Elfen World (Remake)

*the day of the battle*
Viva La looked with wide eyes and with his jaw dropping to the floor as he sees Ariel trying to slam her opponent again and again, and doing that pretty well.

“She is the one who needs protection?” he said aloud, baffled and confused. He said it aloud just a few moments before realizing just how loud he said it. It was just loud enough to be able to be heard through the surrounding noise.

That terrified him.

He was sure that Ariel most likely would not give him any attention and just assume it was just background noise or something like that, as she seemed too concentrated on slamming her opponent, but he was not sure whether her opponent had ignored him as well.

He tried to raise his AK-47 but for reasons he did not fully comprehend he was unable to bring himself to lift the gun and take the safety off, let alone pull the trigger.
It was just too much against his ideals to do so.

Instead he prepared himself to run or jump out of the way, or grab the first opportunity that arises to get the two of them out of this fight and explain to Ariel he is on her side before she would likely kill him for not being a diclonius or for some other reason.

Though he realized that it would need an artillery strike or something to break up this fight, he even wondered whether it would be that great of an idea to actually break up this fight, seeing as for at least the moment Ariel was winning.

He looked around quickly trying to find something before he would be turned into a mush of flesh, blood and bones when he suddenly noticed three things rolling around close by, feeling as if it was too good to be true.

A flashbang grenade, a smoke grenade and one of those smoke grenades that the officers had been provided before this battle. No briefing on what type of gas it was for the soldiers, just that it was gas.

He jumped towards the three different grenades and immediately took them all. He put the gas one away in a pouch he had, not wanting to waste it but before he could decide on the other two grenade he looked back over at the fight, hoping to god that neither of them were coming for him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*the day after the battle*

It was all finally done.

Darwin was packing his things.

He had started the project long before anyone else, as early as he could change DNA. It had been a decade of hard work, hellish hours, heavenly pay and benefits, and transcending accomplishments. It was all completed.

Darwin was a grandfather when he was employed by Ragnar. He had since then added a great to it. His wife had died long before he had gotten any work done on this project. He was the last of his sibling now left, the others having died out of old age before him.

Darwin had ever since he was a child read the works of his idol and the one he named after. He was entrenched in this world of wonder for himself despite having lived in a far more conservative house holding than one would expect for someone who never stopped reading about evolution.

When he was younger he had hard time with many subjects, except for biology. He was held back in almost every class by one year with the exception for biology. He was far ahead of his peers in biology that he completed university level biology before anyone of the same age of him had completed elementary school.

He was early on a biologist and became one of the first geneticists when that field developed into existence. He had for a decade before being employed by Ragnar trying to work on genetics, but kept on running into funding problems. No company wanted to fund his research due to the high costs, the long time it would take, in some cases ethical reasons, several times due to it being a threat to an entire industry and etc. By the time Ragnar picked Darwin up onto this project Darwin was jobless, no one wanting to employ him and anyone that might have wanted to either bribed or threatened by industries that would lose out on his discoveries. Despite being jobless he had still gotten some progress on his research, but it had not been enough at all.

Then came that day. While struggling to find a job somewhere Darwin suddenly got a letter. Darwin had expected it to be some bills or something else. To his amazement it was from one of the biggest companies in the world. He had heard something about the owner having died and left his inheritance to someone that had been kept anonymous, and amazingly enough they had somehow kept the interest in that very low, though at the moment Darwin did not understand why.

Darwin saw that it had an old looking seal, he however was almost certain that it must have been just recreation as it was clearly shown with a T. Rex head as a marking, though Darwin had to admit he was impressed. He was not so much impressed the fact that it had an old looking seal, he just assumed that was to make it look very fancy, but the fact that the detail in the marking seemed to be almost impossible to get.

Darwin opened it and read it. It was short.

“You are hired
Come to Tokyo Japan
Driver will pick you up for us to discuss the contract and the project
-Ragnar Týrson”

Darwin did not recognise the name but was in too much shock to see that part. With the letter there was a first class plane ticket to Japan, five thousand dollar bundle of money and what looked like some special type of certification.

That was the day when Darwin had been employed by Ragnar and that was the day when his dream could come true. His dream to accomplish something that even his idol would have been humbled by.

The memory of the first day flooded his mind as he started packing his things up. He did not need to leave right away but he did not want to spend a second longer here if he was not working. The job had given him a purpose, a goal, everything he needed out of life he had gotten from his job.

Now, with the project over and therefor also his job over he did not want to stay any longer. He just wanted to get away from this place, for every moment he stayed there he would be constantly reminded that his job was over and so did all of his drive. He had done it all and now felt useless, just another man going into retirement where he could lay around, gather dust, and slowly rot away with his body.

He thought he would be so much happier having accomplished the project. having finished a project that will change the world forever, yet, even though he had done something unimaginably great, he felt now having no point left in his life.

