought just enough time! "Bokyaku no Uzekara!" Trevor shouts, as he throws the Bokyaku at Ganymede, who can only raise his arms in time as the Eletero disc hits them, and explodes violently, unleashing a bright flash and thunderous bang. Debris is sent flying back, as Charlotte and Trevor do their best to stand their ground!

Scorpios leaps out of the flames, forming his Dark Matter sword and Dark Matter shield, now only on his arm, for the sake of a challenge, as he slashes at Epsilon, who blocks with his gauntleted forearms as he grunts in slight pain and great anger, before appearing behind Scorpios and delivering a pressure point to him...a pressure point that does nothing. "What?!" Epsilon demands, as he leaps back to avoid a shield bash from his adversary, who laughs. "I'm a cyborg, only my face is organic." Scorpios answers. "Oh...and that ability of yours...it wouldn't happen to be Chronokinesis, would it?" Epsilon gets into a fighting position, narrowing his eyes and growling slightly in frustration. Scorpios points his sword at his Crocatoan opponent. "En Garde!" He shouts, as he uses rocket boosters on his feet to rush at Epsilon and slash him across the chest, nearly drawing blood had it not been for the now slashed through armor. "That was close..." Epsilon remarks as he kicks Scorpios away. "Owie." Scorpios says mockingly, as he aims his right arm at Epsilon and begins spraying bullets at him from it.

Though Epsilon casually dodges, deflects, catches and destroys every last bullet, the storm nevertheless did what it was supposed to, keep Epsilon at bay as Scorpios aimed his left arm at Epsilon, the shield and sword vanishing. "What?" Epsilon demands, before Scorpios chuckles, lowering his chin a bit. "Oh, my dear Silicon-Based Extraterrestrial, I never told you my Mutation, did I?" Scorpios asks. "I kept my face to keep my Mutation, and can tell you now...I control Dark Matter...AND DARK ENERGY!" Epsilon feels himself be forcibly blasted back by an invisible force, as he is sent through the now destroyed base, and both a town and a mountain. He notices rows of Dark Matter knives forming around him in multiple rings. They close in on him as he timeskips to be out of their aim, but notices Scorpios flying towards him, and throwing Dark Matter knife after Dark Matter knife at him!

"Really...all living things...with emotions...are easy to manipulate."

Charlotte ran to Trevor to help him up, as he smiled at her. "Thanks, Char." Trevor says, as she smiles back. "No problem, Trev." Charlotte replies, as Trevor finally managed to get back up, grunting and wincing a bit from the pain with his clothing a bit tattered but otherwise okay. Charlotte was the same, though her wounds visibly regenerated. Yes...they did have to accept that Charlotte would live longer...much longer...than Trevor...

...it felt so much...like the fact that she was a vampire...was indeed a curse...especially with recent events--

"Lamenting, are you?" Ganymede's voice says, as both of them, shocked, turn in his direction, seeing the smoke clear.

His hair his a bit of an auburn color, his eyes pitch black, like the void itself, his skin burned, scarred, cut, melted, as if he had been through actual Hell itself.

And that glare, that one glare, nearly made Charlotte turn around and run away, as fast as she possibly could, in the opposite direction.

They noticed robotic features to his body too, as Trevor decided to try another Bokyaku.

It didn't work.

"Wh-what?!" Trevor shouted, as before either of them could react, they felt pure, white hot agony sear through their backs, as Ganymede had blitzed over to them and slashed both of their spinal cords clean in half. They fell to the ground, Trevor passing out from the pain and shock, as Ganymede grabbed them by their heads, slammed them together, and threw them at broken lamp posts...impaling the two of them on one lamp post each!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Charlotte screams.

Epsilon was on his hands and knees, pincusioned with knives and full of bullet holes, many, many bullet holes, and bleeding a glowing yellow blood, as he glared at Scorpios with all the fury of a thousand suns. Scorpios' expression was unknowable, as it never changed from the blank stare of a robot. There wasn't even a proper mouth, only a speaker vent thing where a mouth would be, and no nose, and those beady eyes like a classic alien's, glowing red, showed no emotion. Scorpios forms what looked like a one-handed Executioner's sword, as he stands over Epsilon, the sun above and behind him as he looked down at him, his cape flowing in the wind. "It must feel so bad to lose to me, maybe you thought I would be easy because I'm a manchild?" Scorpios says. "Well, we can't all be edgelords, can we?" Scorpios then slashes his sword across Epsilon's head...decapitating him.

Immediately after, Epsilon flickered and turned yellow and transparent, before flickering again and vanishing. "A clone, eh?" Scorpios remarks. "Well, good thing I didn't send Ganymede after him."

Ganymede grabbed Charlotte by the head, and tore her off the lamp post, before slamming her to the ground, and stomping on her ribcage. "Lord Scorpios knew about your plan, that's why he...augmented me a bit." Ganymede remarks, as he laughs. He kicks Charlotte across the area, as she lands on the ground hard enough to crack it and send up a dust cloud.

Ganymede began to walk towards the dust cloud, which cleared, showing Charlotte laying there, barely alive. She was effectively a bloody pulp at this point, barely regenerating, almost not at all. Her clothing torn, her flesh burned and torn off...

"...Nechita..."

"...Nechita..."

...

"...NECHITA!!!"

Charlotte weakly opened her eyes, which looked more dead than normal, and found herself in a void, staring at a large, glowing red eye. ".........Who...are you...?" She asks as weakly as she had opened her eyes, as she then knew who this was before she got the answer. "I am you, Charlotte. I am your...instinct. And seeing as you are too weak to fight...I will take control." The voice said. "No...you can't. You won't! Trevor--" "Is impaled on a lamp post." The voice interrupts, as Charlotte's thoughts and speech cut off right there, and she could feel her own heart beat violently for a moment.

Ganymede looked towards Charlotte, taking a few steps back, as she stood up, her entire body being surrounded by a red aura. She opened her glowing red eyes and gave him a glare that put the fear of God into him, yet he stood his ground, albeit now...shaking.

"Ready for round three, are we?" Ganymede demands. "Your voice trembles, human." Charlotte says, in a voice that was half hers, and half that of a deep voiced, reverberating male's. She seemed to telekinetically summon her sword to her hand, as she grabbed it and swung it, unleashing a shockwave that sent Ganymede, who had crossed his arms, flying back, pulverizing the city, and the mountain range it was located in. Whether this was Killeen or not, Charlotte didn't care. All she cared about...was draining Ganymede of his blood.

Ganymede lands on his feet, feeling multiple bones crack and metal tear, as he fires at Charlotte, who's aura seems to disintegrate the bullets upon impact. "Ghhhh!" Ganymede growls, as he blocks her slash with his wrist blades, which immediately shatter! "This power! What is it?!" Ganymede roars. "Bloodlust." Charlotte and the voice reply coldly, simultaneously, as if connected to a hive mind. Ganymede tried to pay no mind to it, but it was impossible. However, he grabs Charlotte's arm, and attempts to snap it.

It wouldn't snap!

Charlotte punches Ganymede in the stomach, as her fist and arm straight up go through him. Ganymede attempts to use this to fire at Charlotte's face point-blank, but she was behind him the instant he fired, slashing his arms off. "GAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!" Ganymede roars, as Charlotte then stabs through his entire neck, cutting both his brain stem and his throat. "Shut up, you worthless creature." They say callously, as they kick Ganymede off her sword, and their enemy from the start of this damn year, falls to the ground, lifeless.

They placed their sword's tip over Ganymede's head, as Trevor limped forward, Coffey helping him. "Charlotte..." Trevor breathed, as Charlotte paid no mind to them. Trevor gets free of Coffey and rushes over to Charlotte, slowing down and stopping when he got close enough. "Charlotte...what are you doing?" Trevor asks, as Charlotte's head seems to instantly snap to the side to look at him with a purely emotionless stare. "Charlotte cannot hear you anymore, human." They say in unison, as Trevor, sweating, stood his ground. "Whoever you are, whatever you are doing to her...let her go!" Trevor retorts, as he slowly moves his hand towards Charlotte's cheek. "Char...I know you're in there...please...fight it...come back to me..."

The moment he places his hand on her cheek, she slashes his entire arm off by the shoulder. "GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Trevor screams, falling back and tearing up, but he didn't leave, he collected himself as quick as he could, and stared into Charlotte's eyes. They looked dead, evil, but that...that was not Charlotte. That was this...thing that was trying to take her over. He wouldn't let it win, and he knew she wouldn't! "Charlotte, please!" Trevor yells, as the voice bends down, fangs bared, and rushes down to bite his neck.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

The fangs never met their intended target.

When the mouth had closed,

Trevor had managed to move, his body and his head,

Just in time,

to kiss the girl he loved, the girl who loved him.

Slowly, but surely, Trevor felt the evil leave Charlotte, as he opened his eyes, and looked into hers. Her kind, gentle eyes who made all his pain go away.

She kissed him back, and held him close, as Coffey helped them away from Ganymede. They sat down, as Coffey began to walk away.

"Charlotte, you're still..." Trevor trailed off, as Charlotte noticed that the aura hadn't left her. But...she was in control now, complete control. Trevor looked down at his now healed arm, as right when it fully healed, his enhanced senses returned. "Heh...well, if you have a new form now, we should find out what to call it." "You mean like one of those Animes?" Charlotte asks, giggling a bit. Then, she smiled. "Bloodlust. Just to spite the one in control, this form is named, by me. I'm calling it Bloodlust." "That's a cool name." Trevor replies, as they lean into each other.

"Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds!" A voice shouted, a familiar voice. "But...you're ours, now!" Ganymede still lived, and it seemed his body was piecing itself together with wires and tubes. "What the...?" Trevor trails off, as he knew full well that this was, they already learned earlier that Ganymede was now a cyborg. Perhaps he always was... Charlotte rushes at Ganymede to slash at him, but...

...her aura vanishes!

"Wh-what?!" Charlotte demands, as Ganymede laughs. "My Mutation, is the ability to negate other Mutations I have experienced for a bit." He says. "Now, then..." He slaps Charlotte in the head, as his sheer strength knocks her out. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Trevor roars, as he runs towards them, but they teleport away!

"Charlotte!" Trevor shouts.

"This world...is easy...to manipulate."

## Chapter 44

Charlotte woke up slowly, as she looked around at her surroundings. It took a while, but eventually, she noticed Ganymede standing there, pointing a gun at her face. "Did you rest well, creature of the night?" Ganymede asks in a mock-sweetness that must have been meant to be seen through. Charlotte sloftly growls at him, as he glared down at her. "Yes, growl like the animal you are." Ganymede says, crouching down to put a Bowie Knife centimeters from Charlotte's throat, one that seemed to be made of silver. "And die like the animal you are." "You're an animal too." Charlotte retorts, as Ganymede stands back up and laughs. "Based on what, beast?" He demands. She gives no response, as he walks over to a bench and sits on it. She then realized she was in some sort of gave filled with futuristic metal areas, compartments and flooring mostly.

"Where is this...?" Charlotte breathes, no response from Ganymede. She began to sit up, feeling the place on her throat the knife was. It had already regenerated, but she still felt a small, dull pain-like thing there. It was hard for her to describe to herself, but she thought it was pain, or pressure. "You cannot escape." Ganymede says. "You are trapped in here with me, and your sword is gone." Ganymede cracks his knuckles and walks forwards, as Charlotte got into a pugilist fighting position. She rushed forwards, trying to make the first move by throwing a punch at Ganymede's face, but he sidestepped it, grabbed Charlotte's wrist, pulled her forward, elbowed her in the back and kneed her in the stomach. "G-guh!" Charlotte grunts, as she falls to the ground, Ganymede kicking her in the face to send her crashing into a wall hard enough to cause a small cave-in.

Charlotte knew she couldn't fight as she was, and Ganymede's body seemed to be more robotic than before. "You...you're a cyborg." She remarks. "Yes...you knew this already." Ganymede retorts. "But now...I am becoming a Cydran." "How...how does this help avenge your family...?" Charlotte asks, as Ganymede paused, and closed his eyes. "...I don't know." He replies. "But I'm too far gone to turn back now. I chose this path, and I can no longer leave it." Ganymede rushes at Charlotte with the knife, as she tries to dodge all the strikes. She was weakened, and couldn't afford to be struck by even one slash or stab. It was difficult, Ganymede was fast for his size, just barely slower than she was, and he was much more versed in military tactical fighting, while she didn't have her sword. She knew she was unlikely wouldn't win this. She had to find a way to escape!

