Volume Three - Suspect

## Chapter 25 - The Transfer Students

Jack had finally waken up from his dream. He tried to recall. He thought there was a glowing purple eye, but couldn't remember anything else. It was confusing to have dreams like this. What did they mean? He rarely had dreams like this, but always remembered a detail from them. He would draw them in a notebook, and write anything he couldn't picture but knew. He felt he should go now, and draw the eye before he forgot about it. Although he wasn't sure he would for a while. When he tried to get out of bed, he stopped after remembering Andromeda was there. "Oh, right..." Jack whispers. Andromeda had stayed true to his request, but it would still be hard to write the notebook down while she was hugging him.

Suddenly, the door burst open with Candice enthusiastically blowing a trumpet and Kasper much less enthusiastically playing a drum sound with his console. "AAAAH!!!!!" Jack screams, as Andromeda wakes up with a growl and sees Candice and Kasper. "...What...?" She demands, as Candice then stops blowing and takes the trumpet out of her mouth. "Oh, sorry. Were we interrupting something?" Candice asks, as Andromeda's eyelids droop. "Uh, what's going on?" Jack asks while rubbing his ears in pain. "Did something happen?" "You bet something happened!" Candice shouts, hurting Jack's ears more. "We have TRANSFER STUDENTS!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Jack screams, as his ears had started bleeding from how shrill Candice's voice was during that scream. He only heard ringing, as Andromeda quickly helped him to the medical room. There, his ears were healed by Professor Grant. "Where did you even get those instruments?" Grant demands. "Uh...we bought them..." Candice answers, as Kasper looked at the vials. "I...plan to visit my mother, so I won't be here for the welcoming." Grant says, as he finishes packing a briefcase. "Please, go and meet your new classmates. They should have arrived by now." Grant then leaves the room, as Jack gets back up. "Let's go see them." Jack says. "Didn't Arthur literally just tell us to do that?" Kasper asks.

As they walked through the hallways, they saw a crowd gathered at the outside of the school. They walked over there and tried to get a view of everything. Eventually they were able to, and what they saw was astonishing.

On the left, a tall, muscular, dark skinned and haired boy with silver eyes, wearing a red shirt and somewhat reddish beige pants with a dark red belt that had a bronze buckle. His shoes were bright red leather, and his hair, which was also somewhat curly, almost covered one eye.

On the right, a boy who actually seemed an inch or two shorter than Jack, with very pale blue skin and dark blue hair, as well as very light cyanish grey eyes. He had one, screw-like horn that was on the left side of his head, and he wore something almost like a black trench coat.

"Woah..." Candice breathes, as the first boy sees her, and also sees most of the girls in the school either coming towards him or the other boy. "Please, get to know me first, and don't sacrifice whoever you're already with." The first boy says warmly. "Do not come near me, trash." The second boy says coldly. "I am not here to have female humans following me around."

The second boy stops when he sees Andromeda, his expression almost changing from his currently indifferent one to one of slight shock. "You're..." The boy cuts himself off, before introducing himself. "My name is Indra, I am part of the Cyan-Eyed Clan." The second boy, Indra, says. "I never bothered to remember his name, so you will have to ask him yourself." Indra then walks past Andromeda, who tenses up for a moment. Candice was visibly shivering as Indra continued to walk away. The first boy gave a small wave. "My name's Shunsuke Vaquero, I would like to get to know you all better." The boy, Shunsuke, says.

"I'm Jack, Jack Holland." Jack responds, extending out his hand. Shunsuke shakes it, and Jack feels the raw strength in his hand being held back by gentleness. If Shunsuke was even barely trying, Jack could tell his hand would have been crushed to pulp by now. "Uh, this is Andromeda, Candice and Kasper." Jack says. "Maibaum." Kasper responds. "A Maibaum, huh? I've heard mixed things about quite a few rich families, though I have to admit most of those things I heard from gangs." Shunsuke replies, as he looks around. "I'm sorry about Indra, I'm not sure if there is a Socqreath more prideful about being one than him. I only know him because my father knew his."

"I see..." Jack says, as Andromeda and Candice continued to look at Shunsuke, as if curious, although Andromeda was clearly trying to hide it. "Hmm..." Candice mutters, as she was holding her chin and examining Shunsuke, who looked a bit confused and a drop of sweat could be seen on his face. Then, Indra walks back to where they were. "Are you aware that Shunsuke is going to train against Professor Distler per the rules?" Indra demands. "I guess that's my cue." Shunsuke says. "Nice meeting you all." Shunsuke and Indra walk into the school, as everyone, Jack, Andromeda, Candice and Kasper included, follow.

This wasn't something they were going to miss.

## Chapter 26 - Shunsuke versus Fiora

First day of school and he already had to fight someone? Well, it was understandable, this school enlisted students with a fight. Still... Shunsuke's thoughts trailed off as he entered the arena. There were seats everywhere, and he saw Jack, Andromeda, Candice and Kasper sitting at benches to his left. In the middle was a curvy woman holding a sniper rifle, no doubt Professor Distler, as who else would be standing in the middle of the arena? He immediately became concerned with something. "There's forcefields around them, right?" Shunsuke asks, to which Professor Distler nods. "Did you bring any weapons?" She asks. "I didn't." Shunsuke answers. "I see..." Professor Distler replies, as she takes aim at Shunsuke and fires.

It was clearly a laser, and it seemed to hit instantly. There was a searing pain in his chest from the blast and his shirt was burning where he was hit. He then noticed the burn was a flesh wound, although he wasn't sure that would remain the same if the same spot was hit again. "Couldn't dodge it..." Shunsuke remarks, as he then runs over to Professor Distler, feeling a laser hit his leg. He grunts from the pain but keeps going, aiming to take the sniper rifle away from her before she could fire it again. However, Professor Distler dodges his blow and grab as she fires at his wrist. Shunsuke feels it go numb, meaning his nerves must have been burned.

"That's about ten seconds." Professor Distler says, before leaping back to dodge another punch from Shunsuke, which hits, and cracks, the ground. "Dammit..." Shunsuke mutters, before feeling a laser hit him in the shoulder, which paralyzes it like his hand. He manages to run over to Professor Distler and kick the ground beneath her, making her stumble a bit as he kicks the gun out of her hands. However, she takes out a smaller pistol and fires to paralyze Shunsuke's feet, making him fall to the ground with another grunt of pain.

"Twenty seconds about." Professor Distler says, sounding impressed. "Well well, aren't you a tough one?" "...What does this mean?" Shunsuke asks. "You'll get a higher level of education." Professor Distler answers. "Just wait there while I go and get the medical staff to heal you. There should be a regenerative serum in Arthur's room." Professor Distler than walks away, as everyone was running to help Shunsuke up. "Thanks for the support. I'm not gonna' pretend I can stand upright with my tendons destroyed." Shunsuke says. "Dunno' why lasting twenty seconds would be impressive, but I'm not too big on competition either."

"Well, we should see the news." Kasper says, as he sets his console down on a table and it projects a hologram of the news. "Breaking News! Right now, the terrorist organization Darkstar has been witnessed attacking a military helicopter belonging to Rachel De Villepin!" The news reporter shouts. "That's Grimwald's daughter, if I'm remembering things right." Shunsuke says. "Wait, what?" Jack asks, as they all look at the news. Shunsuke knew he wouldn't let Rachael be killed by this organization, and hoped, believed he knew, that the others wouldn't either.

Professor Distler walks in with multiple medical professionals and healing serum, as she and the other see the news. "Professor, please heal my nerves and tendons, we need to stop Darkstar immediately." Shunsuke says. "Darkstar use the second best thing to lasers, and soon they'll be using straight up lasers in their combat equipment." Professor Distler replies. "Thanks for telling us, but we can't just let Grimwald's daughter be killed. They want to send a message, and terrorists are the last people that should be allowed to do that." Shunsuke explains. Professor Distler sighs. "Fine, then, but you're not going without me." Professor Distler says.