It was at that moment he suddenly got an email on his computer. Darwin was about to log off his computer when it came. He guessed he would answer it first but then immediately noticed something unusual about it.

“M.E.S.”

It was an old part of the project that had been inactive for a while. They were called the Mutation Extraction Squad, or M.E.S. for short. They had helped find a lot of key mutations and other such things around the world for the project, it had however been decommissioned several years ago when they had gotten dangerously close for being caught.

But now Darwin was baffled, these guys should not have anything to report, unless someone had hacked their inactive account, but that was almost impossible.

Darwin opened it and his eyes went wide. As quickly as he had opened it he suddenly called all the other researchers and scientists and told them “The project has been renewed and a new unique specimen is coming, all of our pay has been doubled if we choose to return”

Darwin was overfilled with joy of the news and even more happy seeing what specimen had been caught and was being sent their way. He felt life returning to his body and felt twenty years younger. Everything had become perfect again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*three days before the battle*

One hundred men got a message they were not expecting. They were to be rehired back, get paid much more and far higher funding suddenly. For several years they had mainly lived on the payment that they got for being prepared to take the job again, but most thought they would never be hired again.

Now one hundred men were being put under the care of an entire hospital as the effects of the injection they got started setting in.

They had been sent it along with odd new suits. The suits seemed to be mechanical to some degree but they were incredibly thick, some of the men making jokes that they were wearable tanks. The surprise on their faces became apparent when they found the suits being incredibly light. The suits were made out of the same materials and had very similar design to Ragnar’s robotic arm but adapted to a full body suit.

Before they could try out the suits they were beckoned to elsewhere. Where they were beckoned to were many syringes, hundred to be exact. They were told that they would have to be put into medically controlled coma for the injection to work properly. They were told it would only take three days.

They got almost the same injection as Ragnar had gotten.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Day of the battle*

One hundred men, fifty of them from europe, awoke. They felt odd, like that their bodies had changed completely. It took them a bit getting used to it. Their muscles felt stronger and more efficient, they felt much lighter thanks to their lighter and stronger bones, and they had one other advantage that they soon discovered, they had both faster and more advanced thinking capability, and while they could not feel it they had also become immune to viruses. However the gene that changed their brain to be faster and more advanced thinking was not as strong as that Ragnar had been given, as they wanted to be sure that they would not be overwhelmed by it, though that still meant a massive twenty five percent increase.

After they were allowed to get used to their new bodies they were quickly given the suits and told what their group was now to be called.

The varangian guard.

Quickly they were given assignments and sent out. Most of them were being sent to some less developed countries to extract safely some dicloni before they would be killed by a lynch mob or the government or just some crazy nutball. They were carrying massive weapons, most of them were amazed they could even carry them. The suit helped support them in their movement and also helped them absorb the inevitable attacks they would get. The suit made them all look at least seven feet tall.

A few of them were however given a different task. They were to find special mutations and extract the specimen from there alive. It was what the organization had been doing before they were decommissioned several years ago.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*The day after the battle*

A young dicloni runs as fast as she can from a lynch mob that is after her. She would have tried to kill them and escape but she is being chased by many dozens of people wielding guns, throwing rocks, some even throwing gas and smoke grenades, few carrying even molotov cocktails, and she was simply not strong enough with her powers to fight them back.

She was breathing quickly with tears in her eyes. She was trying to run to the airport, having heard that she might be able to escape the country and arrive to some different place that was taking in dicloni like her. The airport however was many miles away and the lynch mob was not planning to let her escape alive.

Some of them had lost their sheep, pigs, cows, chickens and various other animals and even a few children and one homeless man had gone missing. Then when they found her alone with a dead bloody body of an adult they presumed she was the one who had been killing the children and the animals.

None of them bothered to check who had been killed and what that man was carrying before the whole mob had been assembled and started chasing her down.

The dead man was discovered to be carrying a gun, some drugs, several different preserved organs, and he was not from the town. But it was too late, those that had discovered this about the man would not be able to stop the massive and mad lynch mob.

The young dicloni girl was not even five years of age, the closest thing she had as parents was a single homeless person who shared his meals with her.

The homeless person could not provide a lot to her but did help her hide from others and helped keep her from starving. For a homeless man in this country he was living a pretty good life. The man had a job but simply could not afford any place to live without taking the risk of starving himself. The man had found her when she was three.

She had planned to kill him when she found him and saw his food, expecting there to be no other way to not have some people chase after her or to get his food. The man had however called her over and gave her half of his food. That had been enough for her to not kill him.

They had become friends over the two following years. He disappeared recently though, leaving her starving and alone, which did not end well for her nor for the man who tried to use that opportunity.

She had killed the man that had been found, but the man had planned on capturing her. He expected a young captive dicloni would come at a very nice price on the black market.

The man had however messed up.