"I can't believe this is happening again!" Trevor nearly shouted, panicking. "I always thought she couldn't be captured. She's so much stronger than us." Khaldun sighed at this. "She's swinging a Samurai sword against people with guns, magic and cybernetics." He replies. "I wish we could call for Star-C's aid, but I've fallen largely out of favor with them as of currently." "This plan was a total bust." Daniel remarks. "I don't think even one of us actually won a fight. Maria and I were lucky that the blue guy took out his friends." "And that's not to mention that Connor, Marcus and our teachers are hospitalized." Trevor replied. "We've really fallen apart...I don't think we've really been able to team up at all yet." "We may get the chance soon. Since if Scorpios gets that weapon operational, then it will take more than the whole team to take it out." Khaldun responds, showing the schematics of 'Fadepawe'.

"A giant robot. Sure, why not?" Trevor said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood a bit. A few of the people in the room chuckled, but most of the others remained stoic. "How are we going to defeat this thing?" Rosette asked quietly. "I don't know...but the first step is getting Charlotte back." Khaldun answers, before he slams his non-bionic fist on the table. "Which we can't do, because we don't currently have the technology to find her location!" He roars in anger. "Are you sure about that?" A familiar voice asks. They all turn to see Graham standing at the entrance to their base, a small army flanking him. "You wanted backup? Here it is." Graham says to them. "And as for Charlotte...I may or may not have snuck a tracking device in her pocket." "That's creepy, but thanks so much!" Trevor replies. "We need to save her as quick as possible!" "Indeed we do, Trevor." Graham responds with a small smile.

Charlotte was currently defending herself from the knife strikes with a piece of a door she had torn off a cabinet. It was faring well enough, but quickly breaking. She needed a plan if she was going to get out of here, and she knew the actual exit doors were lasers. No control panel or fusebox seemed to be in sight, so she didn't know how she was going to break them, but she did have one idea. However, it required a sword for her to feel comfortable enough to channel her power...there! The sword on Ganymede's hip! It was serrated in some places, but similar enough to a katana, as she lets him kick her back, kicking the sword out of its buckle and catching its grip with her left hand, putting her right hand below it. She moved the sword to her right, red aura emanating from the sword, and glared at Ganymede, who aimed his gun at her. However, she wasn't aming for him.

"Viata...transa!" Charotte shouts, swinging her sword to unleash the aura as its characteristic shockwave of energy. Ganymede dodges, which was what Charlotte wanted, as the shockwave hits the door, unleashing a crimson explosion that caused the cave to shack violently, and when the smoke cleared, nothing remained of the door. "No!" Ganymede roars, as he swings his knife at Charlotte, who blocked with the serrated part of the sword, grabbed Ganymede's wrist, and thrust the sword into his eye. "GRAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!" Ganymede howls in agony, as Charlotte runs past him and through the doorway into the tunnel which seemed held up by scaffolding. She could hear Ganymede running after her, and it was clear that he wouldn't relent. She would have to try to both defeat and escape him, or she wouldn't be able to escape him at all.

"The old mines?" Khaldun asks, as Trevor was confused at this. "What old mines?" He asked. "The crystals inside can harness and focus Eletero, and the mines are also rich in precious metals." Graham answers. "Scorpios must have repurposed them for himself years ago, since the mines were abandoned for a long time due to structural instability." "Oh, okay. That makes sense." Trevor replies, silently thinking that it didn't. There wasn't time to ponder the existence of Eletero Crystals right now, though. Charlotte remained at the forefront of his mind, and she needed saving. They walked towards what seemed like a massive military ship. "This can move about as fast a plane, and the island the mines are largely in isn't too far away." Graham explains, as Trevor nods and they walk into the ship. He hoped they would be there soon.

Charlotte ran through the tunnels, beheading any robots or Cydran that she found mining some sort of crystals. She dodged and deflected bulletfire from Ganymede, and felt a thrown knife miss her ear by an inch, cutting a bit of her hair off. She turned a corner and kicked the wall of the tunnel, causing a bit of it to collapse, though not much due to the scaffolding, which she slashed to break and thus complete the boulder wall she had been planning. She kept running, as she heard the wall burst instantly, leaning and crouching forwards to barely dodge a boulder being thrown at her as she kept running, Ganymede hot on her trail. She turned around and swung her sword at him, as he blocked with a sword on his gauntlet, aiming his other gauntlet at her, which had a rocket launcher on it. She gasps in surprise and leaps back, barely managing to cut the rocket in half at this distance.

The explosion knocks her forward as she kicks Ganymede in the chest, Ganymede taking the kick and grabbing her leg with both hands before swinging around to fling her into the roof of the tunnel, causing it to collapse on top of her. He placed his foot on one of the boulders and looked down at the pile, which he knew Charlotte was trapped under. He heard nothing come from it, as if she had immediately stopped struggling, and he knew what that could mean, so he pointed his gun at a gap in the boulders to be ready. Yet what he expected didn't come to pass either, Charlotte didn't burst out of the boulders surrounded by that aura, emanating that bloodlust. She didn't struggle or talk. Ganymede briefly wondered if she was dead, but instantly discarded that possibility. Vampires were already hard enough to kill, and this girl was the Queen of Vampires.

"Ganymede!" Trevor's voice shouted, as the man clad in black armor so eerily like Chaemirah's turned to face his new opponent. Trevor stood there, his arm outstretched towards Ganymede, a spherical device in his hand. "One of Graham's bombs." Chaemirah remarks, as he aimed his gun at the bomb in Trevor's hand. "Where's Charlotte? What did you do to her?!" Trevor roars, as Ganymede glares at him. "She is still alive, I believe, under these boulders." Ganymede answers with ferocity. Trevor winced from this, as he gulped and took a step forward. "Are you seriously going to throw that at me, knowing she's here?" Ganymede demands, as Trevor nods. "You'll be her shield, right?" He demands back, before throwing the bomb. Ganymede catches it, and would smirk at Trevor if that had a point. "Really?" Ganymede demands, before hearing the gunshot, and seeing the bullet move towards the bomb!

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" Ganymede screams, as he tries to move the bomb out of the way, but though the bullet moved at a snail's pace to him, he was unable to move the bomb before the bullet hit. He briefly saw the gun in Trevor's other hand, but that was the last thing he saw before a bright white flash engulfed the island! The heat was searing and excruciating, as if they had been dumped inside Ground Zero of the Tsar Bomb. The force and pressure sent them down, as the mines were vaporized. As the explosion began to dissipate, they could see the cave they were falling into, and looked up to see water, stone and metal falling on top of them. Yet they could barely make anything out from how dazed they all were, and fell unconscious barely a second later.

They all woke up a few moments later. By some miracle, the rubble had collapsed into a mostly stable roof, the water cascading around them. Trevor shakily struggled to get up, groaning weakly in pain. Charlotte, who was already healing, began to help him up, as she gently held him close. "You came for me." She whispered. "Yeah...I couldn't bear for you to go through this again, or ever." Trevor replied quietly. She smiled and kissed him, as he kissed her back. "I hate to interrupt your intimacy..." Ganymede begins, both of them turning to see him standing there, his armor broken in plenty of areas, showing his cybernetics in all their glory. "...but I am still here, and I will kill both of you." He says this as he aims his gun at them, and prepares to fire, yet before he could...

...a diagonal slash-shaped flash ran across his body. "...N...no..." Ganymede groaned, as the top half of his body slid off the bottom half. They both saw what appeared to be...Shiraki, standing behind him, but different. Shiraki wore nothing and bore nothing, his body seemed to now be made of hexagonal, shiny white metal scales, and his eyes had glwoing blue sclera. "What the Hell...?" Charlotte breathes. "Come on!" Trevor shouts at Shiraki. "We were gonna' have our epic final battle with Ganymede!" "He would have lost, and no one wants that." Shiraki replies coldly, as he stands fully upright, casting a shadow on them as he smiled wickedly, showing his metallic fangs. This was one thing Trevor never thought would cross his mind, a Cydran Vampire.

"How exactly do those bombs work?! That was like a nuke!" Rosette asked. "Well, these ones are meant for that." Graham answers. "Most aren't too much stronger than a tank round, but Ganymede requires excess." "They work via harnessing Eletero into a small space, don't they?" Khaldun asks. "Indeed they do. I'm sure it's quite primitive compared to what your kind have." Graham replies, as they look on at the crater that used to be an island. These weapons were one the military prized, but the arms race would continue, and alas, these weapons would likely become obsolete soon. Graham did not look forward to that. Yet that was not what should be concerning them right now, since Graham could tell that something was wrong, something bad had just happened.

"Let's make this quick, I'm going to kill both of you, end of story, and I'm going to use my new powers to do so!" Shiraki roars, as Trevor sarcastically claps. He didn't have much time to do so, however, as Shiraki fired a laser from each finger on his right hand at them. The two dodge the lasers frantically, as Trevor throws another one of the bombs at Shiraki, who grabs it as his hands seems to morph into a fluid, and absorb the bomb! "Wh-what the?!" Trevor shouts, as Charlotte goes in for a slash. However, Shiraki easily blocks, and the result was the blade bending. "Dammit!" Charlotte growls, as she kicks Shiraki in the side, the only result seeming to be pain that made her groan. She leaps back as Trevor catches her, before helping her dodge multiple thin, bladed tendrils that had erupted from various parts of Shiraki's body. "What the Hell is this?!" He screams, as Shiraki cackles madly.

"As I have said, this is my newest evolution, but not my last!" Shiraki bellows, as he extends his arm rapidly towards them. They barely dodge as multiple cannons form on Shiraki's arm and fire explosive rounds at them. They managed to dodge the first few, but the explosions knock them around the cave. Shiraki laughs and watches them be ragdolled hopelessly around, before firing more lasers at them from the two hands on his other arm. They are hit, and burned, as they roar in pain. Shiraki's tendrils then wrap around and cut into them, slamming them into the ground and hooking them in place, before one tendril stabs Charlotte in the arm, and Trevor in his own arm. It was hard to describe how they feld, but it was painful, ludicrously so, as they screamed. The tendrils then freed them, and rushed back to meld into Shiraki's body, Shiraki pointing his finger up, a Bokyaku forming around it.

"Wh-what?!" Trevor shouts, as Shiraki chuckles. "My tendrils absorb biological and aura data to allow me to copy the powers of whatever they hook into." Shiraki explains, a Viatatransa forming on a sword blade he had formed his hand into. "LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT I CAN DO!" He sends the attacks at them, as they barely duck beneath them, but are blasted towards Shiraki by the backblast. Shiraki turns his hands into massive interlocking claw blades that he uses to grab and cut them. Before they can fully register this, he slams them into the ground, kicks Trevor away, and stomps on Charlotte's head. "Get it through your skull, you can't defeat me, anymore." Shiraki growls, before picking Charlotte up with his now ring-like left hand and pummeling her stomach with his now hammer-like right hand. "GAH! GUH! GH! UGH! AGH!" Charlotte shouts in pain from each hit, as Shiraki grins.

"Hey, freak!" Trevor shouts, as Shiraki turns his attention towards him. Trevor had formed another Bokyaku, one sharper than normal, and throws it at Shiraki, who tosses Charlotte aside and raises his arm to block. Trevor had anticipated this, and knew the Bokyaku would head towards the small segment in Shiraki's arm. It did just that, and cut Shiraki's arm off, before exploding in his face! "ARGH!" Shiraki roars in anger, as the explosion engulfs him. Trevor and Charlotte look on at the blue flames, as tendrils rush out at them. They try to dodge, but are unable to fully, as the tendrils wrap around their arms and legs and pull them in. The flames die down, as Shiraki's stump seems to almost instantly regenerate into a full arm, and the arm on the ground was what was sending the tendrils at Trevor. "Dammit! What does it take to kill you?!" Charlotte screams, as she punched the arm holding her.

"That's it..." Trevor remarks, as he remembers those Samurai from back then. "What's it?" Shiraki asks, as Trevor suddenly shoves the last bomb directly into Shiraki's chest. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Shiraki screams, as Trevor takes his hand out, Shiraki's chest cavity regenerating. That had taken all the physical strength Trevor thought he had left, as Shiraki tosses them against a rock. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" The Cydran Vampire shrieks, as Trevor chuckles a bit and activates a detonator. Almost before Shiraki could react, the bomb in his heart explodes, but this explosion was much, much more contained. Trevor and Charlotte held hands and looked on at this, their eyes closed. When they opened them, they saw smoke and flame. "It...it has to be over...right...?" Trevor asked. Suddenly, more lasers rushed at them! Charlotte shoved Trevor out of the way of them, but was hit!"