## Chapter 27 - Helicopter Chase

Railgun rounds flew past the windows, one of these windows being cracked. The blades whirred above and behind, and she hoped they would continue to whir. Rachel looked at her radar to see the enemy still following her. "Dammit, I have to get out of here before they--Gah!" Rachel is unable to finish her sentence as her helicopter shakes violently as if it. Sure enough, she looked to see a door ripped off and quickly puts on her oxygen mask. There was Darkstar's helicopter, pitch black compared to her green one, the windows red rather than clear. A generic villain design, but maybe they were trying to look scary.

It didn't matter, she needed to get away from them without being shot out of the sky. If she was, what would happen to her father? She saw a missile port reveal itself on one of Darkstar's helicopter's rails. "If I'm hit..." Rachel trails off as she quickly pulls backwards and aims to fire at Darkstar. However any bullets that get near are deflected by a glowing red, hexagonal shield. "A forcefield..." Rachel mutters, as she keeps firing. She'd make them lose sight of where they were going and crash.

She kept firing, thinking the helicopter may run out of ammunition soon, as Darkstar's helicopter suddenly sinks lower. "What?!" Rachel growls, as she lowers her own helicopter and notices Darkstar's crash into hers. She yelped from the force and heard the rails buckle somehow. A clamp? Then, she saw the door open. A pilot, who used one hand to aim a gun at her and fire. She barely dodges and takes out her own handgun to fire a laser at the pilot, but the laser reflects off of said pilot's visor. "Gh!" Rachel grunts.

Suddenly, Darkstar's helicopter began to move erratically, taking Rachel's helicopter with it. "Ugh! What now?!" Rachel demands. "What's happening?" A voice from the back of Darkstar's helicopter demanded. "Hacker." The co-pilot says, before pressing a few buttons. "Former hacker." Whatever had happened, the helicopters stopped moving erratically and the pilot walked into Rachel's helicopter, before launching a kick at her. Rachel catches the kick with her arm and torso, but notices a knife having been on the leg and stabbing into her side. "Gh! Agh!" Rachel growls, as the pilot places the gun on her forehead. "Goodbye, Rachel." The pilot says.

At that moment, they hear another thruster noise, a bit like a jet. The co-pilot turns the helicopters around as they see a more box-like space pod flying in the air towards them. "Civilians?" The co-pilot demands. "No." The voice says, as the pod flies closer to them and Rachel sees multiple silhouettes there. Then, a somewhat tall, muscular man with a large build, wearing a red and black variant of combat armor, was walking to be between both helicopters, and directly faces the pod, while holding a railgun in one hand. "Goodnight, soldiers." The man says, as he takes aim and fires.

The pod ducks but is hit in the roof, as multiple weapons fly out and towards the man, who blocks them with his other arm, using only his legs to maintain his position. He took aim below him and fired, as the blast was redirected up, hitting the shield and being redirected sideways towards Rachel's helicopter, blasting half of said helicopter away. Rachel and the pilot were falling, and saw the man holding onto his helicopter with one hand and foot, glaring down at her as she fell. Before she could plummet to her doom, however, the pod flew beneath them and they fell into the hole made by the railgun shot.

"Agh!" Rachel growls, before noticing that she had landed on a golden pillow, which turned into pixels as she saw a boy with black hair and aqua green eyes wearing a white jacked with red sleeves, as well as beige pants. There was a boy wearing a long black coat with a collar and golden buttons along with a frilly white shirt beneath, and a flat cap. This boy had blonde hair covering one eye, the eye showing being green. There were also two girls with blue skin, grey horns and curvy bodies. One of them had more lavender-ish hair, and looked happier, than the other one. They also had different eye colors, the girl with the angrier expression having yellow eyes as opposed to the happy girl's blue, and they also wore different clothes. The happy girl wearing a grey school uniform with a skirt and the angry girl wearing a black collared dress with a revealing white chest area, the same color of white being on the long frilly skirt that was beneath her coattails. And beneath the skirt were black pants with two red bands on the right. The angry girl also had hair covering one eye.

"Woah! Two Socqreath?!" Rachel shouts, as she notices a tall, muscular boy with dark skin and darker, curly hair which almost covered an eye. His eyes being silver and his attire being red, although his pants were of a brighter red and the buckle was brass. He had previously been sitting at the co-pilot's chair, but came to see what was going on. The pilot began to get back up, as they prepare to fight him. However, they hear a thud on the roof and see the man standing at the hole. Now that she could see him better, Rachel could tell this man had short, white hair and dark amber eyes.

"Long time, no see...Andromeda." The man says. "In case you forgot, my name is Allen Davidson. I'm the leader of Darkstar." Allen walks closer to them. "You really should install a forcefield into your military vehicles." He says, as they notice the tall boy having slammed his fist onto the railgun Allen was holding, smashing it. "Shunsuke, wait!" The happy looking girl shouts, as Allen whacks Shunsuke back, Shunsuke keeping his ground and punching Allen in the face to send him flying at the wall fast and hard enough to leave a large dent.

Allen wipes the blood off his face and gets back up, staring at Shunsuke. "Alright, then..." Allen says, getting into a combat stance. He rushes to punch Shunsuke in the face, Shunsuke taking the blow with a grunt as he swings a kick at Allen, who catches it but is sent sliding a bit. Allen then thrusts forward to send Shunsuke crashing into the control panel. "Next." Allen says, as he dodges bullets from the black haired boy and grabs his arm, seemingly crushing it in that same motion as the boy screams in agony. Andromeda runs to help him, as the normally happy girl watches the fight fearfully.

Allen rushes to kick the blonde boy, who explodes into pixels. Allen then turns around to see the boy standing there with digital guns on either side of him. He fires them at Allen, who dodges and lets the bullets hit Shunsuke, who blocks with his arms and grunts from each strike. The blonde boy quickly stops as Allen rushes at him and begins to punch the forcefield the boy had created. "Kasper!" The girl shouts, as she rushes to try and help. Allen keeps punching until the shield cracks, and prepares to destroy it when his arm is stopped. "Hmm?" Allen exclaims, as he flings the girl into a wall. "Gh! Candice, get out of here." Kasper says.

"Enough, you want me, right?" Rachel says, as she aims her gun at Allen's head. "You could fire that in here a thousand times, and you would never hit me once." Allen says, as he grabs and crushes Rachel's gun. Something appears to constrict Allen's neck, and from Rachel's point of view she thought she saw ripples. Andromeda was standing there and glaring at Allen, who returned the glare even if he could only look with one eye at the moment. "You're a special one, Socqreath." Allen says. "Just let us kill her." "You get nothing after what you did." Andromeda responds.

The pod suddenly juts upwards, making Andromeda let go and letting Allen and the pilot jump out and onto the helicopter. "Well played, aliens, but Darkstar still has home field advantage, and we will accomplish our goals, despite, or better yet because of, you." Allen says, as the helicopter flies away. "NO!" Andromeda screams, as the pod crashes. "Is everyone alright?" Another voice asks, and Rachel sees a skinny man with yellow and red hair in a flat bowl cut and odd green eyes wearing an orange shirt looking at them. "We need...to contact my father immediately." Rachel says.

"Agreed." The man replies. "Please, call me Bertram."

## Chapter 28 - The Ghost Organization

"Nice school you've got here." Rachel says. "Hey, thanks." Bertram replies. "But there's no need for flattery, you've graduated this place already." "You weren't a teacher back then, though." Rachel says back, as Bertram sighs. "We're gonna' get along nicely." He says. Kasper had become more attentive as of late. Maybe it was the fact that he was making more friends outside of Candice. He sighed again and began to look at helicopter models. He felt Candice sit right next to him as he then saw Professor Kazuyuki turn on a screen.

"Thank you all for coming." Professor Kazuyuki says. "As you all are aware, Darkstar has struck once again, and they targeted Grimwald's daughter. Let's see what he has to say about this." The screen then turns to Grimwald, who like in the pictures looked half asleep. "Rachel, are you alright?" Grimwald asked almost nonchalantly. "I'm fine, Dad. Do you have to stay up all night?" Rachel answers and demands. "I'm a late sleeper. Better day than night." Grimwald answers, again, nonchalantly.