Now she ran on her tired legs, using her vectors the best she could to deflect the rocks and other stuff being thrown at her. Her vectors were very weak and could not deflect most of the shots being fired at her.

A few gas and smoke grenades reached over to her. The smoke made her cough violently and sting in her eyes. She closed them while tears fell out of them from the pain. She held her breath as she ran through the gas and closed her eyes.

Finally she tripped on a rock that she could not see as her eyes were still closed and stinging from pain from the smoke and the gas and her whole body was already getting tired and weak, not to even mention the fact she had not eaten enough food.

She tried to get up as she heard the lynch mob getting closer but suddenly froze as she heard a loud thump right in front of her. She opened her eyes and saw a giant black boot. She tried to look up all the way but the man that was wearing the giant black boot was from head to toe in a massive black suit. He looked like a giant to her. His face was hidden behind his mask that she could tell was a gas mask of some description.

The man was carrying a massive weapon. She thought it was a gun but thought it looked odd, it had multiple of barrels and each barrel had a huge caliber. The barrels also seemed a bit short compared to the overall size of the weapon. She swore it was bigger than her. The man was carrying a massive grenade launcher, something that the little dicloni did not know as she had never seen it before.

She was terrified and thought the man was about to shoot her or something. She was sure he could just step on her head and kill her. She closed her eyes, laid down, covered her head with her hands and braced for it.

But it never came.

She heard the massive and heavy movements from him walking over her and past her. Surprised she looked up from her cowering and saw the man was now between her and the lynch mob. Suddenly a loud voice came from the man in the black suit.

“Stand down in the name of King Ragnar. If you do not comply and let the diclonius go with us or you will be fired upon by us, the varangian guard.”

She was surprised, terrified, relieved, fearful and confused. It took her a few moments to realize what he said. She noticed one odd thing though. “Us?” She looked around but could not find anyone else. When she looked back over to him her eyes went wide as someone threw a molotov cocktail right at him. The man was engulfed in flames and her fears of the lynch mob returned.

But then, something happened that terrified the lynch mob. The man in the suit started walking calmly towards them. The whole suit was engulfed in flames but the suit seemed to be unaffected, as well as the man in the suit. The man raised his grenade launcher, getting the lynch mob to disperse in fear. He shot three times. Each time was almost completely silent when he shot. He was not shooting something explosive, as he had not been given permission nor had the conditions allowed him to use explosives. However he was fully within his powers to shoot out smoke grenades. The impact from it made those that were aimed at and shot by it fall down in pain and getting a bit hurt but nothing serious. The smoke helped make the mob disperse away faster.

She was wide eyed seeing all of this happened and was not snapped out of it till she suddenly heard someone walking to her and calling to her “Do you need help standing up?”

She looked over to where she heard that and saw another man in the same kind of suit. The man seemed to still keep his distance a bit from her but she felt safer now. She nodded and as soon as she had the man walked over to her and helped her up on her feet.

Another successful extraction of a dicloni from a lynch mob.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another varangian guard unit had been sent far from any lynch mob, or any form of civilization would be besides the road. It was the biggest unit of them all. Ten men strong. They did not need more than that.

They had weapons that were massive and powerful, but they were not the primary weapons. Their primary weapons were non-lethal.

This was the mutation extraction squad.

They were going to a remote place where according to reports, sightings and other possible sources that someone was living at. But not just anyone, but someone special and unique.

They had very little information on the person they were going to. All they knew is that the person was not a dicloni and that the person was human with some kind of advanced mutation.

Eventually they get out of their vehicle with the exception of two who stay behind with the vehicle in case they have to get out of there fast or if someone tries to hijack the vehicle.

They now just hoped that the reports were not made up, this was their best bet at finding someone with a new mutation. They had gotten so many mutations before the group had been decommissioned years ago that it was hard to find something new or worthwhile. They also were still getting back into the swing of things and so far this was the only thing they had gotten over the short time they started again.

As they walk through the woods they had entered from the road one of them hears something “Did anyone else here something?” The others look around trying to see or hear something. A raven suddenly flies past them as well as several other birds. They conclude that it was most likely just those birds.

All of them conclude that, except one, who saw something bigger than a bird seeming to dash in the shadow as the others looked away from there. It was quick and he did not get a good enough look of it, but it seemed to be going the way they were heading.

The eight men start closing in to the location that they suspected the person was hiding at. Eventually they got to a small house in the trees. Several of them went up while others stuck around on the ground close to the house in hiding.

They could not find any ladder up the tree and up to the house and assumed whoever was living there was either incredible at climbing up trees or were p in the house with the ladder up there so that no intruders could actually get into there, or at least no intruders that you could account for.

It was a hard climb for most of those that went up to get to the house but all of them got up there eventually. However when they reached all the way up they could not find any ladder there nor any person inside. However it was clear that it was not just abandoned by the huge assortment of items, even some very new grocery food in a portable fridge up there, and working solar panels that seemed to be powering the little house could be found.