"Charlotte!" Trevor yells, as he watched dozens of holes be poked through her body. Thankfully, none looked fatal, as he turned his rage towards Shiraki, who shambled out of the smoke, melting and regenerating at the same time, as he laughed. His heart was no more, but Trevor could see what must be a 'backup generator' in the monster's stomach. "I am the only one who has achieved immortality!" Shiraki roars maniacally. "I AM THE ONE WHO WILL ALWAYS SURPASS HIMSELF, AND EVENTUALLY SURPASS ALL OTHERS!" "LIKE HELL YOU WILL!" Trevor screams, willing himself to stand up as much as he could, and start running at Shiraki, who morphed his right hand to have five freakishly long nails, like sword blades, staring him down. Trevor's body was drenched in a cold sweat, he was trembling, crying, yet his rage and determination, for the first time, truly overrid his fear, as he kept running.

"Have you lost all your will to live?" Shiraki demands, the flames making him appear as a silhouette aside from his eyes and backup generator. "HAVE YOU RESIGNED YOURSELF TO SUICIDE?!" Trevor makes no response, as he continues to run towards Shiraki, forming another Bokyaku in his hand, one that was large and sharp, that he held above himself, that was almost unwieldy, and glowed brightly, burning hotly. If this didn't work...nothing will. Trevor had put every last bit of strength he could into this, as he prepares to swing his arm. "BOKYAKU NO UZEKARA!" Trevor roars at the top of his lungs, pushing past every bit of the massive amount of pain he was feeling, as he throws the Bokyaku at Shiraki, who is unable to dodge as it cuts completely through him, horizontially bisecting him and the backup generator as it explodes!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Trevor looked on, at the smoke and flames, which cleared after a few moments. There was nothing left, nothing but the charred remains of Shiraki, which no longer held a power source to regenerate with. The eyes pitch black lenses, the face a melted, contorted expression of terror and fury. At long last...Shiraki Zeshin had perished. "Heheh..." Trevor exclaimed, as he teetered from side to side. He never thought...he'd defeat a monster like this. He felt proud of himself, and he hoped...he knew, his parents would be, too. And that Charlotte was the most proud. He smiled, and fell unconscious, the last thing he saw being a pair of metal boots. Then, after everything they had been through, after all the hardship they endured, it felt like...at long last...they finally had a moment to rest.

It was barely an hour later, as everyone watched Scorpios stand atop the building, arms spread out wide as if embracing all of them, head up high, hundreds of flying ships blotting out the moon. Beside him in the shadows stood Teremto, watching silently and malevolently. "CITIZENS OF...WELL, THIS WHOLE PLANET!" Scorpios roars. "MY NAME IS HECTOR KIRKLAND, BUT YOU MAY CALL ME LORD SCORPIOS! I AM THE ONE WHO WILL RULE OVER WHAT IS LEFT OF HUMANKIND, AFTER THE APOCALYPSE HAS COMMENCED! AND ALL OF YOU WHO IGNORED AND TORTURED ME! WILL KNEEL BEFORE ME, AND CALL ME, THE GREATEST! VILLAIN! OF ALL! TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The ships lowered, as out of each one came hundreds of Cydran and robotic warriors. Scorpios laughed, as the first stage of the final step of his plan was now commencing.

The world was his for the taking.

## Chapter 45

Many, many soldiers were hidden behind ballistic shields, firing at the Cydran who seemed unaffected by any number of bullets hitting them. "Get the anti tank rifle!" One of the soldiers roars, as another one of the soldiers runs away to get it, throwing his grenade at one of the Cydran. Though blown up, it simply reforms from any damage it took, and fires a blast at one part of the makeshift phalanx, destroying that part of it. The rest of the soldiers leap into windows to fire from there, leaving the shields behind. It did no good, however, and the Cydran simply fired through the windows and walls, toppling the buildings. "How are we supposed to fight these things?!" Another one of the soldiers shouts, unloading his AK-47 onto the face of the nearest Cydran to him, barely damaging one of its eyes, which then heals. "They're fucking indestructible!" Yet another soldier screams.

A wave of purple flames bursts across the street, turning everything it touched a pitch, ashen black, including the Cydran, many of which melted and disintegrated somewhat. "Supreme Commander!" One of the soldiers shouts in surprise and relief, as Daniel walked through the roads, his face contorted with rage. He snaps again, unleashing another wave of fire at the Cydran, and snaps again for yet another. He didn't stop until every Cydran on the street was reduced to dust and ash. "Everyone, stand your ground!" Daniel shouts, before they all hear metallic footsteps, and turn to see another army of Cydran marching towards them. "Seriously...?" Daniel groans, exasperated. The soldier from before fires through a Cydran's heart with the anti tank rifle, but two more Cydran appear in its place. "This is ridiculous!" Daniel roars, snapping his fingers yet again.

Charlotte and Trevor woke up inside a dark cell, or rather, it would be dark, if it weren't for all the neon lights everywhere. It was a small cell, made of shiny, futuristic looking metallic materials, and there was a quiet, but droning, electronic humming noise coming from everything. The two looked at each other, before holding each other close. They knew it had happened yet again...they were once again prisoners. They heard metal footsteps, and looked on at Scorpios, who stood over them. He seemed to be wearing a more colorful outfit now. It resembled what he normally wore, but was red, blue, purple and gold in various areas, and more intricately designed with a red collared cape that surrounded a frilly collar around his neck and that the shoulderpads covered. Not only that, a headpiece shaped a bit like a crown was now attached to his head, his spike-like ear things now part of that headpiece, as well as the ring around the lense on his forehead, which unlike his now red eyes was still black.

"What do you have to gain from all this?!" Trevor yells at Scorpios. who chuckles and looks down at Trevor. "I was ignored or bullied by almost everyone I met, all my life." He answers somewhat without answering, though Trevor knew an answer would come. "I was made to feel worthless, like I had no place in the world, like I would never stand out, like I would be forgotten. I was made to feel hopeless, helpless, weak! There are two people in my life that have ever changed that. One is dead, the other...is Teremto." Trevor wanted to retort with something, but he couldn't think of anything, and felt he shouldn't. If Scorpios was being serious now, then this was no time for one-liners. "Trevor..." Scorpios says suddenly. "...aren't you the same way? We were both always made to feel worthless, our whole lives. Few ever loved us, and that love was seen as wrong, as bad." "What are you saying...?" Trevor asks.

"...I want you to join me, Trevor." Scorpios answers, not a hint of his usual charisma in his voice. He was serious, and solemn. "We are the underdogs, the people the world treats as garbage and forces to feel like garbage. We had to work for every bit of power and recognition we ever had! We're alone..." Trevor lowered his head, and closed his eyes, as Charlotte glared at Scorpios, who extended his hand towards Trevor. "Trevor Dillard...you and I, we aren't so different. Surely you realized that upon the first thing I said to you here." "I'm not destroying a planet for...for fun?" Trevor answers with a question, as Scorpios laughs. "Oh, no! I want the planet destroyed, not the world!" Scorpios replies. "I don't see the difference!" Trevor roars, as Scorpios places his finger on Trevor's lips in a 'shush' motion. "The planet is the physical body our civilization exists on." Scorpios explains. "Our civilization...is the world."

"What...?" Trevor breathes, as Scorpios sighs. "Trevor...I don't want to wipe out the human race, if I do that, there won't be anyone to recognize me! What good is achieving something huge if no one's around to see it?" "If you destroy the Earth, you destroy humanity!" Trevor shouts, as Scorpios shakes his head. "Oh, no...I accounted for that." The cyborg replies. "I've constructed a space station the size of an island, and it's more than big enough for plenty of humans. Let's say...about half the species." "HALF?!" Trevor and Charlotte scream, as Scorpios chuckles. "I might be a genius, but even I can't really solve the resources problem any other way. That technology's still a few years off." Scorpios answers. "Still...I want to preserve half the species at least, and I want you, Trevor, to be right there at my side. The underdogs of the world reshaping the world in their image, and being, at last, respected!"

Scorpios turns his head down to Trevor. "I'll let you think about it." He says, as he walks away. "He's...he's lying..." Charlotte says, her hand on Trevor's shoulder. "You're not even close to the same, he's a tyrranical, insane cyborg. You're a kind, gentle human. You're the one I love." They smile at each other, and hug. "I know...just because we're less impressibe doesn't mean I'll do what he's doing." Trevor replies. "We have to stop him, we have to save the world! But first...we have to get out of here." Charlotte giggled a bit when he said this, but looked around. Those bars lookedand felt as if they emmitted UV radiation, meaning she wouldn't even be able to touch them with her sword, which she didn't have. "Trev..." Charlotte starts. "This is up to you. You're the only one who can get us out of here." "That's one thing I would never have thought I heard way back when." He replies.

Khaldun was shooting down Cydran with a gun that fired what were essentially EMP blasts small enough that they only hit their target. This seemed to somewhat work, but most Cydran were only temporarily stunned by them, unexpected for what seemed like basically robots. Khaldun then hears one coming from behind him and wraps his Khopesh around the Cydran's stomach before twirling to fling it into two more Cydran and fire three EMP blasts at them. More came at him, as he slashed them at their cores, not doing much damage but doing enough that at least their cores shut down, which killed them. They fell to the ground behind him, as he walks forwards and shoots down yet more Cydran. They just kept coming, and Khaldun knew he couldn't keep this up forever. He needed to find a way to disable absolutely all of them.

Then, he had an idea he wished he had before, and didn't know how he didn't have before. He hides behind a corner. takes out one of his grenades, and wires it to the EMP blaster, before setting it to max. If this worked, it might just save the city, but it would also cripple all the systems in his suit and arm. That negative side effect was less important right now, and he knew it. He threw the makeshift EMP Nuke at the Cydran army without getting out from behind the corner, and turned off all his suit's systems. The blast send a pulse across the city, as every Cydran it hit was crippled, and killed. All the Cydran ships currently visible fell out of the sky, and exploded, most definitely killing all Cydran inside. "Well...that happened." Daniel remarks, as the soldiers began to sigh in relief.

Then, another armada of transport ships appeared in the sky, raining down more troops! "ARE YOU JOKING?!" Khaldun roars. How could there possibly be this many Cydran?! He saw another army of them land in front of him, to his left and right, behind him, really, all around him. "DAMMIT!" Khaldun runs at the Cydran to start slashing them with his Khopesh, and each one he killed seemed to have three replacements appear almost instantly! He leaps back to avoid laserfire but is kicked in the side of the head by a metallic foot by one of the Cydran, send crashing to the ground. "Gah!" He shouts as he hits the ground. The Cydran prepare to fire at him, until a hand is raised. "Stop! Let me deal with him!" A reverberating female voice shouts. The Cydran suddenly stop upon hearing this, and Khaldun turns to see another Cydran walking towards him, with bright blue hair and a curvaceous, well-endowed frame, with near-form fitting black armor in various places, mostly the torso, legs and lower arms.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Khaldun demands, as the Cydran smirks. "I'm your biggest fan, Khaldun." She answers, Khaldun's upper eyelids drooping upon hearing this. "I have fans...?" He demands, unamused. "Yes...my name is Katsuragi Kagami, and I have become the one thing that will let me impress you!" "You can impress me by calling this entire invasion off, assuming you lead it." Khaldun retorts. "I can't do that. Only Scorpios and Corius can." She replies. "Well, then...you can't impress me." Khaldun replies, before standing up with a groan. "Are you going to be fighting fair?" He asks. "Is this fair?" Katsuragi asks in response, forming what looked like a double bladed...chainsaw staff in her hands, one that cracked with lightning. "...Pretend I didn't ask." Khaldun replies, as he points his Khopesh at her.

Trevor had been attempting to open up a panel for the past hour. He knew the cuff on his wrist probably dampened his Eletero powers, so he didn't even try to form a Bokyaku. He then noticed a piece of scrap metal on the ground, and reached his hand between the bars to grab it. "Who left this here...?" Trevor wonders, as he jabs the scrap metal between two panels and pries one open, seeing a lot of really advanced looking cogs and circuits. "What the Hell?" Trevor wondered, before stepping back and throwing the metal to cut one of the wires, getting it stuck between two cogs. As he had thought might happen, the bars lower, and the UV screen turns off. "That...that actually worked." Trevor remarked, feeling proud but also knowing he couldn't have done this without that scrap metal. He wondered why it had been there, as he and Charlotte begin to walk out of the cell.

They were quick to destroy any security cameras they could before they could be seen, but found no guards wherever they went. "Where are all of them...?" Charlotte wonders, as Trevor had a bad feeling about this. "I...I think Scorpios already set his plan into motion." Trevor answers. "We need...to find a way to stop all this." Charlotte nods, and they walk down the corridors, seeing more exposed clockwork everywhere. They didn't know why Scorpios used these, apart from perhaps simple tradition, but it didn't matter. They had to find that giant robot, and destroy it, while they were still in the position to. They walk to a bridge over what appeared to be a pit of molten metal, eerily similar to where Charlotte fought Adam, and then...