"Well, I was attacked by Darkstar." Rachel says. "You were?" Grimwald asks, looking a bit shocked. "Well...I can't say I'm too surprised. One second, we're safe, and the next, Darkstar attacks. They're like...an organization of ghosts." "Ghosts is what they will be when I get my hands on them." Andromeda growls. "Andromeda, please." Jack pleads, as Kasper looks at Grimwald. "Do you know where they'll attack next?" He asks, to which Grimwald lazily shakes his head. "Not really, they vanished without a trace after that helicopter fiasco." Grimwald answers.

Grimwald puts a had behind his head and sighs. "Well, we'll send over some guards, to keep you safe." Grimwald says. "Just hang tight, okay?" "Alright." Rachel says back, as the screen turns off. "We'll take care of Rachel." Professor Kazuyuki says. "You all can resume your normal daily lives while we do." The teachers then escort Rachel out of the room, as Candice turns towards Kasper. "Do you...think something bad is going to happen?" Candice asks. "I hope not." Kasper answers. "Me too!" Candice responds, as she takes Kasper by his hands and begins to bring him out of the school.

Candice had her arms crossed on the railing, and was leaning forward onto them. Kasper did the same, and tried not to drop his console. "I'm...not sure if I've ever told you why I'm always happy." Candice says. "I think you may have, but it's hard to remember, mainly due to...everything that's happened." Kasper replies. "Well...it's because I believe in the world." Candice responds. "I...truly believe that no matter how dark the world gets...there will always be a light. And that helps me...be the light."

"One thing I've always loved about you is...your optimism." Kasper says in response. "Knowing why...only makes me love you more." Candice smiles, before looking down for a moment. "Hey, Kasp..." Candice starts. "Oh, sorry. Kasper...does...Professor Kazuyuki seem off to you...?" "I'm not sure that's possible." Kasper replies. "He admitted to being a psychopath and he's only skilled at a computer. He's also helped me a lot with my coding skills." "Yeah, I just feel weird around him. He feels...evil." Candice says.

"Psychopaths are like that, at least we got a well adjusted one." Kasper replies, as he feels an itchy spot on his arm and goes to scratch it, accidentally dropping his console. "No!" Kasper screams, as he reaches out to try and catch his console. It seemed out of reach already, but before it got too far away, it had stopped in mid air. Candice gives the console back to Kasper, who smiles and hugs her. "Thanks...I'm...useless without that console..." Kasper says. "You're not, you're really smart, and even if you were, I wouldn't care. I love you." Candice replies, as she hugs Kasper back.

He felt like thinking about how odd it was that this was the first time he dropped his console like this, but he just wanted to enjoy the moment. The moon rose higher as Kasper felt more and more tired. He chuckled inwardly at the idea that Candice might just interpret that the other way, but he knew his own body language showed fatigue and tiredness. He needed to sleep, and she knew it. Candice helped him back inside the school, across the corridors, and into their dorm. At this point, Candice looked rather sleepy as well, as she sets Kasper's hat and console, and her suit jacked and belt onto the desk and helps him into bed.

"Don't worry, not this time." Candice said jokingly, as she pulled Kasper close and gave him a simple kiss. Kasper knew Candice, if she wanted to control her instincts, she would. This light cuddling, this kiss, was all it would be this time. Kasper liked that, it felt the most comfortable and least awkward to him. He felt himself drift further off to sleep. And what he dreamt, well, he'd have to figure it out as he went along.

## Chapter 29 - Local Murder Case

Candice's eyes slowly opened and everything was a bit blurry at first. She still felt drowsy, and didn't want to leave the comfort of the bed, or leave Kasper. Maybe it was a lack of energy, but he always fell asleep before her, and he looked the most peaceful, in fact the most happy, in his sleep. This time, however, he looked far, far more tense than when he was awake. He was clearly having a nightmare, and she didn't want to leave him. She hugged him as tightly and gently as he could, to try and reassure him it was okay. Yet...he didn't grow much less tense. "It's okay...I'm here for you...Kasper..." Candice whispers, as she kissed him on the cheek.

That, at last, made him much less tense, yet still tense. Then...Kasper started crying. "No...no, don't...don't hurt...Candice..." Kasper whimpers, Candice letting out a gasp as she begins to cry a bit herself. "I...I won't leave your side..." Candice says to Kasper, hearing her own voice shaking. She tried her best not to worry. She tried to stay happy. It might be hard, but as long as she smiled, she knew she could do it, and help others be happier with that. She considered trying something else, but wasn't sure if it would just make everything worse.

Suddenly, multiple alarms blared. "Ah! Wh-what?!" Candice shouts, as she notices Kasper having woken up, and breathing heavily. Candice hugs Kasper again to try and calm him down, as Shunsuke opens the door. "Everyone needs to get to the teachers' main room, quick!" Shunsuke shouts. "Wh-why?" Candice asks. "There's been a murder!" Shunsuke answers, shocking Candice and evidently Kasper. "What happened?! Who was it?!" Kasper demands. "It was...Rachel." Shunsuke answers again.

Candice and Kasper follow Shunsuke across the hall to the main room, where everyone was standing over a bagged up corpse, no doubt Rachel's. "Who could have done this?" Candice asks solemnly. "Th...the guards..." "All killed." Bertram answers. "No one knows who did it." "We won't be able to preform autopsies until Arthur returns, so we placed them in protective preservation bags." Professor Kooji says. "It was either Darkstar or..." Andromeda starts, but trails off. "We need to be ready, whoever it is." Jack says.

At that very moment, they all heart panting and turned to see Kazuyuki standing there with one hand on the doorframe and the other on his chest. "Asaka, what is it?" Professor Kooji demands. "I...spotted someone outside, and they're wearing a very similar helmet to that Darkstar pilot we saw!" Professor Kazuyuki answers breathlessly, as he falls on one knee. Candice's mother walked over to help Professor Kazuyuki up. "Heh...thank you." Professor Kazuyuki says. "You could say that with a bit more sincerity." Candice's mother replied. "Let's go see who it is."

As they all ran out of the school and onto the street, they saw a figure standing there. This figure appeared to made entire or organic looking, red and black metal. Its head indeed resembled the pilot's, although the visor glowed more, and there were other differences. The sword it was holding was a Jintachi, which was black with a red hilt and tip, and a glowing orange blade. "Identify yourself." Professor Kooji says. "I am...Max." The figure, Max, says. "Cut me down." Max says this as it, he, brandishes his sword, before rushing at them.

Candice watched in horror as one of the guards that had previously survived was cut in half with no effort, and before she could react. Max turns towards the others. Candice's mother begins firing at Max, who reflects the lasers off of his visor as he rushes to cut her gun in half, and open her arm. "Gh!" Candice's mother growls, as she kicks Max, the sound of bones cracking being heard. "No!" She roars, as Max kicks her back, sending her through the building. "No human can match me." Max says, as he turns towards Bertram.

"Well...this is ba--woah!" Bertram doesn't have time to finish his sentence as Max had already slashed at him, Betram barely creating a forcefield to keep him away. Max slashes bullet after bullet out of the air and rushes to slash down Jack, Andromeda protecting him by leaping in front of him and sending her psychic weapons at the robot. Max responds by blocking with his sword, which erupts an energy blast to knock Andromeda and Jack back, sending them through a street lamp, which bends and breaks.

Kasper creates machine guns to fire at Max with, the latter, slashing each and every bullet out of the air with little difficulty. Kasper then summons a flurry of razor blades and sends them at the robot, who just does the same thing with them as he did the bullets. Max closes in on Kasper, who quickly raises a forcefield to block, the forcefield cracking from one strike from Max. "Kasper!" Candice shouts, as she sends her Psychic Weapons at Max, who swings his sword to block them. He unleashes an energy blast at Candice, who closes her eyes and expects it to hit her.