Those that had gotten up there however did wonder how this person could buy some groceries, considering it took many hours just to get over here on a car and there seemed to be no vehicle anywhere close by. It is even more confusing considering that the person that is supposed to be here is supposed to have a major mutation, and even though they did not know the specifics of it they assumed it must be hard to hide whatever it is.

One of those that still was on the ground was the one who saw something dash in the darkness of the forest earlier.

He was the most disinterested in his job. He had taken up a job at a pet store after his main paying job had been decommissioned but he was still getting paid from it. However he did love the fact he could travel a lot on this job and see many different animals.

As he was in hiding he noticed a small bunny moving up close to him. He smiled and pulled out some extra lunch he had taken, some carrots. The bunny started eating it and he smiled. Though the fact that the bunny did not run away from him made him wonder whether it might have been a pet, or maybe still is a pet.
Moving his eyes a bit away from the bunny he noticed two cyan eyes staring over to him and the bunny. The eyes seemed to show some worry. Almost the instance as he looked over whoever owned the eyes suddenly disappeared behind a closeby tree before he could get a proper look of the person.

The man stood up and walked close to the tree, holding his tranquilizer gun and walked up close to that tree and said “I am not going to hurt you, what is your name” No answer. He then asked “Are you a bit shy? It is alright, you do not have to talk, may I see you?” No answer again but this time the person stepped out from behind the tree. Before he could get a good look on the person somebody else had got a good enough look and shot a tranquilizer at her.

Before she faded into sleep she could hear a few words from them. “I got her!” “Why did you do that!?” “Are you blind, she clearly is the one we are looking for” “What do you mean-oh, I have never seen something like that on someone, how in hell did she hide those?” “Quick, pick her up and get her out of here!” and the last thing she saw and felt before entering deep sleep and till she would wake up again was the bunny going up to her a nuzzling her and the man she had just met picking her up, a face of guilt she could see behind his mask.
-----------------------------------------------------------
words: 4202

"You aren't strong enough to win this... slipelit." She knew how much Alice hated her and took pleasure in taunting her.

“HAHA! Are you stupid? I’m not a slipelit...I AM A QUEEN! And I will always be stronger then you will ever be!” Alice then felt Ariel’s vectors hit her in the side. “HA! Is that all? I almost didn’t feel that” Alice then responded by using her free vectors to hit Ariel back on her sides. What came next was close to what a sort of bitch fight goes.

"I always hated you!" Slam.

“The feeling is mutual bitch!” Slam.

"Always following Zero like a lost puppy!" Slam.

“I can do whatever I want with Zero! Don’t like it? Tough!” Slam.

"Always acting for his best interest!" Slam.

That is because I am!” Slam.

"Hardly any personality!" Slam.

“That’s ironic coming from a twin!” Slam.

"Puppets like you should just die!" Slam.

That’s rich coming from you!” Slam.

*Slam*

*Slam*

*Slam*

*Slam*

The blows kept coming, the two kept hitting harder and harder at each other.

“You keep mentioning Zero...I think that the truth is that you care about Zero” Alice smirked. “You said you always hated me, but when you keep giving a reason why, Zero is always the answer, you can easily give a reason without mentioning Zero...so why not? Are you jealous? Your sister cared about him enough to respect him, but you continued to treat him like dirt, so why can’t you be like your sister?” Alice smirked. If Ariel didn’t agree to it, it might at least provoke her a bit.

--------------------------

“How very disappointing. Believe me, I am both important and got even more important manners to discuss with the G.O., however, I do understand that certain necessities can keep them busy”

The big man then pulled out from under his shirt some documents and handed the worker it. The documents were mainly information of ways to contact him and also verifications that this was really Ragnar, the diclonius king of Iceland, and soon of other countries as well. “Please do contact me as soon as they are not busy”

The big man then left the building.

“If he knew what are weapons could do...he wouldn’t be glaring at us like that...damn diclonius…” One of the soldiers said. The other one just nodded.

“Whatever, notify our Queen of Ragnar’s presence and tell her that I have done as she asked...then burn the documents, we don’t need this as we already have it…”

“Understood” The soldier took the document and walked with the other soldier as they both began their way upstairs.

(Thought I would add this bit so it would close this part)

*the day of the battle*
Viva La looked with wide eyes and tried to scramble up as he saw that what he thought was the one he was protecting slaughtering the other turned out to not be so simple. He understood every word they said and just was surprised the amount of abuse both of them were taking, he was not sure which he was most amazed over, that both of them were continuing all of this fighting despite how badly hurt they both were or at the very least seemed to be getting, that neither of them seemed to have noticed him as far as he could tell, or the fact that they were actually smack talking each other in a middle of a battle.