...see Teremto!

"Gh!" Charlotte grunts, as she and Trevor got into a fighting position. "You are in no position to face me." Teremto says, the spark filled smoke at times almost fully obscuring him. "Well, if we don't get past you, we can't destroy the giant robot, can we?" Trevor demands, no response from Teremto. "So, it's behind that room?" Trevor then asks, Teremto still giving no answer, as the molten metal suddenly rises and forms into tendrils, which rush at them! Trevor and Charlotte frantically dodge them, as the bridge rolls up and crumples into a point at the end, rushing at them to attempt running them through. They barely manage to get back into the corridor and press a button, slamming the door, which had a dent in it before it started to warp as well. "Dammit!" Trevor shouts, as they keep running, Teremto reforming the bridge to walk on it towards the now forcibly open door.

Katsuragi rushes at Khaldun, spinning her chainsaw staff as it scrapped the ground, sending sparks of electricity everywhere. Khaldun prepares to use his Khopesh to pull the staff out of her hand, but when she swings it at him, he is forced to dodge, not taking any chances attempting to block an electrified pole with a piece of metal. Khaldun then swings his Khopesh at Katsuragi's shoulder, Katsuragi ducking and spinning her chainsaw staff to send it towards Khaldun's legs. Khaldun barely notices and leaps over it in time, as he swings his Khopesh at Katsuragi again. She leaps back from the slash and sends an electric blast at Khaldun, who dodges it. "Dammit..." He grunts, as he runs to kick at Katsuragi. However, his arm, acting as dead weight, send him off balance, and right into her staff!

Khaldun manages to catch himself by driving his Khopesh into the ground, but it was too late. Katsuragi swings her staff at him, as he roared from the pain of the lightning while being send back, dropping his sword. He fell to the ground, his helmet clattering to the ground as Katsuragi stood over him, smiling darkly. "Do I impress you, now?" She asks without a shred of mercy in her voice, her eyes glowing brighter. "...You don't...you don't have to do this..." Khaldun replies, breathing heavily. "Oh, but I do." Katsuragi retorts, reading her staff for a finishing strike. "It's in my new programming." "Fight it!" Khaldun roars. "If Cydran are living beings, then they deserve free will! Fight your programming! Don't let someone else tell you what to do, don't let someone else define your life!" He then glares at her. "I...can never love someone who kills for your reason."

Something flashed in Katsuragi's eyes, a moment of hesitation, as she briefly began to lower her weapon. This was all the time Khaldun needed, as he grabs it, forces it away from himself, and heatbutts Katsuragi in the face. "YOU ARE A LIVING BEING! YOU CHOOSE YOUR OWN DESTINY!" He nearly screams, Katsuragi stumbling back, as a look of fear and doubt crossed her face. She then holds her head in pain and screams, lightning erupting from her body. "FIGHT IT!" Khaldun yells. "DON'T LET CORIUS DECIDE WHO YOU ARE!" Katsuragi continues to scream, as she then collapsed to the ground. Khaldun watched closely, and picked up his Khopesh, just in case. Katsuragi didn't seem to move, before she then stood up and faced Khaldun, her pupils gone from her eyes. "This unit is under my control, Lanrete." Katsuragi says in Corius' voice. "Dammit..." Khaldun growls, getting ready to fight.

Trevor and Charlotte kept running through the corridors, as they thought they saw an exit, and began to run towards it. However, someone got in their way, holding an arming sword and a shield. It was Crith. "Crith?! What are you doing here?!" Trevor shouts. "My orders are to keep you here." Crith replies, as they rush to attack him. However, before either could land a strike, a metal cage forms around them, and chains form from the bars to wrap around them, cuffs forming from the ends of the chains to finish the job. "Why are you following these orders?! We're your friends!" Charlotte pleads. "I hardly know either of you two, and even if I did, I must obey my father, no matter what." Crith replies, as he then forms a glass casing around the cage, and begins to move it towards a cargo elevator. "This...this is bad..." Trevor remarks, as Charlotte softly growled.

Khaldun kept leaping back to avoid punches from the possessed Katsuragi, as he swung his Khopesh multiple times. Katsuragi, Corius, blocked the slashes with the body's forearms, before firing lightning at Khaldun from them. Khaldun leaps and to the left to dodge, as he then rushes at the Cydran again and swings his sword. The Cydran clasps the body's hand around the sword, using it as leverage to briefly lift Khaldun into the air before twirling around to swing him into, through, a building. "GAAAAAAH!!!!!!!" Khaldun roars in pain, as he saw the Cydran named Katsuragi rush at him, the eyes black with glowing blue pupils, the eyes of Corius. Khaldun points his sword in front of himself as Corius rushes down to kick him.

Khaldun rolls to the side to dodge, almost screaming from the pain he was in. He swings his sword at Corius, who blocks with Katsuragi's forearms yet again. "Fight it! You have to!" Khaldun roars, as Katsuragi leaped back. "What...is this...?" Corius demands, as Khaldun looks on, before dodging a sudden lightning blast from Katsuragi, who rushes to knee him in the face. "GUH!" Khaldun shouts, as he is sent through multiple more buildings. He felt more of his bones breaking, as he swung his Khopesh the instant he saw Katsuragi approaching him. Corius has her grab the blade, and attempted to make her snap it, but she didn't even try. "What?" Corius demands, as Khaldun kicks Katsuragi away from himself and feels the electronics in his suit working again. It was now or never!

Corius has Katsuragi rush at Khaldun again, as Khaldun aims his arm at his opponent. The glowing parts on the arm glow brighter, as does the circular piece on the palm. Then, it began to charge a blast that seemed to at first resemble an atom. "What is?!" Corius shouts. "TAKE THIS!" Khaldun screams, as he fires a massive laser at Katsuragi from his arm. Katsuragi is left unable to dodge, and is hit head on, as Khaldun pours every bit of power he has into the blast. After a few moments, the blast shrunk, and ceased. Khaldun fully collapsed against a wall, as he looked into the smoke, and widened his eyes in shock. Katsuragi appeared from it, very damaged, but with everything still functioning! "No..." Khaldun groans, as Katsuragi aimed her hands at him, charging lightning. "Katsuragi...please...don't do it!"

Katsuragi was shaking, and hesitating to fire the blasts, as she and Corius then scream. "THIS SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE! YOU SHOULD BE FULLY UNDER MY CONTROL!" Corius roars. "No..." Katsuragi's voice then retorted. "...all the others were just willing to do evil." She then fires the electric blasts to her left and right, before collapsing on her knees, breathing heavily. "I couldn't have...killed you." Katsuragi says with pain in her voice. She then passes out, as does Khaldun.

The Cydran were overrunning the military's forces, as Daniel was becoming to fatigued to snap. The Cydran grabbed hold of them and many civilians of the city still alive, before bringing them to the ships. "What...what the Hell...?" Daniel demands, as a Cydran punches him in the face to knock him out, taking him to a ship as well. The ships soon began to depart, as Khaldun and Katsuragi lied there, mostly motionless.

Charlotte and Trevor woke up in a different cell. It was made entirely of some black, stone-like material, with bar windows. There were chains on both their arms and legs, and it sounded like there were guards stationed outside. Everything was dark and dreary, as they felt a horrific presence, as if they were always being watched. And indeed, cameras were everywhere. There would be no escape this time, they were trapped for good. They could hear footsteps echoing as if they were in a massive cathedral, and they suddenly felt extremely cold, as if they were just dumped into the artic. Yet it was a dull cold, without wind. It put them at unease. The door shattered into fragments that moved evenly to the sides of the new entrance, as they could see Teremto standing there, wearing his tall, dark, mostly greyish brown, hooded robes and pale brown mask, glaring down at them.

"Not you..." Trevor whimpers, as he and Charlotte instinctively lean into each other. "...Are you enjoying your new cell?" Teremto asks without an inch of even fake happiness in his voice. The voice dug deep into them, sinking into their brains like icy hooks, it felt even colder once the tall man spoke. He sounded human...but also not. Like a demon. Trevor and Charlotte's hair stood up as a very uncomfortable chill went down their spines and through their bodies. "I made sure to make it...as inescapable as possible...from the inside." Teremto continues, his voice now seeming to make the two of them physically sick. "You will no longer be able to stop Scorpios' plans." "We will!" Charlotte shouts, her voice seeming to crack a bit. "We'll stop him! And save the world!" "...You will do no such thing." Teremto retorts with a cold malice more evident than ever in his demonic voice. "And even if you do..."

His eyes glowed bright red.

"...you couldn't stop mine." "Your plans?" Trevor demands, as he noticed that before Teremto had said 'and even if you do', he had shut all the cameras, microphones and robots off, while raising odd barriers around the area they were speaking in silently. "Yes...my own plans." Teremto replies softly yet sternly. "Scorpios...his life was shaped by me for almost its entirety. I made sure he would be born, and bullied, and pushed to the brink of cyborgization and despair. And I then appeared to him, and told him, that I would serve as his most loyal servant. Once he rules the world, I will be the power behind the throne, controlling him like the puppet he is. All of his motivations, goals, suffering, happiness...it has all been regulated...by me." Teremto then crouches down to be more at level with them, as a mocking show of false respect. "And I am the one who orchestrated Adam's birth...and Kevin Mitchell's."

"Wh-what?!" Trevor nearly screams, as Charlotte said nothing, but had stuttery whimpers. Her pupils had dilated tremendously, and she was trembling to an insane degree. "Ch-Charlotte...?" Trevor asks nervously, as Teremto then chuckled, that chuckle making Trevor feel as if he had been slammed into a bucket of liquid nitrogen by a wrecking ball. "My Mutation is Elemental Manipulation." Teremto says. "I can use it to alter biochemistry, I made Adam and Kevin...psychopaths." "Wh-wh-wh..." Trevor could no longer form proper sentences due to how scared he was, as the man who had orchestrated their entire lives continued. "And...I also used it to give myself other Mutations. Specifically...immortality." He says. "Wh...wh-what...?" Trevor whimpers. "Trevor Dillard..." Teremto starts, as Trevor knew *exactly* what was likely to come next. "...I am Csillag Teremto, one of the first Celtic generals...and the one most infamous for his cruelty."

Trevor felt his own heart momentarily stop, before abruptly beating again, the first few beats being loud enough for Trevor to hear them. Though he knew this was coming the moment he heard the word 'immortality', he was still terrified at this. Csillag Teremto was...four thousand years old! He had seen it all, almost every civilization, almost every country! "You think correctly." Teremto says, finally breaking the silence, but that sudden break made Trevor's heart jolt again, as he realized he was drenched in a cold sweat. "Ghengis Khan, Napoleon, the World Wars...Vlad III. All of them...were, because of me. I am the ender of civilizations, the sower of chaos...the closest thing to the Devil, Csillag Teremto, Feared Warrior General of Ancient Ireland. And you...and Charlotte...all of you...are all part of my machinations...and mine alone."

Trevor was almost in the same state as Charlotte right now, though she had calmed a bit, enough that they both could act with reason. "You are on Scorpios' Refuge." Teremto then says. "You and half the rest of your species will live here for the rest of time, and watch as Scorpios' masterpiece, something he invented on his own, tears the planet apart. Then we will be worshipped...as gods." He walks away, as Trevor shakily turned towards Charlotte. She was hyperventilating, now, whimpering, trembling, sweating, her eyes showing near insanity. Trevor knew exactly why, he understood it himself. Adam, Scorpios, Reinhardt, Darren, Ganymede, Shiraki...all of them...all the people that had tormented them for so long...were merely pawns Teremto created, orchestrated and manipulated for whatever grand plan he had.

He then held Charlotte close, as she leaned into him, starting to sob, before stopping as suddenly as she started. "Ch-Charlotte...are you okay...?" Trevor asks, worried. She looked at him with fear in her warm red eyes, the eyes that had given him so much comfort for so long. "T-Trevor..." Charlotte whimpers. "Vl...Vlad Tepes is...Dracula...and...and his real full name is...V...Vlad Nechita III..." "Wh...what...?" Trevor breathes, as Charlotte teared up again. "Trevor...my father is...Dracula...and Teremto...TEREMTO'S THE REASON HE BECAME DRACULA!" She shrieked in aguish, as Trevor's ears and heart broke from it. "HE ORCHESTRATED MY BIRTH! AND ADAM'S! I'M ONE OF HIS FUCKING PAWNS!" Charlotte started to sob again, as Trevor held her close, shaking. "...I'm...sorry to hear that..." He said gently, leaning his head on hers. "I'll stay with you...even knowing that...I'll help you..." Trevor finishes.