It doesn't.

Candice opened her eyes and expected someone to be there, but there was no one between her and where Max was. Max now was facing off against Bertram, who's shield was failing. "Dammit! Where did Darkstar get someone this talented?!" Bertram shouts, as he unleashes a blast of energy at Max to send him back. Max takes the hit and swings his sword to finally break through the shield and cut Bertram's shoulder, Betram having ducked just in time as he creates footholds to get himself to safety and supposedly plan something.

"This is looking bad." Professor Kazuyuki says. "Do you think he was once part of New America's...?" "No...if he were, then the two of us wouldn't be enough." Professor Kooji responds, as Max almost seems to scoff. "None of us even know what that place is like. It's far more likely that, given your status, you're the best this world has to offer." Max says. "So, when I unfortunately kill you, that'll be that." Max then rushes at Professor Kooji, as he swings at him. Professor Kazuyuki rushes in front of Kooji to block with his own sword. a Katana made of platinum it appeared, as Max leaps back to avoid being slashed by Kazuyuki.

"Did you just hesitate?" Professor Kazuyuki asks. "Did you? That was a fluke if not." Max answers, as Professor Kazuyuki gets out of the way. "Everyone, get out of here!" Professor Kazuyuki shouts, as everyone does as they're told and gets far away. "Why are we running?!" Candice shouts. "If 'Max' struggles with us, he's got no chance against the headmaster. The rest of us have weapons that combat alien species. Kooji? He combats natural disasters." Bertram says, as Candice looks back and sees Professor Kooji creating a missile. "Even if he can react, the damage'll get to him."

Professor Kooji then fires, as the missile hits its mark, Max appearing to have tried to slash it. The blast knocks them off their feet and obliterates the nearest buildings, as Professor Kooji almost appears to ride the shockwave. The heat on Candice's skin was intense, it felt like she was inside a massive oven, was the least she could describe it. They hit the ground, with some pain and injury, and looked over. The smoke cleared slightly, as they saw the burned hand of Max, along with one half of his Jintachi.

"Well...that was...not good..." Candice says woozily, as she passes out.

## Chapter 30 - Romuald Labs

Everyone was riding a train through the city, and knew they'd be where they needed to go in a few minutes--a laboratory office building apparently. Andromeda was leaning on Jack's shoulder as Kooji walked into their car. "I should've briefed you all more." Kooji says. "We're visiting Romuald Labs to see if Max's sword matches with the slash wounds found on Rachel." "Romuald Labs?" Kasper asks. "Yes, we're aware of the...differences between them and the Maibaum Gaming Company, but we need to cooperate." Kooji answers.

The train then arrived at a tall, beiger building, which was shaped like a pyramid at the top, said pyramid missing a chunk of its right half. They exited the train and watched as the doors were opened. They saw a woman with braided black hair, and wearing dark brown glasses with light blue lenses. She also wore a closed suit jacket with a U-neck shirt beneath, and appeared to wear tailored pants and point shoes which were round around her ankles. The woman then steps to the side. "You may enter, Headmaster Kooji. Your accomplices are to remain with you for the duration of your stay." The woman says.

Everyone is shown around the large building, as they see plenty of inventions, and other visitors. People who saw Andromeda shied away, as Andromeda stayed close to Jack. "This elevator will bring us all up to the Chairman's primary office." The woman says. "If you wish to meet him, you must enter via this elevator." Andromeda takes a moment to think of something, as it only makes her more suspicious of this place. One of those inventions was like a weapon. And this place didn't seem all that affiliated with the military.

They entered the elevator as the woman pressed the button to go to the...50th floor. They all feel the elevator zoom upwards towards the floor, it was almost dizzying, yet it finally stopped, and they were able to move thankfully. The door opened and they saw this place resembling a fancy hotel. They walked along the corridors lit by artificial torches...or were they real?, as they came to a stop in front of a polished wooden door with a golden handle on it. The woman places her hand on the door and knocks once. "You may enter." A voice says, as the woman opens the door and they walk inside.

The chair was turned away from them, and was rather tall for a swiveling chair. The desk was the same kind of wood as the door, and phone appeared to be of a rather old design. There were a few papers, but most seemed sorted. "Are these our guests?" The voice asks again. "Yes, Sir. These people are here to speak with you." The woman answers. "I see...guard the entrance." The man orders, the woman obliging and walking out of the room. "Hello...Romuald Compere." Kooji says, as the chair swivels around and they see Romuald.

He looked like he was very tall, and muscular. His hair was bright orange like fire, but almost seemed to resemble fins. His hair also formed a beard in the same style, and he wore a black leather jacket over a red suit. This jacket had orange lines and metal orange buttons all over it, and two of the lapels were tucked into the other two. He also had gloves on his hands that exposed his fingers and his face, which had piercing blue eyes, was dead serious. Romuald looked at Andromeda and raised an eyebrow.

"A Socqreath? Two?" Romuald demands. "Yes, they're our students." Kooji answers. "Students? That school is supposed to teach how to fight off against beings like them." Romuald retorts. "Anyways, you wanted to know about Jintachi? They can't make clean stab wounds, not the type the de Fidellis brothers use." "de Fidellis?" Jack asks. "Yes, two brothers who are to my knowledge the most wanted non-terrorist criminals in New America." Romuald answers. "Darkstar must have gotten hold of one of them. Because the younger, and saner, brother was named Maxwell de Fidellis."

Everyone was silent for a moment, as Romuald spoke again. "Darkstar are savages, they turn most of their victims into cyborg warriors but leave the eyes, eternally frozen in indescribable terror and shock." Andromeda's fists shook, as she growled. "Are you threatening me, girl?" Romuald demands in a threatening tone. "If you are...I will kill you. All of you." "You'll...kill Jack...for me venting my anger about how evil Darkstar is...?" Andromeda demands. "I will kill anyone who threatens my life." Romuald corrects.

Andromeda sends her psychic weapons at Romuald, who tilts his head to dodge one and backhands another away. "It's so obvious where you'd target it's painful." Romuald says, as he gets up out of his chair and everyone sees the fact that he was clearly around eight feet tall. Andromeda runs at him to try and close the distance, as he dodges again and karate chops her, obliterating a part of the wall and sending her falling out of the building. Andromeda sees Romuald holding onto one part of the hole as he looks down at her. She falls onto a truck, and before she can do anything else, it explodes with enough force to shake the city and leave burns on nearby buildings, toppling the nearest ones.

Andromeda thinks she hears a strong grunt, but it was hard to tell through her heavy breathing. Everything hurt. She felt like she had been slammed in the face by an airliner jet. Everything was on fire, wires and girders were crashing onto the ground and sparking. She realized she was missing an arm and a horn, and looked to see a part of the wall in front of her crumble. Through the flames, she saw Romuald walking towards her and staring at her, glaring? He walked to stand a few feet away from her. "How do you think I'd freely move without issue...when I am this tall?" Romuald asks. "With size, comes strength. And with intelligence comes..."

Romuald then dodges a bullet from Jack and grabs his arm to crush it. "GAH! AGH!" Jack screams, as he drops his gun. "...intuition." Romuald finishes. "Intuition and instinct are essential for a battle. One should not overthink every detail." Romuald then flings Jack over him and onto the ground next to Andromeda, before kicking the ground to send them flying into another building, which collapses. Andromeda could barely think. It was harder and harder to focus with each second. She felt herself bleeding out, as she tried to will herself to get the rubble out of the way, even though she knew she couldn't.

"J...Jack..." Andromeda whimpers, as everything goes black.

## Chapter 31 - The Blade Mistress

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A girl nearly shouted, Shunsuke looking over to see who it is. The girl who had shouted had long orange hair and large black eyes. "Hello, there." Shunsuke replies. "I'm Hope Sharpe, and I...well...I wanted to bring you a present but Dad hasn't been all that good in business these days." Hope gave a small, nervous chuckle. "I'm sorry to hear that." Shunsuke says. "I hope your dad is able to earn more soon." "Thanks. We need all the support we can get." Hope replies. "Huh?"