Then suddenly, he got worried. He had already been worried before but now a different worrisome thought crawled in his head. “What will happen to me if she dies?”

His breathing became more erratic as the thought consumed him. It increased more and more as he started to think what it would mean for the family that raised him, for anyone who he was connected to, what possibly could happen to all of them if he lets her die in a stupid battle.

He gave a small curse under his breath as he lifted in one hand the flashbang grenade and yelled out with as clear and loud of a voice he could muster in Japanese to get Alice’s attention towards himself and away from Ariel “Over here Zero’s puppet”

He did not know who Zero was and knew very well that this was not gonna end well for him, one way or another, sooner or later, but it was all that he could think up at the moment.

He threw the flashbang towards Alice, he knew her vectors would be useless in protecting her. If she would try to stop it from coming too close she would definitely make it go off prematurely. He was not sure how much Ariel could use this to her advantage, maybe a short opening for an attack or an escape, but he thought this to be the best plan at the moment and was ready for the flash and the bang that was to shortly follow, though he was sure that he was in no way ready for whatever would happen the moment that its effect would wear off.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*the day after the battle*
“Did you have to bring the bunny with her?” a disgruntled man said to one of his partners.

“I could not just leave the thing there to die, plus, remember we have to make sure our target is not physically harmed and that we should minimize any emotional damage that they may suffer, and I think someone like her is very sensitive and valuable” the other one said. In truth, he had thought up his reason after having taken the action. He had done it out of guilt, compassion and pity if anything, this was merely his excuse, thankfully for him, it was good enough.

“Fine, just keep that little vermin away from me for as long as you can, I do not like pests alive and close to me” said the man back, the tone of his voice not becoming any less rude.

The partner that had found their target and the bunny, as well as having carried the both to the vehicle glared at his disgruntled partner and said “Know what, you can just go fuck yourself if you are gonna act like that”

“Both of you, shut the god damn shitting fuck up, you two are already insufferable without being together. I swear to god, the amount of shit that comes from both of your mouths would be enough to start a fertilizer business once we are done working this” said the third man that was unlucky enough to have drawn the shortest straw over who would have to be with the guard and the temporary caretaker to avoid serious conflict between the two.

“You both should be happy at least we are gonna get a big bonus for this one without question. I have not seen such a stark difference from a human mutation besides the diclonius race, and if that is not enough to keep you both quiet, I will just remind you both that she might have something like a diclonius vectors as far as we know, or maybe she is not alone and we have to be ready in case we are attacked, so, now both of you keep quiet and just remain as guards for now and until we reach the airport”

They all finally fell into annoyed and angry silence. It would be hours till it was broken with a look from the one who had carried their target to the vehicle slowly moving his hand to the mutation of their target, touching it gently.
It twitched away.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*the day before the battle*

“Are you sure about that we should not inform any of them about this?” asked one of the men working on the whole varangian guard plan that Ragnar had enacted.

“We cannot inform them, if we did they would never use it, and if they ever discovered it they would surely go straight into depression or post traumatic stress disorder” answered a slightly more matured voice.

“True, but do they not have the right to know?” asked the younger one.

“Sometimes, it does not matter whether someone has a right, if it is worse for him and those around him” answered the older voice back.

“But, this is horrid thing that we are tricking them to do unknowingly, they will end up killing hundreds, thousands, millions, possibly billions if the conditions are right, or rather I should say wrong” answered the younger one back.

“One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.” answered the older one back with coldness in his voice. “Somehow the population has to be shrunk, and this is the best way, small spread of this virus and the rest it will do on its own, at least we still have control over who will survive and everything ready for this plan to go in effect. Animals are safe from it but will still be able to carry the virus and spread it even more, just a small introduction and all the animals and humans will soon be carrying the disease wherever they decide to shoot the smoke at. Anyway, if they are forced to use it, the people who get it probably deserved it anyway. Now shut up kid and get back to work, you are not payed to complain.” said the man, disregarding any ethical problems his statement gave.
-----------------------------------------------------------
words: 1125

Lasciel's attack missed as almost erratically the creatures body undulated and twisted. It didn't matter if it was its arms, legs, neck, body, mouth, eyes, tongue, feet, spine or any organs. As long as the things' brain lived it would survive.

It was like a very ugly, very dangerous cockroach that didn't know how to keel over and die. But perhaps there was enough confidence in Lasciel that maybe she realized that if she kept it up, than eventually a mistake would be made. Eventually his defenses would crumble. Eventually his weakness would be shown. Eventually he would die.

The body began to twist upwards, reforming back. All she had to do what keep up the assault and eventually, whether in a few seconds, minutes or hours, she would win. It was all a matter of time right? But Azathoth Uleus could twist and turn his body into whatever he wanted.