"Calling all my friends!" Scorpios shouts on speaker, as it took little time for Dhezaex, Blackhound and Teremto to show up. "So, we really are your friends." Blackhound says. "Indeed, you all are!" Scorpios says. "We four, if only it could be we five, are all here for one thing, and one thing only! The end of the Earth, and the beginning of the Refuge! The Age of the Villain Friends!" "That's still a stupid name." Blackhound replies, as Teremto just stood silent. Scorpios then palmed his face. "Oh, sorry. I forgot, there was one other thing." Their leader says, before spreading his arms out wide. "There is an imposter among us!" He announces dramatically, as all three of his allies groan. "I hate that game. Please don't talk about that game." Blackhound says angrily. "Alright, alright..." Scorpios replies. "But seriously, one of you three is most definitely planning to betray me."

Scorpios begins to walk down the stairs, as his friends stand there, mostly still, and waiting for their leader to get to their level. "The question is, which one of you?" Scorpios then says, now at their level and walking to where they all were. "Is it the mercenary who's life I saved by turning him into a cyborg?" He asks, a sword he created at Blackhound's throat. "Is it the silent ninja-ey guy with the fashion sense?" He asks, as he points his sword at Dhezaex. "Or...is it the cultist with the plague doctor mask?!" He suddenly twirls around, points his right hand at Teremto, firing through his chest with the machine gun mounted on his wrist. "GUH!!!!!!!" Teremto howls, forming a sword and throwing it at Scorpios, who blocks with his Dark Matter Shield. "But why, master?! I was always your most loyal--" "Don't give me that crap!" Scorpios nearly screams in rage, cutting Teremto off.

"I planted a bug inside your system that let me hear absolutely everything that you said to Charlotte and Trevor!" Scorpios roars. "I can't believe that you're the villain of my tragic backstory! I should have known from the start that the guy who dresses like a plague doctor cult leader was going to betray me! I should have killed you there and then!" "YOU CANNOT KILL ME!" Teremto shrieks, his voice sounding like that of a demon from the deepest pits of Hell itself. "I AM IMMORTAL!" "IMMORTAL, EH? GOOD THING I PUT CHAEMIRAH'S MUTATION IN THAT BUG, THEN!" Scorpios howls back. "BECAUSE IT'LL HAVE DISABLED YOUR POWERS BY NOW!" Scorpios keeps firing at Teremto, putting more and mpre holes in the general as his robe flies off, revealing his gambeson beneath. His mask flies off, showing his whithered, stonelike face, pale blonde hair, and black eyes with glowing red pupils.

Scorpios then stopped when Teremto was left slumped against the wall, mostly full of holes, which did not heal. "How...?" Teremto groans. "...how did you do this...?" "I secretly invented means to take out each and every one of you, should you betray me." Scorpios answers. "I had Chaemirah join my cause specifically because of his Mutation." Scorpios walks towards Teremto, holding Teremto's sword at his neck. "In all your planning, and all your machinations, did you take into account the fact that you were giving people more natural intelligence than you ever had? The instant I saw you, I knew I needed a way to get rid of you. That became more evident over time, and here we are, you, now at my mercy, because of one simple choice I made that you didn't account for."

"...Heheheh..." Teremto chuckles. "...You rule with one less ally." "You were never an ally, I see that now." Scorpios retorts. "And besides...three's a much better number than four. anyway" "You will be lost without me...I gave everything to you." Teremto growls. "This puppet has cut the strings." Scorpios replies coldly, as he swings the sword to decapitate Teremto, Dhezaex and Blackhound watching silently in bewilderment and confusion, as well as shock and fear. Scorpios breaks Teremto's sword in half with his bare hands, and turns to face them. "Dhezaex...Blackhound...you two are going to guard Refuge." He says, as they nod. "What will you do, Lord Scorpios?" Blackhound asks, as Scorpios begins to walk out the door, at first seeming to ignore them, but then responding as his back was turned to them.

"I'm going to cut a planet in half." He answers, walking away.

"Well, that happened." Delta remarks. "What happened, Sire?" One of the guards asked. "The plague doctor guy's dead. Scorpios killed him." Delta replies. "I'd say it's high time we get out of here and report back to Omicron." Delta says this as he has his ship begin to turn around. "If we come back and the Earth's in pieces, let's add Scorpios to the records. He's gonna' be one of the Crocatoan Leaders at this point, and we need more than just me bringing life to those bland meetings." "Preparing to enter Tachyon Speed." Another one of the guards says, as it pressed a few buttons and pulled back a lever. It wasn't long before the ship entered this 'Tachyon Speed', glowing blue and seeming to blink away, a trail of blue particules being left in its wake as the only evidence it was ever there.

"Hello again, Trevor." Scorpios says, bursting the cell open with his fist, as Trevor and Charlotte lied there in the dark, Charlotte seemingly asleep with bags beneath her eyes. What Teremto had told them had shaken her greatly, far greater than...anything Adam did. As it was because of Teremto...that Adam and Charlotte existed. "What do you want, now?" Trevor demands. "This." Scorpios answers, shooting their cuffs off. "What...?" Trevor asks, as Scorpios shrugs. "The final stage of my plan is already in action, and you were always going to be citizens of my new world anyway." Scorpios replies. "Oh, and I killed Teremto. I shut off his Mutation and turned him to Swiss Cheese." "You...you did...?" Trevor breathes. "Yep, I heard everything he said to you, and I have to say, I hope I become more infamous than Vlad ever was. He wasn't ever that terrible of a guy anyway." Scorpios answers.

"...Thank you." Trevor replies. "You...you rid the world of a monster." "What can I say? Except, you're welcome." Scorpios replies, as he chuckles. "Why...why would you choose this path...?" Trevor asks. "Why would you try to destroy the world? Look at all ths tech, you could've revolutionized every field if you just chose to! Everyone would have loved you!" Then, for the first time, Trevor thought...he thought Scorpios trembled, his fists shaking. "Teremto set me down this path...I'm too far gone to go back now." Scorpios answers. "I can no longer get everyone to respect me through love, so I will do so through fear instead. And then...I'll try love, as humankind's new ruler." Scorpios then extends his hand towards Trevor. "Please...please join me." He says. "You can so clearly be the moral compass I'll need when I rule an entire species, you'll steer me in the right direction, once the path is done."

"..." Trevor thought long and hard for many moments, not keeping track of time. He looked up at Scorpios, and...nodded. "Alright...I will." He says, grabbing onto Scorpios' hand, as Scorpios helps him up. "I doubt anyone's left on the world anyway." They walked out of the cell, as Charlotte woke up, and saw Trevor. "T-Trevor...why...?" Charlotte asks weakly, tearing up. Trevor and Scorpios turn to see her, as Trevor gave her a reassuring smile, thumbs up, and wink. Charlotte felt a little reassured, but not much, and was still worried. "You can leave that cell at any time, Charlotte." Scorpios says. "No one is going to stop you from exploring your new home, I've made sure of it." "It'll all be okay, Charlotte." Trevor adds, as Charlotte shakily nods, still doubtful, and crying a bit, but hoping Trevor had a plan. In fact, expecting it. Trevor had always felt like the smarter of the two of them when it came to plans.

Khaldun, Connor, Rosette and Katsuragi woke up in their own respective beds, healing herbs all over them. Standing over them was Pirani, as she looked down at them. "You are now healed, and your weapons are repaired." Pirani says. "You may go, and find Scorpios' base in the GPS system in your helmet." "Thanks so much...for healing us." Rosette says. "Please...please help us end this, and save the world." "I cannot directly help you, or Scorpios." Pirani says. "I will not take sides." "Then you're a coward." Connor retorts. "If the world's destroyed, you'll be, too." "...I know." Pirani replies. "Perhaps...I deserve that, for training Adam." "You also trained Charlotte." Connor says. "And Adam would want the world to survive, too. We're all on the same side, here." "Even the Cydran, I assume." Pirani says a bit jokingly. "Yep." Katsuragi replies, as Pirani closes her eyes. "Go on without me." She says bluntly.

"...Fine." Khaldun retorts, as they put on their armor, left the tent and began to head towards the coordinates of Scorpios' base on Khaldun's old ship.

## Chapter 46

Epsilon looked up at the stars, having noticed that Delta's ship had entered Tachyon Speed, and sighed. "It's time to chase after that monster..." He remarks. "Can we help?" Two voices asked, as he turned towards the source of them. "You two are..." Epsilon trails off.

Charlotte was walking through Refuge, as she passed by many civilians who were scared, disoriented, confused and other such emotions, she didn't share theirs, as all had been explained to her already. She continued her walk, and looked around. There were living quarters the size of houses everywhere. Shops, factories, it was clear Scorpios aimed to rule an actual society, and not a prison. Still...this wouldn't be the same as living on Earth, and half of everyone would apparently have to die for Scorpios' plan to come to fruition, that was why she couldn't let this happen, and why she knew Trevor had to be planning against him. Or at least...she hoped he did. She didn't want to believe he had actually joined Scorpios' side. He was so much stronger than that, even if he seldom showed that strength.

She then noticed Blackhound standing guard at an entrance, and walked over to him, he turned to see her, and formed his katana, as she drew hers, having found it next to her cell. Why Scorpios put it there, as it had to have been him, she didn't know. But it was what she needed, as she and Blackhound stared each other down. "Theodoric...why do you serve Scorpios?" Charlotte asks. "He resurrected me. And made me stronger. I need no other reason than that." Blackhound, Theodoric, answers, Charlotte narrowing her eyes. "If you want to face him...you'll need to control your bloodlust." They then both get into Kendo position. "I will help you activate it, and train you with it, but my main objective here...is to kill you." "Fine with me." She replies. "Mine is the same to you."

Scorpios and Trevor walked to a door, that opened upon recognizing its master. They walked down the stairs, lights always illuminating the way as they walked, as Trevor saw many vats of some sort of fluid-like energy everywhere, tubes connecting the vats to a massive robot, at leas three stories tall. It was somewhat designed in Scorpios' likeness, but with no cape. "Behold...Fadepawe!" Scorpios declares. "We will use this dream of mine to break this planet in two! And we will be legends for it!" Trevor simply nodded as they began to climb a ladder to get inside of Fadepawe's cockpit. It was going to be a long, climb. "Is...my mother going to be saved?" Trevor asks, as Scorpios didn't respond for a while. "Unfortunately, we couldn't take her off her life support. She will have to die, Trevor." He answers. "I am sorry such a thing had to be the case."

Khaldun, Connor, Rosette and Katsuragi walked to the entrance of the base, as Khaldun stopped them from advancing. "The door is vibrating at a high frequency." He says, as he aims his blaster at it to shoot it, making the door explode, Connor protecting them from the shockwave and debris. "Let's go." Khaldun then says, as they walk into the base, destroying any robot guard that got in their way. Notably...they were regular robots, not Cydran. "Where did they all go?" Katsuragi asks. "...Scorpios must have gotten rid of them, by now." Khaldun answered. "He knows how much of a threat they can be to him." They walk towards the door that Connor recognized. "There, that's where we'll find the robot." He says. Right as they were about to enter, they leap back to dodge a bunch of Kunai being thrown at them!

They hear footsteps, and turn to see Dhezaex walking towards them, holding a Kodachi in one hand and ten more Kunai in the other, the rings of the Kunai around his fingers. "Dhezaex..." Connor growls, as they all ready their weapons. Dhezaex took a step forward, as did Khaldun. "Don't you see the madness in this? In helping Scorpios destroy the world?" Khaldun demands, to which Dhezaex gave no response, except to take another step forward, which Khaldun did as well. Khaldun had his Khopesh at the ready, but he hoped to end this with his blaster rather than with his sword. It wouldn't be much use against the stereotypical image of a Ninja. They then finally realized that they noticed that Dhezaex was wearing a cloak, unlike all other times they had seen him. "Be on your guard, everyone..." Khaldun orders. "...this is gonna' be a tough fight."

Charlotte and Blackhound rushed at each other, swinging their swords, which clashed. Neither wasted any time and immediately grinded their swords along each other to try and stab each other in the throats, but both leaped back at the last second, now holding their swords in one hand. "You've grown since we've last fought." Blackhound remarks. "I can guess you're holding back." Charlotte replies. "I'm doing that by using just a sword." Blackhound responds. "That's fair..." Charlotte says, as they rush at each other for another slash. Charlotte at the legs, Blackhound at the head. Charlotte ducks as Blackhound leaps, both dodging the slashes as Blackhound swings a kick at Charlotte, who backflips away, landing on one hand, and backflipping again to land on her feet. She then parries Blackhound's next slash, and attempts to riposte, but Blackhound leaps back to dodge.