Professor Kazuyuki was leaning against the doorframe and holding a tablet that was black with a glowing pink screen. "Uh, Professor?" Shunsuke asks, as Professor Kazuyuki turns to see him. "Hmm? Oh, I was meant to tell you two the news." Professor Kazuyuki says. "A government base was raided, by one person." Professor Kazuyuki then projects a hologram from his tablet showing the floor of a battle. A man's severed head falls to the ground, as a foot stomps on the camera device, the hologram vanishing.

"What...was..." Shunsuke begins, as Professor Kazuyuki shrugs. "We're not sure, that's why we're going to investigate. Do you two want to come?" Professor Kazuyuki says and asks. "Uh, sure. How are Jack and Andromeda doing, by the way?" Shunsuke answers and asks. "They'll recover soon enough." Professor Kazuyuki answers. "Follow me to the front of the school, we have a bus ready to transport us to the site." Shunsuke and Hope nod, as they quickly follow Professor Kazuyuki out of the room.

They walk through the corridors to the front of the school, and see the transport bus. "It's a wonderful piece of technology, magnets replacing wheels." Professor Kazuyuki says. "Well then, follow me please." They all walk onto the bus and get to their seats, as Hope introduces Shunsuke to her brother, Axel. "We're gonna; get whoever this is!" Hope shouts. "Agreed!" Axel shouts back, as the bus begins to move. They watch buildings zip by and see the sky turning to night. When they finally arrive, they see the main door of the facility torn open. "Who could have done this?" Shunsuke wonders, knowing it couldn't be Romuald due to his status.

It was far worse than what Shunsuke had expected. The corpses were mutilated and the blood looked fresh. Weapons lied on the ground in pieces, and a computer was on. "It looks like they were going for information." Shunsuke remarks. "Well, that is usually the case when you find an open computer." Professor Kazuyuki replies. "I suspect Darkstar might be behind this, and the murder of Rachel." "Why so?" Shunsuke asks. "Because...they have a member with the correctly shaped blades." Professor Kazuyuki answers, as he swings his sword.

The blades that had clashed with Professor Kazuyuki's sword were red and katana shaped, and there were three of them close together. "A Tiger Claw..." Shunsuke remarks, as he notices the woman holding them. Her skin was deathly pale and her hair was a glossy black, her eyes glowing red. Her lips were also red, and she almost appeared to have sharp canine teeth in her sadistic smile. She was wearing form fitting, clearly metal body armor that showed her curvaceous frame. "Why do the hot guys always have to be my enemies?" The woman asks. "My name's Vinicia, I am an agent of Darkstar." "I figured as such." Professor Kazuyuki replies.

Professor Kazuyuki rushes behind Vinicia as a blur, but as he slashes her in the stomach, three slash wounds appear on his own. "Gh!" Professor Kazuyuki grunts. "You're not the only speedster around here, Honey." Vinicia says, as Professor Kazuyuki leaps back and holds his stomach in pain. "I won't give you that chance again." He says, Vinicia laughing. "These claws can cut through steel like butter, your sword will break if I swing the right way." Vinicia replies. "I'm not gonna' let you get away. I'm sure you're the one who killed Rachel, and is causing all this trouble." Shunsuke says, Vinicia turning around and giving him a seductive grin.

"Alright, then. But your fists aren't going to be enough for me." Vinicia says, as she rushes at him and slashes. Shunsuke barely blocks with one arm, which starts bleeding profusely. "Gh!" Shunsuke grunts from the pain, as he punches Vinicia back with his other arm, hearing something crack. "Agh! This armor is supposed to stop tank rounds!" Vinicia shouts. "What kind of monster are you?" "The kind who doesn't want to be one." Shunsuke answers, as he punches the ground to crack it beneath Vinicia's feet.

Vinicia jumps to not be caught as she appears next to Shunsuke and he feels his shoulder get cut. "Won't be long before you lose forty percent of your blood." Vinicia states, as she kicks Shunsuke away, her boot cracking. "I'm surprised you survived against our leader. Allen is a terrifying man." "Stop!" Hope shouts, as Vinicia turns and sees her. "Oh, sweetie. Sorry, but I have to kill your boyfriend, here." Vinicia says. "We just met a few minutes ago." Shunsuke grunts, as he kicks Vinicia away, hearing more cracking as she roars in pain before quickly calming down. "You shattered a rib..." Vinicia growls, as Hope walks towards her.

"What are you going to do?" Vinicia demands. "If it makes me retreat, I'll kill you and your family in your sleep." "You won't get the chance." Hope replies, as she pulls out what appears to be an ordinary gun. "Ha!" Vincia shouts. "That won't do anything to me! I won't even move from here and take it just watch!" "Good, I'm no good with a firearm unless the opponent is standing still." Hope replies, as she fires it, the bullet going straight through Vinicia without slowing down. "Gh! Wh-what?!" VInicia roars. "It's an acid bullet, and there's six shots left." Hope answers. "...Well, then...I'll be seeing you." VInicia replies, as she leaps into the shadows.

"No..." Shunsuke says, as he begins to feel dizzy. "Let me help you." Hope says, as she runs over to help him stay upright. "We managed to scare her off..." Professor Kazuyuki says. "We'll have to keep a lookout. I vote to guard the twins until this passes." "I'm not sure how much I want to agree, but I will." Shunsuke says. "But it's most important if you're alright with that." "Don't worry, if he tries anything I'll melt his face off!" Hope replies. "Good to know." Professor Kazuyuki says with a nervous chuckle. "Now then, we should be getting back to report this."

## Chapter 32 - Rust on my Blade

Jack wasn't sure how many days it had been, all he knew was that he was wrapped in bandages and had a breathing apparatus on his mouth. He felt his wounds having been healed by now, and begins to get out of the hospital bed. Bertram was leaning there. "Huh? What're you...what happened...?" Jack asks. "Don't you remember? You got your asses kicked by Romuald. Don't piss off a guy who's eight feet tall, it's common sense." Betram answers. "Anyways...Kazuyuki's dead."

It took Jack a few moments to process what Bertram had said, before he realized it. "Wh...what...?" Jack breathes. "Vinicia came back for revenge like she said. We should all have been guarding them." Bertram says. "We're dealing with Darkstar, so of course they'll be this much of a threat." Jack had already gotten out of the bed, and ran to see Andromeda. "She's still comatose, though she's perfectly healed." Bertram says. "In fact she healed in a day compared to your month...other students have died."

"Wh-what?!" Jack shouts. "Yeah. Hope and her brother were burned alive, a bully whose name I forgot was found in a pot of molten gold, Rachel's eyes were blinded, and there were again a few others." Bertram says. "Vinicia's a serial killer, so..." "I...don't think she's behind this." Jack says. "Why would Darkstar just let her do whatever she wanted?" "Heh...good point." Bertram says. "Well, hopefully we'll find the culprit soon, before we're all killed." Bertram them walks out of the room.

Jack thought about waking Andromeda, but he didn't want to disturb her peace. He put his hand on hers. "Andromeda...if...you can hear me...I'll be right back. I just need to stop whose doing this." Jack says, as he then walks over to put on all his clothing, grab his gun, and walk out of the room and through the school. He saw a taxi and walked over to it, as the driver saw him and opened the door. "Where are you headed off to?" The taxi driver asks. "I'm looking for someone, consider it official business." Jack answers. "Good enough for me, just don't forget to pay." The taxi driver responds.

As they were driving around the city, Jack looked around, as he saw a puddle of dried blood. "Wait, stop!" Jack shouts. "Huh? What is it?" The taxi driver asks. "I found something." Jack says, as he gets out of the taxi and runs into the alleyway. "Don't forget to pay me!" The taxi driver shouts, as Jack runs through the alleyway, following the blood trail to what seemed like an old industrial site. No one seemed to be present, and Jack walked into the site and looked around for the killer.

"Looking for me?"