How would she react when Uleus' body twisted itself and turned into the splitting image of her twin sister Alana. Uleus in the form of Alana, indiscriminately attacked Lasciel without warning with a string of terrible tendrils. Would the image of her sister catch her off guard or would Lasciel be able to overcome this set?
---
---

The railguns were blown apart, exploding loudly with each explosion. Hector grinned wildly as the pieces of debris and metal flew around him. Now this was what he lived for, the fight of his life. Going all out to prove who would be victorious.

"Not bad! Not bad at all!" He yelled raising his left hand and swinging it down. From far away another cannon emerged just as Zero fired off another blast.

*BOOM!*

Hector's coat fluttered wildly along with his hair and the dirt and dust kicked everywhere as his blast and Zero's blasted impacted with the force of a bomb.

Dust settled the area, sending fumes and dust into the sky.

"Guuuragh!" Hector wretched and vomited blood all over the ground, his breathing erratic. The effects of "Heaven's Divide" were now beginning to take effect. He lost his balance and collapsed on all fours, still spitting up blood.

"Not enough...it's still not enough. I have...to keep going." He thought, grinning wildly as he did so.

Ariel snarled with rage as Alice brought up her sister and Zero. Her hatred for Zero was so strong that jealousy could not even cover the range of emotions she felt towards him. She deflected many of the blows with one vector at full length twisted in a manner that it covered the entire range of her body. "If it weren't for his influence, she'd still be alive. If he didn't exist..."

At that moment a missile came crashing down forcing Ariel to leap back and extend her vectors to their full length. "Damn Omnibus!" The resulting explosion covered the entire ship as two other missiles struck shortly after the first. She managed to block all the shrapnel from the blast, but was completely thrown off the ship and into another. This one had already been slaughtered by her fellow diclonius sisters. Two of them helped her up.

"My Queen, we should leave. If we stay much longer I doubt we'll survive."

Ariel pulled away from them and scanned the ocean for her opponent. She could still sense her, but the smoke from the missiles and bombs made it impossible to find her. "Fine." She hated not finishing the battle, but her sisters had a point. "Get the others together. We're leaving."

"Yes, my Queen."

--------------------------------------------

Lasciel grinned as the twisted transformation began. It was most fascinating to see. "Alana... I see." She leaped backward to avoid the flailing tendrils. "I must thank you Alana. Were it not for your death, Ariel wouldn't have been able to hear my calls. I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering your image."

She was well aware that this was not Alana, but it excited her even more to be there to witness her death again. She assaulted Uleus once again continued to strike at his head with all eight of her vectors maintaining her continuous assault. Eventually, he'd break down. In a battle of endurance, she had the endurance of two queens at their peak. If she needed she could pull energy from Ariel as well.

"Were you not an abomination I would have appreciated a powerful vassal like yourself. Shame you have to die."

"If it weren't for his influence, she'd still be alive. If he didn't exist..." Before Alice could hear the rest of Ariel's speech, they were suddenly under attack by Omnimbus missles. Alice leapt away from the ship as the missle landed destroying the ship the two were on and sending her on to the island. Alice protected herself as the debris from the ship flew by her. The smoke had lowered Alice's vision, meaning she could not see Ariel, although she could still sense her. But by the time the smoke had cleared, Ariel was gone and she could no longer sense her.

"Damn it! So close to finally getting rid of her...damn Omnimbus..." Alice grabbed the pieces of the broken ship and threw it in the air. As she calmed down she remembered something. "Wait....ZERO! He needs my help!" Alice pulled out her device to find Zero, but because of the battle, the device broke and is no longer working. "No no no! Work! I can't ask Zero to make another one, it would be a creepy thing to ask!"

"Um Zero, I was wondering if you could help repair my device that lets me stalk you..."

"I know I am obsessed with him but that is too weird for me!" While Alice was panicking, she suddenly heard an explosion from the distance. "Wait, that explosion can only mean one thing..." Before she could finish,  she propelled herself in the direction of the explosion, she knew it had to be Zero and she had no time to waste, no matter how hurt she was.

-----------------------

"What are you doing?"Eve asked, worried about Adam.

"What does it look like? I got to get to Jamie..." Adam painfully said, trying to stand up.

"You can't in your condition! " Eve said.

"Yeah? Well what are you going to do about it?" Adam replied to Eve, annoying her. This angered Eve and Adam noticed that she began working on something. Suddenly Adam was confronted by his own helicopter, with the guns pointed at him.

"If you don’t sit back down...I will give you a reason to be in this condition permanently..." Eve coldly ordered. Adam looked at Eve and then at the helicopter. He sighed.

"Your such an annoyance..." Adam quietly said.

What was that?" Eve asked, using the helicopter to fire a bullet at Adam's feet.

"I said you are wonderful" Adam quickly responded.

"Good! Now sit tight for a while as I send the helicopter back home to get some first aid" Eve happily said to Adam as she sent the helicopter home.