Charlotte attempts to keep up the pressure as she leaps into the air, grabs her sword with both heads and swings it down with all her might. Blackhound puts his hand at the back of his blade as he parries her strike and backflips to kick her in the stomach. However, she had managed to block with her own legs, twisting around to land on her feet again and slash at Blackhound's shoulder joint. Blackhound twirls away and swings his sword at Charlotte's stomach, as Charlotte blocks and leaps onto Blackhound's sword before running to slash at his face, cutting a line across it, though the 'wound' wasn't much deep, and bleed not. Blackhound swings his arm up to fling Charlotte into the air, before slashing up at her. Charlotte blocks and leaps back to land on her feet and rush in for another slash, which Blackhound blocks. They continue slashing, parrying, riposting and dodging, no end in sight.

Dhezaex threw a Kunai at Khaldun, who dodges it and starts firing at Dhezaex, who runs up and around the walls and ceiling to dodge the lasers. "Dammit!" Khaldun shouts, as he keeps firing, attempting to hit where he thought Dhezaex would be, but Dhezaex seemed to always be a step ahead of him, always moving to a different place than Khaldun predicted, making him still able to dodge the laserfire. The Kunai Dhezaex threw then suddenly explodes into smoke which covers the area. "Gh..." Khaldun grunts, as he hears Dhezaex coming and lowers his visor to be able to see him. Khaldun barely blocks a strike from the Kodachi with his Khopesh, as he attempts to wrap it around the Kodachi and pull it out of Dhezaex' hand, but Dhezaex anticipated this, and leaps back, throwing the rest of the Kunai at Khaldun, who is forced to dodge all of them as they explode right when they pass him!

"GAH!" Khaldun roars, as he is send through the wall, Connor catching him and defending the other two, who rush at Dhezaex. Rosette forms two swords and slashes at Dhezaex, who blocks with his Kodachi before throwing Shurikens at Rosette, cutting her horns off before she can react, and then kicking her in the stomach to knock her out. "Rose!" Connor roars, as Katsuragi swings her chainsaw staff at her opponent. Dhezaex leaps back from it each time and wraps string around it, cutting one of its ends off. Before Katsuragi gets the chance to reform it, Dhezaex attaches a bomb to it. Katsuragi leaps back and throws the chainsaw staff at the 'Ninja', who sidesteps it as it explodes behind him, making him appear as a silhouette. Connor quickly shielded Rosette and Katsuragi, as he formed his gloves into scythes and spawned a frenzy of tendrils from his back, each one bladed and clawed at the end.

Charlotte was bleeding from multiple areas, as more cuts had appeared on Blackhound's body. Though Charlotte was a bit fatigued, Blackhound wasn't, and showed no sign of slowing down with his cybernetic body mostly intact. Charlotte knew she couldn't keep this up forever, as her opponent had an UltraViolet blade, this cyborg was handcrafted to kill her, and she knew it. Still, she got into another position, the one she needed, as Eletero began to form on her sword. "Viata...transa!" Charlotte shouts, swinging her sword to send the wave of Eletero at her opponent, who's own sword glows brightly before he swings it to send a wave of hardened light and plasma at the Viatatransa. The attacks meet, and cancel each other out, exploding violently as Charlotte covers her eyes. In the time it took to do that, Blackhound was already rushing at her, slashing at her midsection!

Charlotte barely manages to block the attack just in time, and swings a kick at Blackhound's own midsection. This was a mistake, as though she managed to somewhat dent it, the price was the bone in her lower leg breaking. "Gah!" Charlotte shouts from the sudden pain, as Blackhound kicks her in the stomach to send her flying into a civilian ship hard enough to crack it and bend it into a U shape, and send it into a wall that also bends and cracks. Charlotte groaned in pain and began to get out of the wreckage, as she notices Blackhound rushing to slash at her and ducks before rolling beneath him. The slash cuts the wreckage and wall in half, creating a dust cloud, shockwave and storm of debris that Charlotte is forced to deflect away from herself. Her opponent rushes at her again to slash at her neck, as she parries and riposts, managing to cut Blackhound's shoulder enough to see circuitry!

Connor swung his scythe bladed hands at Dhezaex, who blocked each slash with his Kodachi while taking out a Tanto and thrusting it at Connor's eye. One of the tendrils blocks the stab, and snaps the blade off. Dhezaex leaps back and throws multiple hidden Kunai Connor, who slashed all of them, taking the explosions with little damage. "The suit...evolved..." Khaldun remarked, as Connor thrusts one of his arms at Dhezaex like a spear. Dhezaex once again blocks with his Kodachi, as he then sheathes it and flicks his wrists, a glowing golden chain appearing and connecting his wrists. "Not that thing again!" Connor roars, as he sends all his tendrils at Dhezaex, Dhezaex rushing at them as they phase through his body. He then rushes at Connor, who closed his eyes as Dhezaex phases through him, ceasing his phasing power to wrap his chains around Connor, who even through his suit could feel the burning!

"GAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!" Connor roars, sending his tendrils at Dhezaex, who dodged them all, letting the chain begin burning through Connor's suit. Khaldun growled and tried to get up, but even with his suit, he was too badly damaged, and had to rest, as did Rosette. Katsuragi decided to rush in to help, as Dhezaex phases through her lightning strike, letting it hit Connor! "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Connor roars, as the lightning managed to get through his damaged suit and electrify him, knocking him unconscious! "Dammit!" Khaldun shouts, as Dhezaex slashes Katsuragi across the neck with his Kodachi, forcing her to leap back as he points it at her. "This isn't good...what did I do...?" Katsuragi remarks, as she would have sweated if she still could. Dhezaex's lower eyelid moves up, as Katsuragi suddenly saw the world as...a kaleidoscope-like reality!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Katsuragi screams, holding her head in pain as sparks flew out of her ears. Dhezaex stabs a Kunai into her head to knock her out, as he then prepared to execute them all with what looked like Kunai with bombs for grips.

"Stop!" They hear a familar female voice shout, as Khaldun and Dhezaex turned to see Pirani standing there, dual-wielding one-handed Scimitars. "Wh...what made you change your mind...?" Khaldun asks. "...I decided...I want to fight for my favorite student's cause." Pirani answers, as she and Dhezaex glare at each other.

Charlotte was bleeding from her stomach, left arm and cheek, as Blackhound now had more of his circuitry and metal tubes and hydraulics revealed in his own left arm, and one of his eye lenses was cracked. They held their swords towards each other in an En Garde fashion, before rushing at each other to swing at each other's necks. Their swords clash, as Blackhound immediately thrusts his sword at Charlotte's eye. Charlotte dodges, but feels her cheek get cut again, leaving an X shape there. "Guh!" She grunts, holding her cheek in pain. "Soon you will be a true vampire." Blackhound mocks. "Bloodless." He rushes to slash at Charlotte multiple times in quick flurries, Charlotte barely blocking most of them as she leaps over the last one, which slashes through multiple homes, toppling them! Charlotte tries to kick Blackhound in the face, but he grabs her ankle, twirls around, and flings her through a pillar.

Charlotte got to her feet as quick as she could, wincing and groaning from the pain, as she put both hands on her sword to block a one-handed slash from Blackhound, and the next one, and the next after that. It became repetitive and easy to follow, but Charlotte's reflexes were slowing due to her blood loss. Slower than a human's would, but still slowing. It made the slashes harder to block until she just resorted to dodging the slashes, which even then was hard to do, as Blackhound, Theodoric, was so fast and aggressive. She felt more cuts, but they barely added to the dull pain she was now constantly in, as she is then headbutted by Blackhound, screaming from the pain of her skull being cracked open as she is slammed into the wall hard enough to leave an impression in shape in it. She slides out of the impression, and slumps to the ground, her head bowed down.

She just leaned there, weak and bleeding out, as she weakly and quietly groaned in pain. Blackhound walked towards her, his left arm sparking, as he holds his Katana an inch away from the top of her head. "As I said, creature of the night..." Blackhound says. "...I was handcrafted to kill you. Compared to you, I am now...a demigod." "...Really...?" Charlotte demanded with a bit of a strained chuckle. "...You're...more arrogant than I thought..." A red aura began to rise from her, as her wounds started to heal rapidly, something they only hadn't been doing before because of the nature of Blackhound' sword. He leaps back, right as his left arm is cut off, sparks flying everywhere as artificial blood fountains everywhere. Charlotte stands up, and glares at Blackhound, before a sadistic smile crosses her face.

"Let's end this." She says.

Pirani swung her Scimitars at Dhezaex, who attempted blocking with his Kodachi, but it was snapped and shattered in barely ten slashes. He leaps back from the remaining slashes, throwing what remained of his Kodachi at Charlotte and Adam's teacher. She deflects the grip while cutting it in half, and rushes to slash him again. He phases through the slash and throws Kunai at her, as she deflects these as well, the Kunai exploding as she uses the force of them to slash down at Dhezaex, who uses one of his now-cut gauntlets to block the slash before leaping back and throwing a storm of shurikens at his opponent, who deflected each and every one seemingly effortlessly. Dhezaex was shocked, as he swung his chain at Pirani, who ducked, weaved, flipped, twirled, and leaped around to dodge it, slashing at his cuffs to disable the chain, while also slashing his cloak open and kicking him back.

Dhezaex coughed while holding his chest in pain, and glared at his opponent. Pirani closed her eyes, as she spun her swords and rushed at her opponent to slash. Dhezaex was forced to go intangible for longer as he tried to use this to avoid each slash, however, after about five seconds, he was forced to cease his intangibility. Right at that moment, he felt an X-shaped slash go across his chest. He leaped back to the best of his ability, as Pirani saw the dynamite on his stomach, he lights it and rushes at her to thrust Kunai towards her head, but she slashes the kunai and bombs to pieces, almost getting Dhezaex too as he also turned intangible, leaping through the ground. Pirani looks on at this happening, as they all then feel shaking, which woke all of them up! "Wh-what the?!" Connor shouts. "No!" Khaldun roars.

Charlotte and Blackhound stared each other down, Blackhound now more wounded than his opponent, but looking just as determined, and as little fatigued. "...Your Bloodlust, do you wish to drink my blood?" He asks, as Charlotte just looked at him for a few moments, before answering. "...No." She answers. "...I...chose to use this..." "...That's right." Blackhound replies. "All previous times you were in this form, you tried to reject it, and so the voice took over. But now that you choose to embrace this form, and entered it of your own volition, you are the one in control." They continued to eye each other, as Charlotte finally noticed the gap in Blackhound's chest from her other quick slashes, showing an artificial heart that was quietly beeping and thumping. "My real heart, and my brain, are all that is left of me that is organic." Blackhound says. "Cut my heart open, and the fight's yours."

Charlotte sighs, closes her eyes, puts both her hands on her sword, and enters a Kendo position, as Blackhound entered an En Garde position, unable to preform Kendo anymore, and knowing what the likely result of that would be. "Are you prepared to end me for good?" Blackhound asks, as Charlotte simply nods. "I pride myself on seeing the weakness in everything, in being able to defeat anyone. If you win, then I lost my reason to have this artificially extended 'life' of mine." Blackhound's eyes glowed brighter as he finished his sentence, as Charlotte's eyes glowed two, glowing bright yellow for Blackhound's eyes, and bright red for Charlotte's. Their swords glowed as well, Blackhound's a bright violet, and Charlotte's...a bright red. They planted their feet, fully readied their stances, and then rushed at each other, closing their eyes.

***SWISH!***

***BOOM!***

...

Nothing happened for a few seconds, as they were now standing in each other's positions, their backs turned to one another. A diagonal slash appears across Charlotte's torso, barely missing her chest and spine, as a similar slash appeared on Blackhound's torso, but unlike Charlotte, it went from his shoulder to his hip...and crossed right over his heart.

Blood spurted from their wounds, as Charlotte fell to her knees...and Theodoric...fell on his face, his eyes ceasing to glow, as his sword clattered to the ground as its blade broke in half, ceasing to glow as well. Charlotte remained conscious enough to see the result of their blades clashing one last time, the sheer destruction and wreckage of it, before she closes her eyes, falling unconscious from blood loss as she exited the Bloodlust State.