Jack, a bit shocked, looks up to see a man holding a rusty red Jintachi in a reverse position above his head, smiling at him and staring with glowing green reptilian eyes. He wore faded orange, beige and red clothing, with rainbow colored scale armor as a skirt. The man's smile widened as he leaped down onto the ground, his sword touching it first as his foot was on the bottom of the handle. "Hello, there! You must be the soldier trainee who's looking for a killer." The man says. "My name is Stefano de Fidellis. You may have met my brother, Max."

Jack then finally noticed Stefano's hair, which was drooping yet spiky, as well as black and gold. "Oh, I'm also a serial killer with fifty thousand kills. Only one person is more wanted than me back in New America." Stefano says. "This blade right here, is my motif." "What...?" Jack asks. "Serial killers have a motif, something about them that makes them unique. Mine is the fact that this used to be a steel girder, until I sharpened it with the bones of my enemies mid-battle." Stefano put his blade in front of his face. "All of my enemies."

Jack then processes what Stefano previously said. "...Fifty...thousand...?" Jack breathes. "F--...fifty...th...THOUSAND?!" Stefano's smile widens. "I love it when people react like that. Where I come from most everyone's too jaded to be visibly scared." Stefano says. "Oh, and you may have missed the part about this being the remains of a girder I swung around." Jack takes another few moments to process this, as he gulps a bit and aims his gun at Stefano. "Won't matter if I fire you down before I'm hit." Jack finally replies, as he fires.

Stefano, still smiling, twirls his blade to stop the bullets, as he rushes at Jack, who, shocked, tries to run backwards and sideways to give himself more space. Stefano claps while still holding his blade. "I'm impressed at your speed. Nowadays most people I fight are cut down at the start." Stefano says. "I'm not gonna' say I'm the pinnacle of humanity, but I do have a lot of battles and kills under my belt like I said earlier. You're not going to win against me, kid." "I don't care, I'm taking you down for what you did to my classmates and teacher!" Jack shouts, as he pulls the trigger to fire again.

Stefano's blade was already stabbed through the trigger, and Jack's hand. "GRAAH!" Jack shouts, as he tries to stay calm like he normally did, but...there was rust on this blade! "And you'll join it." Stefano says. "Yes, I knew what you're thinking. Don't tell me your name, I've already heard too many to memorize." Stefano then slashes to cut Jack's gun in half before stabbing him in the side, or rather trying to, as Jack had ducked and grabbed his hand. "Meh." Stefano says, as he kicks Jack away with what felt like similar force to a wrecking ball.

"Gah!" Jack screams, as he felt multiple ribs broken. "And so soon after you recovered, too." Stefano says. "Soon, you'll be poisoned. I haven't cleaned this blade since I first picked up the girder." Jack was breathing heavily, he felt his heart pounding. Despite all this, he waited for Stefano to walk closer to him, which he did, as he placed his sword at Jack's throat. "Go ahead and throw what you're holding at me." Stefano says, as Jack decides to throw the bullet at him. It grazes Stefano's skin and causes it to bleed, as Stefano grunts a little and turns his eyes to his wound.

"Hmm...again, you're so much more fun than most others I've recently fought." Stefano says. "But...your luck runs out here. Goodbye, boy." Stefano is about to cut Jack's head off when the taxi bursts in from the walls and makes a beeline for them. Jack crawls backwards as Stefano places his sword in front of himself and let it catch on the taxi, beginning to cut through it. "Now will you pay me?!" The taxi driver demands. "So greedy..." Stefano remarks, as he swings a punch at the taxi driver, who had ducked but not noticed the next punch. Blood smeared all across the windows of the taxi and Stefano's fist, as he rips his sword out of the taxi.

"There, now you're finished." Stefano says. "I'm glad I asked where you were before anything else." A voice said, a voice Jack recognized. "Huh?" Stefano exclaims, before they both turned to see Andromeda standing there, and giving Stefano a death glare.

## Chapter 33 - Rust on my Blade (Pt. 2)

"Oh...oh, this is...really...really interesting." Stefano says gleefully. "I didn't know someone like you would have a boyfriend. I can see it in your eyes." "Step...away from him...now." Andromeda growls, Stefano smirking and walking away from Jack and towards her. She didn't know why he seemed so interested in her, but she would kill him nonetheless. "I admired your work before you went good." Stefano says. "Take a look at my eyes, I was...a lab experiment." "I'm supposed to care?" Andromeda demands. "Oh, well...killer to killer, let me tell you that I want this to be a challenge. Winner takes all, including the loser's life."

"I don't even know who you are." Andromeda replies. "That's okay, let me tell you now. Stefano de Fidellis, brother of Maxwell de Fidellis." "What...?" Andromeda demands, before noticing Stefano rushing at her. She barely blocks with a Psychic Weapon, but is still sent backwards. She lands on her feet and looks around. Stefano had vanished. Or at least, it seemed like that at first. She turns around and sends her Psychic Weapons at the wall, nearly striking a sword seemingly floating there.

"Camouflage." Stefano says. "I knew you were thinking that." Andromeda looked at the sword. "What is that?" Andromeda demands. "A Jintachi, created by sharpening a girder with the blood and bones of my fifty thousand victims." Stefano answers. "Do you still see me as irrelevant?" "It doesn't matter how many fights you're in, only the last one." Andromeda replies. "You...will become rust on my blade...human." Stefano's grin widens as he rushes at Andromeda to slash at her, Andromeda managing to block at the last second as she slashes him in the stomach.

"Gah!" Stefano yells, as he coughs up blood. "That's the spirit!" Stefano then strikes the ground, shaking the area. Andromeda runs over to help Jack up, as she sees Stefano coming at her again. Andromeda quickly blocks again, but she couldn't stop the second strike, and was hit in the arm. "Guh!" Andromeda grunts, as she and Jack are sent back crashing into a wall. Stefano watched gleefully as a part of the wall was falling on top of them. Andromeda manages to stop the piece in its tracks and throw it at Stefano, who cuts it in half with one slash, barely moving from his spot.

"Fifty thousand battles gives one a lot of experience." Stefano says. "You think you can beat me?" "I...believe I can, human." Andromeda answers as coldly as she can as she lays Jack on the ground and sends her Psychic Weapons at Stefano, who blocks them all using his Jintachi, however, it began to crack. "What?" Stefano demands, as the Jintachi is cracked further, until if breaks into multiple pieces. "You really are a monster!" Stefano shouts. "I love that coldness in your eyes, that killing intent, far more than your appearance! But...I can't just let you win!"

Stefano then rushes at Andromeda, as she cuts more of his body off. Right when she slashes at his head, he had punched her in the face, sending her crashing through the wall and onto a grassy field outside the city. "Gh...gh..." Andromeda grunts, as she manages to get up ands sees Stefano laying there. Andromeda walks over to him and sees him bleeding from his neck. Stefano chuckled a little. "I know what you're asking...but as much as I'd like it to be the case...I'm not the one who killed those students or that teacher." Stefano says, as he stops moving.

Andromeda stares for a few moments before walking over to help Jack up again, carrying him in her arms. "We should...be getting back." Andromeda says, as she takes Jack back to the school, now sure who the killer must be.

"There you are."

## Chapter 34 - A Magenta Blade

"What now?" Andromeda demands, as she turns to see Sanjuro standing there. "Hello, Andromeda." Sanjuro says. "I'm here to, eh, take you down." "What...?" Andromeda demands again. "You're a real big threat, we've just now found the evidence we need. Have fun being put on trial if we ever encounter you again." "But what does that--" Andromeda is cut off by Sanjuro. "Shh...just...let this be the end of you. I can assure you with upmost confidence that it really is no trouble at all." Sanjuro says, as he points his sword at her.

Andromeda could barely react to the sword extending quickly at her face. She manages to dodge by a hair as she sees it slice through...the entire city! "Wh-what?!" Andromeda shouts. "Nice dodge!" Sanjuro says. "I'll tell you why later, but let me inform you that this sword bypasses the laws of thermodynamics to make its blade as long as I want." "..." Andromeda couldn't think of a response, as Sanjuro sends the sword's blade at her again. She manages to dodge again, as it stabs into a building that had stayed upright.