-------------------------

Zero connected with his five Bloodshot canons as they destroyed the railguns.

"Not bad! Not bad at all!" Hector yelled as he raised his left hand and swung it down. From the distance rose a cannon, which fired and clashed with the incoming Blooshot cannon that Zero had fired at Hector.

*BOOM*

The impact was so much that it was like a bomb went off. Dust filled the sky before settling. Hector vomited and coughed up blood before falling onto all fours. Zero vomited out blood as well, as the blast had taken so much from him, but he wasn’t going to stop. Zero created a sword with his crystal and began painfully and slowly walking towards the now grounded King of Law.

"I will not stop...if I do then I will let myself down...I will let her down...I will let them down...I can't let that happen...I won't let it happen...I have already almost failed them once, I can't do it again..." Zero got closer and closer until he was just swords length away. "Grand King of Law...Hector Schlenzanner...Reidswood...it is time that you face the consequences of your actions...it is time that I put an end to your reign...it is time to finish this...I will win...my determination won't accept failure...my determination does not allow failure..." Zero then raised his sword. "My determination...WILL BE THE REASON THAT I WILL WIN!!!"

And with that, Zero swung the sword down towards Hector.

*the day of the battle*
Viva had been ready for the loud noise of the flashbang. Viva had not been ready for the shock wave from an omnibus missile, he was quickly thrown off the ship by the first omnibus missile. He had been for the most part lucky with the shrapnel, he had avoided most of it, though not all of it. One piece had gotten through his outfit and stuck deep in his shoulder. Viva however did not have much time to agonize in pain from that shrapnel as he hit hard into the hull of another ship, he was fairly certain something broke on impact as he heard two more missiles that he could not see hit the ship he was on.

Before he would have fallen into the water once again he grabbed something. It took him a few seconds to realize it was one of the grapples that his company used, which while it gave him hope that he could stay out of the water at the very least it did give him dread, knowing that most likely that whoever on board was killed before they could remove this.

Ignoring his pain he pulled himself till he reached the top and onto the ship with a loud audible thump, the wetness of his clothes making it impossible for him to avoid the noise.

He looked at the shrapnel and was relieved as he suddenly pulled it out quickly. It had not hit any major blood vessels nor any major organs, it still hurt like hell though when he pulled it out with a pathetic and loud yelp.

He noticed that he had lost his gun but not his gas nor smoke grenade, which was a mix of relief and dread. His medic kit was still on him completely unharmed, which was his biggest relief. He looked around to try an see any enemy as he was lying down there, almost instantly his blood went cold.

He was less than twenty meters away from three diclonius that seemed to have just finished talking about something. He was way too close to them for what had been recommended, staying further than thirty meters away, but not just that but one of the diclonius there was the queen Ariel. The diclonius were far greater threat to him due to their unpredictability. He could always count on mercy or fear of international war laws to protect him against pretty much anyone else, but a diclonius most likely had neither.

Then, he remembered one important thing. He quickly pulled himself up and said in Japanese as clearly as he could through his mask and raising one hand to his forehead in a salute  “Medic Viva, citizen of Iceland, best medic of the company, resigned under your command my highness Queen Ariel”

He was not lying about what he said, or at the very least it was only half a lie. They had all been told that they had been given Icelandic citizenships and that if they encountered one of the diclonius that they would make that clear, as that would be their best hope of not being killed.

The other part of being under her command, was more out of his choice. His officer had died and he was most likely presumed dead, so he was sort of a free man when it came to finding the one to give him commands, as long as they are higher ranked, and he reasoned to himself that a queen certainly is a higher rank than him.

Now he just hoped she would take him under her command or at the very least take him as a prisoner, because he highly doubted that there would be any other way for him to escape this battlefield alive without either a deal with the devil or intervention from god.

There was another reason though as well, which he would only tell his family and possibly his friends or diclonius. He felt more comfortable around a diclonius than a normal human. He was not certain exactly what characteristic difference that makes him more comfortable around a diclonius instead of a human but he has a feeling it has a lot to do with who raised him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Get the others together. We're leaving."

The one field commander was listening in on the mask of Viva’s. While Viva did not hear Ariel and the two diclonius there due to his concentration of not dying the commander could hear through the listening device on the mask.

“Perfect” he said to himself while he and his squad was being pinned down. He pulled out a mike and said into it “Distraction forces, push as hard as possible, do not stop due to casualties. Support and assault forces, withdraw and reposition, we need to make a clear way out of here for the diclonius forces, no enemy is allowed to intercept or flank the diclonius while they pull back, when they have passed the line area you are defending at you shall pull yourself behind them to make sure they are not overwhelmed from the rear! You do not leave before they do, officers have permission to shoot those that try to desert before the diclonius forces have left! When the diclonius forces have left everyone shall block any forces that try to follow shortly after till commands are given to retreat! All who disobey shall be shot and go unpaid! Order given!”