Katsuragi and Pirani carried the others down the stairs as fast as they could, as they saw Fadepawe shaking. The hatch above it opens up, as the scaffolding crumbles away and the tubes disconnect, all the concentrated Eletero now being within the imposing machine! "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" Khaldun roars. "Oh, but it is!" Scorpios shouts, as Fadepawe moves its arms to a bit diagonally away from its sides, the palms facing away from its hips, its head raised up. "THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF YOUR WORLD!" Khaldun shoots Fadepawe, but absolutely nothing happens to it, as rockets on its boots and back activate. It flies out of the base, blasting throug the air! "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Khaldun screams, as he punches the ground, Scorpios laughing as Fadepawe exited the Exosphere.

Khaldun, Connor, Rosette, Pirani and Katsuragi looked on in horror at where Fadepawe had been. At first, it didn't seem like...it could be real. There was no way this could be happening, yet, it was. They glared at the launch site, as their anger, their fear, their despair, took over, supplanted, destroyed all other emotion inside them they ever could have felt in that moment. In that moment, they saw only one possible outcome...the end of the world. Then, Khaldun let out a scream, a scream loud, earsplitting, bloodcurdling, heartwrenching, a scream that echoed through the base a thousand times over, not stopping for so long, it seemed as if it could go on forever. Then, Khaldun's scream finally slowed, quieted, and ceased. He collapsed completely, as he grimaced. "K-Khaldun?" Katsuragi asked, worried.

"...It's over." Khaldun whispers. "Everything...that we ever fought for...it's all over."

Charlotte began to wake. Every single part of her body ached, and though her wounds had healed, that stopped none of the pain. She felt as if she had been thrown into a human sized blender at the speed of light, for a hundred years. She looked around, seeing Blackhound's corpse laying there motionless. Theodoric had been her enemy for so long, but now...now, it was finally over. He was gone...then, she heard the screaming, the panicking, the horror, and saw exactly what caused that horror. There it was, Scorpios' giant robot, and it was no doubt about to begin its one and only task, the one it had been assigned: Destroying the world. Charlotte could not allow this, she ran, and ran, as the pain in her body seared more than ever, but she forced herself to keep moving. She had to stop this, no matter the cost.

Delta stood in front of his throne, watching the stars zoom by. It wouldn't be long before they left this galaxy entirely, and once they crossed over into the next one, they would be able to contact their leader there. And then, they would invade what was left of this world. It was, in Gamma's opinion, foolproof! And he would be happy to have succeeded where Beta failed. That indeed would give him a nice sense of pride. He shook the memory of losing a swordfight to that human, and only remembered beating up the Earth's supposed champions. It was so easy to take them out, that he didn't even bother killing them. Soon, it would be over anyway. If they were still alive, they wouldn't be for much longer, the entire human race would soon join the Crocatoan one, thanks to Delta. He smiled at this, he would be a legend.

"Delta-Rigel." A voice says with anger, and hatred, so calmly, as Delta turns to see Epsilon standing there. "The Rogue Crocatoid, eh?" Delta demands, cracking his knuckles. "Indeed." Epsilon says. "I have one goal, one mission, to exterminate all Crocatoan leaders, and free all Crocatoan from your control. You, Omega, Omicron, you will all be eradicated for this goal." "Unlikely, but let's see if you can take me, then." Delta says with a dark smile, twitching his finger in a taunting pose. Epsilon walks forwards slowly, seemingly ignoring the taunt, as Delta looks on, waiting, anticipating, continuing to smile. Then, at that sudden instant, Epsilon was behind Delta, and had delivered a karate chop to the back of his neck...or at least Epsilon thought he did for that same instant, immediately seeing that Delta had caught it! "What?!" Epsilon demands, as Delta smirks. "I can see the future." The orange Crocatoan Leader answers gleefully.

Epsilon grunts in anger and shock, as he is standing again in front of Delta, getting into fighting position. "Your ability...it's the ability to control time, isn't it?" Delta asks mockingly, as Epsilon slowly nodded, sighing. There was no point in the element of surprise anyway, not if Delta was telling the truth about his power. Epsilon growls a bit, but quickly recomposes himself, as he rushes at his opponent, Delta rushing towards him as well. Epsilon threw a punch at Delta, who dodged and delivered an elbow strike to Epsilon's back. "Gh..." Epsilon grunts, as he swings a sweep kick at Delta's legs, Delta backflipping over this as he uses the momentum of that exact backflip to send Epsilon flying when he kicks him in the face with both his feet. Epsilon shouts in pain, as he fires multiple Eletero blasts at Delta, who counters with his own, orange and yellow illuminating the ship around them.

Epsilon rushed in to attempt kneeing Delta in his 'ribcage', but Delta caught Epsilon's knee, and spins him around as the centrifugal force quickly causes Epsilon's ankle to be what Delta is holding, before Delta lets go of Epsilon and lets him fly towards the front window. Epsilon manages to right himself in time, and fires a beam of Eletero at Delta, Delta firing his own. The beams clashed, and illuminated the ship further, as Epsilon and Delta glared at each other, with different and similar emotions behind those eyes directed at each other. It wasn't long before Epsilon attempted to take advantage of the seeming continuing of the beam, as he skipped time to appear behind Delta and attempt swinging a kick at his neck, but Delta blocked with his wrist and turned his head to grin evilly at his opponent. "That trick again?" Delta demands maliciously, as he blasts Epsilon back.

Epsilon had crossed his arms to block the blast, and grunted in pain from it, as Delta rushes in to punch at him. Epsilon blocks the punches with the forearms as he catches a few punches and slaps and attempts delivering his own, Delta catching and redirecting those as well. Epsilon then noticed that Delta's hands, usually seeming to be of the Crocatoan shiny metal skin color, were resemblent of Crocatoan armor plating. "Another ability?" Epsilon demands. "Yep, I can harden my skin." Delta answers with a cocky smirk before headbutting Epsilon, somewhat cracking his helmet as Epsilon stumbles back, seeing the same armor plating on Delta's forehead. "Can't you see that it's impossible to beat me?" Delta mocks, as Epsilon's glare becomes more vicious. "Don't say such things." He says in response, rushing at Delta to kick at him, Delta blocking each kick with his lower leg.

Delta then forms his Jintachi, and slashes at Epsilon, who ducks to avoid the first slash and leaps back to avoid the second. Delta grips his Jintachi with both hands and rushes forwards to thrust it at Epsilon, who leaps to the side to dodge as the Jintachi stabs through the wall, pulverizing it and shaking the ship. Delta then swung the Jintachi at Epsilon again, Epsilon leaping over the slash and flying back to fire more Eletero blasts at Delta, who deflected them all as he flew to Epsilon to slash again, Epsilon barely dodging again as he felt a cut open up on his cheek! "No!" Epsilon shouts, knowing the same thing Delta did--Crocatoan didn't regenerate! Delta didn't relent, he thrusted his Jintachi at his opponent, who ducked beneath the thrust and nearly kicked Delta in the stomach, but Delta flew up to avoid the kick and slashed down to cut Epsilon's leg open!

Epsilon fell to the ground, bleeding, as he growled in pain an anger. Delta lands in front of him, smiling evilly. "You thought you'd save the human race, how naive." Delta mocks, putting his Jintachi at the left side of Epsilon's neck. "Accept that this is over, rogue drone." "Rogue drone? Now, isn't that rude." Another voice says, as Delta turned to see two others, a vampire with a mechanical arm, and...a man with neat white hair and black glasses, wearing a black suit and turtleneck. "Wait a minute...you died, right?" Delta demands, confused at the sight of the man, Midgard. "Well, I just lost an arm--" Voxir began, as Delta pointed his sword at Voxir. "Not you." He says, pointing it now at Midgard. "Him. Scorpios' lackey stabbed him in the throat while his power was turned off."

"Indeed, he did stab me in the throat." Midgard says. "However, I have a much better longevity than most other humans, though the time window was small." "And now you're back for revenge for your dead family?" Delta asks, beginning to laugh. "Look where that got Ganymede." "I am not Ganymede." Midgard retorts. "I am no monster." "Let me deal with him, first." Voxir says, as he rushes to slash at Delta with his claws. Delta barely manages to block with his Jintachi, as he fires multiple Eletero blasts at Voxir, who dodged even at this range as he swung a kick at him. The kick connects with Delta's head, but Delta had hardened his skin there in time, and grins, before forming Eletero cuffs around Voxir's wrists and ankles. "Well, crap." Voxir remarks, as he is tossed everywhere around the ship by the cuffs before being wrapped in chains in a way that completely restricted his movements.

"Are you next?" Delta demands in a mocking tone. "You're merely human, and your power is poisons." "I am indeed human." Midgard says, glaring at Delta as his glasses reflect the light of a passing star. Delta glared back in shock, as he watched what looked like an Ulfberht Sword with a snake pattern wrapped around it form in Midgard's hand! "But...my Mutation isn't poisons." Midgard continues. "I can create, control and collapse absolutely anything that is lethal." Delta grimaces at his opponent, and rushes to slash him with both hands, as Midgard forms another Ulfberht with the same snake pattern and parries with both his swords, slashing back for not one, but two ripostes! Delta hardens his skin just in time, and leaps back, landing on his feet. "Because of your species, my family is dead." Midgard says without a shred of mercy in his voice.

***"I am going to wipe your species off the face of the universe."***

Fadepawe floated in a standing position, its arm raised up as a blade was forming. The sights of Scorpios inside it were set on Earth. One slash, one attack, one final strike, would solidify Scorpios as the single greatest villain in history, past, present and future. He watched silently, but smiling, as Trevor watched with an expression that seemed worried, but determined. They sat in thrones next to each other, inside the robot's head, looking out of its 'eyes'. There was nothing, yet everything, to behold. As far as Scorpios was concerned, this was the end of the history of the Earth, and a new beginning for the story of the human race as a whole...his human race. All those who beat him like trash, would be grinded beneath his mighty heel! No one was going to stop him, now!

Right as he said that, Fadepawe's Eletero Sensors, and his own, picked up a powerful force, as did Trevor. "That's..." Scorpios trails off. "Charlotte!" Trevor shouts, as it was indeed, the Vampire Queen, standing on top of a spacecraft, wearing a spacesuit and holding her sword out, the sword glowing bright red from its aura, and its reflection of the sun, the sun that also reflected off of Fadepawe. "Is she serious?!" Scorpios demands, as he speaks to Charlotte on comms. "You do see that this is a GIANT ROBOT, right? One I designed to crack an entire planet in half with its swords and lasers! You don't stand a chance as you've always been!" "As I've always been...I never controlled my power, I never embraced it." Charlotte replies. "I do, now...and I promise that the one thing I will ever use it to destroy, will be your murder machine." She opens her glowing red eyes, as a red aura surrounds her.

Delta fired a barrage of Eletero blasts at Midgard, who ran through them, taking their damage, and regenerating everything, including his clothing! "This doesn't make sense!" Delta roars, as Midgard slashes at him. Delta blocks both the swords from his own, and does so again, never having an opportunity to strike back. "You were pathetic last time anyone cared about you!" The Crocatoan leader shouts. "That's exactly why I have been training...with Pirani." Midgard replies, as Delta sends a blast wave to force his opponent back. Midgard uses his swords to prevent himself from fully falling, as they bend a bit from the impact. "That is unfortunate..." He remarks, as he sees Delta firing a laser at him. Midgard then leaps to the side to avoid, and forms multiple spiked pillars that rush at Delta, who roars in anger and swings his sword to cut them into pieces and destroy them.

"You worthless human! How are your powers so infuriating?!" Delta screams. "First impenetrable forcefields, and now this?! It's stupid!" "This is...humanity, beast." Midgard replies coldly, as he forms an M1911 pistol in his hand and fires explosive rounds from it at his opponent. Delta crosses his arms to block, raising all his defenses, but they wouldn't hold out forever, yet Midgard didn't relent. Delta then smiles, as he forms multiple orbs of Eletero and has them rush at Midgard. "What?!" Midgard shouts, as the orbs explode, sending him flying back. Delta lowers his arms and smiles at the smoke, before seeing Midgard walk out of it, halfway burned to the bone, but regenerating. "I HATE YOUR RIDICULOUS SPECIES!" Delta shrieks. "And I despise yours." Midgard says with an icy hatred that would freeze Hell itself to the core.

Charlotte ran off the spacecraft and leaps towards Fadepawe, swinging her sword at it to unleash a massive Viatatransa at it. Scorpios has Fadepawe block, and swing its sword at Charlotte, who blocks with her own sword, grunting from the pain and effort. She knew she only pulled that off because her sword was, now no doubt in her head...indestructible. If she lost it, the world would be the next thing to be lost, she couldn't let that happen. She rushes towards Fadepawe to unleash another slash, as it warps up and down, behind her, swinging at her again. Charlotte dodges yet again, as the slash rends the moon in two! "NO!" Charlotte roars, as she rushes in to kick Fadepawe in the face, sending it flying hundreds of kilometers backwards. "Urgh! Damn you!" Scorpios roars, having Fadepawe aim its other hand at Charlotte and unleash massive lasers at her like a machine gun!