Andromeda watches as the area stabbed begins to seemingly melt. The rest of the building followed suit. "Wh--what...?" Andromeda glares at Sanjuro, who had the same smiling expression he always did. "My blade has a magnetic acid that can melt through anything." Sajuro says. "Oh...and..." Sanjuro snaps his fingers. "It's five hundred times faster than that." Andromeda stares for a moment, as Sanjuro chuckles. "Good, that got you. Now, then...where should I stab? How about...your heart?"

"No...I won't let you stab there." Andromeda says. "This is a battle, girl. We do whatever we want. Plus...aren't you the one so readily exposing your heart, practically begging for me to slice it in two?" Sanjuro replies, making Andromeda take a few steps back. "You just want to stay loyal to Jack, is that right? Why not show that same attitude towards killing?" "What...killing is--" "Wrong by society's standards." Sanjuro cuts Andromeda off. "But do you, a Socqreath, really have to abide by human laws?"

"Yes, otherwise Jack--" "You don't actually know how Jack would behave." Sanjuro says, cutting Andromeda off again. "For all you know, it'd be a relief to know everything about you. He's a soldier so he'll understand if you kill people. And aren't people in a healthy relationship fine with their partner being naked?" "Shut up!" Andromeda roars, as she sends her Psychic Weapons at Sanjuro, how uses his sword to block. "Get it through your skull, good and evil don't exist." Sanjuro says, as he swings his blade at her again, Andromeda barely managing to block with another Psychic Weapon.

"Morals are merely constructs created to control how people think." Sanjuro continues. "Those like me are free from that control." "I'm not like you!" Andromeda screams. "Stop saying I am!" "But you are. Obviously you have some differences but the similarities are still there." Sanjuro replies. "It takes confidence to show off in public, well confidence and a disregard for social standards. Killing's the same way." "Not it isn't!" Andromeda yells. "Yes it is, you immature girl." Sanjuro retorts, beginning to sound annoyed."

"Actually, I haven't told you yet, have I?" Sanjuro says. "I'm the Galactic Defense Force's Head Scientist, and I love...killing...Socqreath." Andromeda takes a moment to process Sanjuro's words, before attacking him with everything she had. Sanjuro blocked each and every Psychic Weapon, before leaning and spinning to swing his blade around in a circle. Andromeda barely managed to block again, but this time her finger had been hit, and immediately melted. "Gh!" Andromeda growls.

"Now then, to deal with you for good." Sanjuro says. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one--" A hand was on Sanjuro's arm. "It's been a while since the last time I saw you...Councilman Kiyomasu." Andromeda saw who it was, the man stopping Sanjuro was indeed Kiyomasu...Kiyomasu. "Please, let her go, don't make me use force to stop you." Kiyomasu says. "I'll keep an eye on her, you can return and report that you caused a good number of civilian casualties." "...Very well, then." Sanjuro says, as he uses a device to teleport away.

"K...Mr. Kiyomasu..." Andromeda breathes. Jack was awake by now, and had seen what happened most recently. "It's been a while, Andromeda. You've certainly grown a lot--gah!" Andromeda had punched Kiyomasu to the ground. "I'm with Jack." Andromeda says. "I wasn't talking about you being attractive! Ow, my nose!" Kiyomasu slightly shouts. "Anyways...in case you were wondering...Sanjuro isn't your killer, but I know who is." "What...who is it?" Jack asks. "It's..." Kiyomasu starts.

## Chapter 35 - Misunderstanding

"When do you think they'll be back?" Candice asks. "I'm not sure." Kasper replies. "I hope it's soon, though. We need to get everything sorted out." Andromeda and Jack were beaten up by the Romuald Company, his family's rivals for generations. Romuald had made an enemy out of him by attacking his friends. He didn't know how to fight him, though. He was a monster in brute strength. "Well, I think they'll be back soon." Candice says. "Surely they will be, who could keep them any longer than this."

At that moment, the door opened, as Andromeda, Jack and Kiyomasu walked into the room. "You're back!" Candice shouts, as Shunsuke had entered the room and sees them. "Where were you guys?" Shunsuke asks. "Uh...fighting a...serial killer." Jack replies. "Yes, but before you ask, he isn't the one who killed all these students, nor was the one we fought after." Kiyomasu says. "Yes...it was Kazuyuki." Andromeda says. "Kazuyuki's dead, and he couldn't--" "It was all a trick." Andromeda continues, cutting Kasper off. "I don't believe you." Kasper says. "There's no way that could happen." "Then I'll...beat it into you." Andromeda replies.

"Andromeda, wait!" Jack shouts, as Andromeda walks towards Kasper, who wastes no time making a forcefield for himself. He sees it being struck, and tries to guess where the Psychic Weapons are, as he wraps balloons around of them to try and keep them floating too high to strike them. "Why are you doing this?!" Kasper shouts, as he sees the strings on the balloons be cut. "I said I'd beat it into you if I have to. Kazuyuki did this!" Andromeda shouts back, as the shield breaks and Kasper is knocked back into the wall.

"Kasper!" Candice shouts, as Shunsuke looks at Andromeda. "Can't we sort this out a better way?" Shunsuke asks. "We just tried that and it failed." Andromeda replies. "Call me impatient, but I won't have anyone believing that monster is a good person or teacher." Kasper had already send plunger balloon arrows at Andromeda, who cuts through all of them like butter before Kasper quickly creates a cage to try and trap her with, Andromeda cutting that too as she runs at Kasper to slam him aside with a Psychic Weapon.

"Gah!" Kasper shouts, as he quickly creates a forcefield and sends it forwards to force Andromeda back. He then sends a digital blade at one of her horns, as she blocks it and slashes at him. The Kasper she had stabbed then exploded into pixels. "A clone?" Andromeda demands, as the real Kasper reveals himself. "Yes, I'm going to stop you with as little harm done as possible." Kasper answers, as he sends metal ribbon at Andromeda to try and restrain her. Andromeda cuts through the ribbon and rushes at Kasper to punch him in the face and through the wall.

Kasper held his bleeding nose and managed to get up, before feeling a cut in his arm. "Gah! Are you trying to kill me?!" Kasper screams, as Andromeda rushed at him. "Any friend of Kazuyuki's!" She screams back, as Kasper creates a volley of automatic rifles and fires them, Andromeda catching every bullet except for one that grazes her cheek. "Gh!" Kasper grunts, as he quickly leaps back and opens the door to leave the school. Andromeda continued to come after him, as he formed a missile to strike her with.

Andromeda, although badly burned, was better than most of their surroundings, which had been blasted apart. Although Kasper thought this had to do with her Psychic Weapons. "I need a way to disable them..." Kasper thinks, but before he can come up with a plan, Andromeda was already running at him. Kasper leaps back and creates an army of skeleton warriors to fight for him, but the skeletons were slashed through without issue. Andromeda then grabbed Kasper's arms and crushed them in that same motion. "GAH!" Kasper screams, as Andromeda throws him forward.

Kasper felt multiple bones cracked, and didn't have the strength to continue using his console. Andromeda walked over to him, supposedly brandishing her Psychic Weapons. "N-no..." Kasper pleads. "W-we're friends..." "...I know." Andromeda replies, as Kasper closes his eyes and waits for death. Death that never came. He opened his eyes and saw Andromeda's eyes shocked, as they both saw Candice standing there. "I won't let this keep happening!" Candice shouts. "Please, both of you...stop..."

Kasper was already running away from them. "Wait, Kasper!" Candice shouts. Kasper heard her beginning to cry, but he couldn't stay if he was going to be killed for not believing his teacher was evil. He continued to run until he was sure he was far enough away from them that they could not reach him and thus walked. He heard his footsteps as he walked, and tried to hold his console with his arms. It was hard, and painful, but he had to do it. He couldn't afford to lose all his life's work because of this.

Wait...were his footsteps...louder than they should be?

Kasper stopped walking and heard the footsteps stop a bit before his own. He turns his head around in shock and sees a tall, thin silhouette holding a glowing pink sword. The silhouette seemed to be smiling, the teeth being illuminated by the light. There was also a glowing purple left eye. "Who are you?!" Kasper demands, as the man walks closer, his sword scraping the ground. Kasper then thinks he sees the man more clearly, and what he sees shocks him. He turns to run away, and feels his spinal cord be severed.

Then...everything went black.

## Chapter 36 - Consequences

Candice sat on a stool, looking solemnly down at Kasper's unconscious figure. He was hooked up to IVs and a breathing apparatus, and although the heart monitor was mostly steady, there were still some frightening moments there. Candice wanted to hug him, to kiss him, to tell him it was okay. But...she knew he wouldn't hear her in the slightest. Opening those eyes would show no more life in them in a corpse. Candice allows herself to cry. "Kasper...p-please...please wake up..." Candice whimpers.

Of course it would be no use. He'd probably never wake up. After all...his spine was severed like a twig, and no one was there to treat the bleeding, or, the diseases that could've gotten in. Candice turned towards Andromeda. "...You...you did this." Candice growls. "...I'm sorry...I really am...I...don't know what...came over me..." Andromeda says. "I...I need fresh air." Candice says, as she walks past the two of them, through the hallways of the school, and outside, seeing that it was a near moonless night.

She never realized how lonely it was out here without Kasper. She had been with him for so long, now...she thought she heard something. Candice turned around and saw a figure that looked seven feet tall, wearing a cloak? Standing there, the brightest light behind them. "Who are you?" Candice asks. "...I am...one of you." Th voice, male yet high, and raspy, and distorted, answered. Candice felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up from hearing that voice. "A...nother Socqreath?" Candice asks, as she sees lifted parts of the hood, where horns would be.

"Yes, I am...Cygnus." The Socqreath, Cygnus, answers. "And who, pray tell, are you?" "C-Candice..." Candice stammers, as she sees the tiny, glowing white dots where Cygnus' eyes should be. An optical illusion? "What...?" Cygnus demands. "That's your name? That isn't a Socqreath name." "M-my mother chose it." Candice replies. "Your mother? Must've been a real beauty to produce something like you." Cygnus says, as he suddenly starts cackling. Candice thought her heart was about to burst from how fast and hard it was beating from hearing that disturbing laugh.

"I'm definitely not going to--" Candice starts. "I'm not going to do that." Cygnus interrupts. "Why would a poacher have sex with his prey?" Those words rang through Candice's mind as she repeats them over and over. "P...prey...?" Candice demands. "Yesssssssssssss...Socqreath...are my...prey." Cygnus answers. "Wh--I already have someone!" Candice says, as Cygnus seems to narrow his eyes. "Oh? And who was it that impregnated you?" Cygnus asks. "Uh, not impregnated, I-I think...but...I do have a boyfriend...had...a boyfriend..."

"Suspending my morbid curiosity...I'm going to ask if you broke up." Cygnus says. "Wh-what? No! He...his spine was...cut in half." A pause, before Cygnus laughs again. "Serves the thing right!" He yells. "What?!" Candice screams. "No! He means everything to me!"

Cygnus stops cackling.

"...What...?" Cygnus demands, as he tilts not just his head, but his entire up half to the left, the sound of bones cracking being heard, which sent chills down Candice's spine. "I h-have...human friends..." Candice answers, as Cygnus seems to tilt just his head more to the left, more cracking being heard.

"...Friends...? ...Friends...?" Cygnus demands. "I cannot...comprehend such words. ...Humans are not...friends...and they are not...monsters...they are toys. PLAYTHINGS! ...That...is what they are here for. That...is why they exist, so that we may toy with them! ...You...you show friendship, compassion towards toys! Can you not SEE how childish that is, fellow Socqreath? We, are above them, superior to them in every, single, way! The fact that you see humans as friends, not the...toys that they are, shows just how childish you are. I am done with this conversation."

Candice sees multiple sword-like Psychic Weapons form around Cygnus, as they fly at her. "Gh!" Candice shouts, bracing herself. Then, she sees something odd...the Psychic Weapons were dissipating! "What?!" Cygnus demands, as he sends more of his Psychic Weapons at Candice, these weapons also dissipating. "...I see...so your power is...tearing apart light." Cygnus remarks. "What...?" Candice wonders. "Socqreath can...access powers with their Psychic Weapons. I could...demonstrate mine, but it would be a waste of time to continue trying to strike you with just my mind." Cygnus says, as he rushes at Candice.

Candice barely manages to block with her arms, which Cygnus' claws, which looked like long orange spikes, bounced off of. "Hmm?!" Cygnus growls, as he slashes again to cut into one of her arms, which...sparked. "Cybernetics..." Cygnus says. "What Socqreath gave you those scars?" "...It was...my..." "Your what?" Cygnus demands. "Speak up!" "...No. You'll just snark about that, too." Candice replies. "But I think...that you're the killer." "Of who? You'll have to be very specific." Cygnus retorts, as he places his claw in his robe. A weapon? Candice raised her guard, as she saw that he was, in fact, merely removing the black cloak.

He wore a form-fitting, purple, neck-to-ankle trenchcoat which had a second suit on the torso, along the middle ran hexagonal buttons, from his neck down to his ankles, and there was one line connecting each hexagon. He had spike wristbands and a spiky neckband, and his horns were shaped like thorns. His eyes were black with those glowing white pupils, and he wore a metal mask with more of those spikes running down the middle, and connecting to bands that wrapped around said mask. All this revealed that he was not only tall, but thin, almost not looking like a Socqreath at all. Yet that outfit...the scarce Black-Eyed Clan used it.

And his hair...it was a dark, yet greyish blue, that also shone in the moonlight. Cygnus grabs his cloak and puts it back on as a cape, as he stares at Candice, who just stared appalled. "Y-you're from the--" Candice is unable to answer before she is slashed across the stomach by Cygnus, as she tries to fly, but Cygnus kicks her Psychic Weapon to make her fall before punching her into a building, cracking the concrete. "Don't underestimate me for my looks." Cygnus says. "Now, then, to demonstrate my power."

Cygnus sends his Psychic Weapons at her again, but this time Candice didn't have the time to stop them, and is struck in multiple areas. Immediately, the thought of Kasper's condition enters her head, and she keeps thinking about how it could get worse, along with the fact that Cygnus might have a hidden weapon. Her heart pounded, her head was swimming, her breathing became difficult. She tried to look menacing, but she could barely stand up. "No tolerance? Too bad. Now, then...to explain." Cyngus says.

"E-ex--" Candice is unable to finish the sentence, as Cygnus continues. "Fear is the most powerful weapon of all. It warps logic, bends rationality, destroys sanity, crushes freedom. To those I strike fear into, they become my slaves." Cygnus says. "Now, then...I think I'll be taking those horns of yours." He walks closer to her, seemingly intentionally slowly, as she feels more and more frightened, unable to think. Unable to move. He continued to walk to her, as he brandished his claws. Candice closed her eyes and gave out a small whimper. Or intended to. What came out instead as a terrified, tear-filled scream.

"Step away." Andromeda's voice says, as both Candice and Cygnus turn to see her, Jack and Shunsuke standing there in fighting position. Cygnus laughs again, as Candice's heart felt ready to burst. "Is this your motley crew?!" Cygnus demands. "Why is there so much...human?!" "Are you the one attacking Candice?" Shunsuke asks. "No, that's the lamp post, OF COURSE I AM, YOU DIMWIT!" Cygnus screams. "Just making sure." Shunsuke replies, as the three of them then face Cygnus. "I...don't need you to forgive me...but I am...sorry..." Andromeda says. "And you...you're dead."

"Oh?" Cygnus mocks, narrowing his eyes. "Then let's see how your resolve does."