Charlotte manages to dodge absolutely all of the lasers, even deflecting one, as the force and torque made her nearly drop her sword from the sudden agony, but she forced herself to continue holding it, and snapped her wrist back into place so that the regeneration would be faster than the increased speed it already healed at. She puts both hands on her sword and rushes forwards to swing sideways, delivering another Viatatransa that was much larger than the others at Fadepawe. Scorpios has it block again, and once again swing its sword at the vampire, who leaps over it to dodge and runs along the blade to nearly slash at the face, until she notices Trevor inside! "Gh!" She grunts, as she leaps back. "Charlotte..." Trevor breathes, as Scorpios roars in rage and has Fadepawe rush at Charlotte, who rushes at it in return.

Midgard was unleashing Hell on Delta, sending machine gun fire, chains, guns, swords, cannons, tank rounds and absolutely everything he could think of at the Crocatoid, no longer even considering his allies who were still on the ship. He would do everything in his power to end the Crocatoan menace, for his family! Delta blocked and dodged many of the attacks, tanking the rest with his hardened skin, but even that began to be broken through. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!" Delta screams, trying to do everything in his power to take the attacks even though he knew it was fruitless. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Midgard then unleashes blasts of much more dangerous materials at Delta, including Antimatter, Sotet Eletero, and Strange Matter at him! Delta manages to neutralize most of it, but some hit, the resulting explosion destroying the ship completely, as they were left floating through space, Delta nowhere to be found...

"...a human." Midgard replies in his mind, closing his eyes.

Charlotte and Fadepawe continued to clash blades, as Trevor then set it to autopilot. "Hey! I wanted some element of my own fighting in that final battle against Charlotte!" The cyborg shouts, as Trevor glared at him. Scorpios realized then, what was happening. "Oh...you were never on my side, were you?" Scorpios asks. "No...I wasn't." Trevor answers. "I won't help you destroy the world, not to be recognized. My friends already care about me for who I am, and that's all I need!" "...So be it." Scorpios replies, as he whacks Trevor in the face to send him flying into the wall, leaving a stain of blood on it. "GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Trevor screams, as Scorpios briefly chuckled. "Downside to heightened senses, pain is one of those senses." The cyborg mocks. "Though then again, I must have hit you pretty hard for you to react like that. Props for somehow not being unconscious for some convoluted reason."

"Father!" Sabrina's voice shouts, as Scorpios sees her climb up the ladder, and turn to face him with a glare. "This has to end!" "My own daughter...going against me?" Scorpios asks bitterly, as Sabrina nods. "Please...stop all this." She pleads, her eyes tearing up. "...I'm...too far, now." Scorpios replies, his robotic face showing none of the pain he felt. They both formed an arming sword and heater shield, and pointed their swords at each other, ready for a duel that, perhaps, was fated, between father and daughter. Scorpios thought that was, somewhat, a good enough substitute for fighting Charlotte, but nothing topped fighting Charlotte in his eyes. After all...she was the one currently fighting his planet wrecking superweapon of a giant robot mech suit building thing.

Charlotte and Fadepawe faced each other again, and clashed. The mech acted with much more purpose, and seemed to have much more intent to kill her than Scorpios did. Each block was a close shave, as Charlotte could feel her skin being torn. If not for her aura, she would be suffocating right now. She unleashes another Viatatransa at the robot, which sidesteps the blast and fires another barrage of lasers at Charlotte, who attempted to dodge all of them, but was grazed by the exact second laser due to the mech predicting her movements, and this hit hurt like Hell, she thought she felt her entire left side of her body be burned off, save for most of her head and neck. Still, it was a horrifying experience for her. Now, she knew for sure, there was absolutely no way she would beat this monstrosity if she wasn't as careful--

...no...

***more*** careful than she ever was against Adam...

...Scorpios...he surpassed...Adam...

That hesitation was all the robot needed to take advantage of, as it whacks Charlotte into the Pacific Ocean hard enough to crater it, sending water everywhere away from said crater. She could feel the smoldering magma just beneath the rock she was on, as it seared her skin, making her scream in utter agony! She then noticed...the robot was about to swing its sword down on the planet. Charlotte grabs her sword, shakily, and puts her hand on the back of her blade, leaping up right as the robot swung its sword down, splitting the atmosphere. Charlotte blocked Fadepawe's slash, barely, as she could feel herself being forced down each and every second. She put everything into trying to stop the slash, and she felt like she was expending every last shred of energy in her body to do it!

Trevor was crawling towards the power core of Fadepawe, feeling the shaking constantly, as he saw Sabrina and Scorpios. Their swords and shields constantly clashed, each one dodging, blocking, parrying, riposting, and countering the other. Scorpios swung at his daughter's arm, as Sabrina blocked with her sword and tilted it forwards at her father's eye. The lens was cut open, revealing a pale yellow eye on pale, glossy grey skin, beneath a broken half of glasses. "What...?" Sabrina wonders, as Scorpios sweeps her off her feet and slashes at her arms again. Sabrina blocks with her shield and slashes Scorpios in the knee. "What?!" Scorpios growls, as he leaps back. "I've...been training for this moment." Sabrina says. "Thanks for the tips, father."

Scorpios roars and rushes to slash at Sabrina's shoulder joint, Sabrina blocking with her sword as she tilts it to put Scorpios' sword out of the way before bashing her shield at him, Scorpios blocking with his own shield as he kicks Sabrina in the knee, completely bending her leg back! "GAH!" She screams, as Scorpios knees her in the stomach to send her flying back. "That's the weakness my organic body once had!" He shouts. "You feel pain, I don't!" Scorpios then dissipates his sword and shield, before aiming his machine gun gauntleted forearm at Sabrina, the same thing that Fadepawe does to Charlotte, charging up absolutely all of its lasers as Charlotte had managed to cut its sword in half, kicking it into the sun. Charlotte looked on in utter despair. That was all she had...and...it...still wasn't enough.

"I regret that I have to do this." Scorpios says, sounding fully genuine and solemn. "I never wanted...to end the only proof that I had worth before becoming a villain." Charlotte, Khaldun, Connor, Pirani...everyone, looked on in horror as Fadepawe continued to charge up its lasers, aiming to reduce the Earth to subatomic particles with every last bit of energy it had, something Scorpios himself never considered when constructing the machine. The puppet had cut the strings...and so had the puppet's puppet. And the casualty would be the complete erasure of any evidence that the Earth ever existed to begin with. "...This has...to stop..." Sabrina says weakly..." "...And guess what...the same guy you wanted to give more recognition...? He's who's gonna stop you."

"What?!" Scorpios roars, as he sees Trevor placing what looked like some sort of Star-C device with human elements in it in Fadepawe's core. "OKAY, WHAT MCGUFFIN IS THAT?!" "...Oh, this?" Trevor asks. "It'll force Fadepawe's systems to crash." "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Scorpios screams, aiming at Trevor and firing multiple missiles at him, as Trevor barely dodges them, before ducking behind a vat to avoid the bulletfire, knowing the vat wouldn't last forever. "I REFUSE TO LET THIS BE OVER! I CAN'T LET IT ALL END, JUST LIKE THAT!" The cyborg shrieks, Trevor's ears bleeding from the volume. But it was too late, the device began to work its magic, as Fadepawe shook and twitched violently. "THIS CAN'T BE! HOW?!" Scorpios howls. "Simple." Trevor answers. "You underestimated me."

It was in that moment, with those worse, that Scorpios realized it...

...he was no better than they were.

Fadepawe began to fall back into the Earth's Atmosphere, cracking, exploding, bursting and overall going to Hell in many parts of its design. The robot Scorpios had designed to destroy the world...would be destroyed by the world. They then all begin to slide down the now almost vertical floor of the power chamber, as Scorpios grabs onto a metal pipe, and sees Trevor and Sabrina falling, Sabrina forming a heater shield beneath the two of them. "NO! PLEASE! SAVE ME AS WELL! I MUST RULE! I MUST...LIVE!" Scorpios pleads...crying. They close their eyes, as Trevor then opened his. "Scorpios...you never had any." He replies, as the heater shield grows wings, and flies off. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Was the last thing Scorpios says, as he fires another missile at Trevor, who turned around, a Bokyaku in his hand.

"...Bokyaku...no Uzekara." Trevor says, throwing the Bokyaku, as it cuts the missile in half, and cuts straight through Scorpios' failing shield, and Scorpios himself, horizontally and somewhat diagonally across the midsection. Then...Fadepawe hit the ground, the resulting explosion dwarfing the Tsar Bomb in every single sense of the word, by far.

Charlotte began to wake up weakly, in Trevor's arms. They both remembered the last time this happened, around this time last year, their roles reversed. A hospital bed would've made it more perfect. "Trevor..." Charlotte breathes, as she smiles at him sweetly, her kind, warm eyes feeling Trevor with happiness as his own eyes did Charlotte, and he smiled the same smile back. "Yeah...he's gone." Trevor replies. "They're all gone, all the bad guys. They've all been taken care of. It's over now, we can relax." They hugged each other gently, and cried a bit. It was indeed over, but at what cost? And Trevor knew...that this meant the end of his mother. He was shaking, and Charlotte felt it. She held him a bit tighter, still trying to be gentle. "It's okay..." She says to him, shaking as well. "It's like you said...it's okay."

Fadepawe's wreckage was burning, as Scorpios lied there, or what twisted metal was left of him. All the gold and fabric was gone, as was his mask, revealing his real eyes as they stared into the smoky sky. His eyes were all that remained of his organic body, as it was fully clear now that absolutely everything else was bionic, including his mouth, the speakers on it now damaged. He heard footsteps faintly with his audio receptors, and saw Sabrina walking towards him with his true, organic eyes...the last part of him that was human after all this time. "My daughter...Sabrina..." Scorpios said in a voice that to both of their anguish was distorted and broken. "...I'm..sorry..." A few moments passed, as it began to rain, and Sabrina then hugged her father tightly, crying, though the sound and appearance of the rain would have made this near impossible to tell. "My father...Hector Kirkland..." Sabrina said in a cracked voice filled with pain and despair. "...I...forgive you..."

Sabrina laid her father's body down on the ground, as she stayed on her knees. "...I...couldn't rule the world..." Hector remarks. "But...at least I...will be remembered...as a legend..." He closes his eyes in a smiling motion. ".........at least.........i was.........a good father.........to you........." His eyes never opened, and any whirring and humming from his body stopped. "...Dad...? Dad!" Sabrina shouts in anguish, sobbing at her father's corpse. It was over, now...this whole damned war...was over.

## Epilogue

Trevor and Charlotte lied on the grass next to each other, looking up at the stars, and the moon. It seemed its own gravity had pulled it back together now, but they could tell where it had been slashed. The feeling of grass was amazing now, as it had been a few months since the damage, and for a while there was no grass. The efforts to restore the planet to how it was by Star-C and various governments proved fruitful, and Refuge had been repurposed into a combat ready base along with a massive living quarters. If there were ever a new threat, that would be where they began to respond to it from. Not to mention that Fadepawe's remains had been recovered, and a new arms race was being made to see who could develop the best robot army. They weren't worried, no one could be stupid enough to try and destroy the world again, and after what Scorpios did, everyone was more united anyway.

"Trev..." Charlotte whispers softly. "Yeah, Char?" Trevor replied just as softly. "...We did it." Charlotte says. "You helped me to control my bloodlust, and now...now I have a real form to go to when things get rough. One that won't turn me into a monster." "I'm so glad I could help." Trevor replies with a smile, as they held each other close. "And you...you saved the world." Charlotte continued in more whispers. "You took out Scorpios. You're why we're still here." "I couldn't have done it without all your help." Trevor responded with a bit of a chuckle. "All I did was plant a bomb, you're the one who actually held Scorpios' robot off." Charlotte giggled a little, and leaned her head against Trevor's shoulder. "Thank you...so much." She said, tearing up. "You're the one...who changed me from a monster...to a hero." "You're so welcome." Trevor replied. "Thanks as well...you gave me hope, you helped me see a reason to keep going, and now I see so many. Look where we are now, heh...saviors of the world. Never thought I'd be called that, and I kinda' don't wanna'. It's kind of corny."

They laughed a little bit, and held each other ever closer, before beginning to fall asleep. They had done it, they had saved the world. All of their enemies...were gone.