When he had finished giving the orders to everyone that was wearing an officer mask he suddenly heard again from Viva’s mask

“Medic Viva, citizen of Iceland, best medic of the company, resigned under your command my highness Queen Ariel”

“What!?” he thought before barking into his mike at specifically him “MEDIC, WHAT ARE YOU WEARING AN OFFICER’S MASK FOR!? AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? NOT FOLLOWING ORDERS SHALL GET YOU SHOT!” It took a few moments till he realized that the mask was partially broken and Viva could not hear his orders.

He cursed under his breath and then stopped listening in on Viva’s mask, pulling a pin on a grenade and throwing it at those pinning him and his squad down, which was enough to get those few soldiers to pull into cover for a bit. He himself went out of cover and pulled out his pistol, shooting in the head of each one of the enemy the moment they popped their head out to start pinning them down again.

With the enemy cleared he looked at his squad and said as his jacket blew in the air and he reloaded his pistol “You heard my orders, correct!? Get into position!”

Right away he and his squad moved back to a different position, to where there would be a clear line for the diclonius go through while the remainder of the mercenary company protected the sides as well as they could.
---------------------------------------------------------
words: 1159

Blood dripped from his mouth as he lay on all fours. Sweat poured from his face as the ground cracked around him. God of Law, Hector Schlenzanner slowly, ever so slowly stood up. He lost his balance for a brief second as he toppled forward and then caught himself again.

The enemy was coming, slowly edging his way towards him. He looked like he might keel over at any time as well. Hector put all the concentration he could and the weapons were raised. Constant rains of bullets would arrive. Constant smears of missiles would arrive. The entire area would be lit into flames.

"Heh..." This was fun the old man smiled. No need for anything but the fight itself. The ground was cracking, the entirely island couldn't stand the power that was brought on to it. It was only a matter of time now before it reached its end.

But still...this was fun. Probably the most fun he had ever had in his life. He wanted to win too. He wanted to show his determination as well.

By now, Zero had gotten near Hector and raised his blades. A volley of death from all directions rose out around the island and raced towards Zero and Hector as if the old man was trying to take them both out at the same time.

He saw the blade being raised and smiled fatherly.

"...Not too shabby..."

The blade cut through the upper part of his left shoulder, sprouting blood into the air which continued downward. Metal sliced organs as it slid down his body at a diagonal angle, spitting up more blood into the air. It dug into his body and slashed his heart cleanly in two as a gush of blood spat from his chest.

Hector Schlenzanner's body toppled backwards with blood flying around him. At the same time thew weapons around him seem to explode in a fiery display of destruction in the sky.

With a loud and tremendous thud, the body of Hector Schlenzanner crashed into the ground with blood soaking it entirely.
---
---

It was a slow process, perhaps annoyingly so. But the process would happen anyways. It was just taking some time. Uleus body was getting slower, it was getting harder for him to avoid the strikes. Would it have been better had he still had his intelligence?

Well it didn't matter anymore because then.

*KRSH!*

Uleus body stopped moving and jerked as his head and brains were finally struck after this obnoxious battle.The body squirmed around like a snake being stabbed and then.

It stopped moving...the creature gave out one last feeble breath and then. It spoke. It spoke one last little words to the girl as if that moment of death brought back its intelligence in the most ironic way by destroying its brain.

"...Good job...human."

That was all it said. It's body didn't move anymore, it showed no more life or speech.

Azathoth Uleus was dead.
---
---

The Island shook and broke apart. Zen quickly gave orders to everyone on the island.

"This place is falling down, fall back everyone! Get off the island immediately!"

In just a few minutes, it would all be buried under waves.

OOC: I'll need at least one character to stay on the island. Not going to kill you off but its just needed for me. Who knows, it might be Ariel, it might be Alice. But I need someone, you'll see what I mean in a bit.

Ariel watched from afar as the Island began its final moments of existence. The ship her army had acquired steadily drifted away. She counted all but six of her sisters and mourned their loss. They were fortunate in the fact that the ship they had originally come in hadn't taken much damage.

Ariel felt tired, hungry, and irritated. Where was Lasciel? She should be back by now. There was no way she'd lose to an inferior life form such as Uleus. So where was she?

Sophia approached Ariel, but sensing her irritation she remained silent. Ariel glanced at her. "What is it?" Her tone was unpleasant.

Sophia hesitated before speaking. "Where will we be going next?"

Ariel smiled evilly. "We're going recruiting. We'll need a real army if we're going to destroy the humans. First will be the United States. From what I hear our sisters have it hardest there. We shall liberate them and annihilate our enemy. However, before that we shall need supplies. Therefor we shall take what we need from a nearby port."

Sophia nodded, smiling herself. She felt more relaxed now that her Queen was smiling. "Excellent. I'll let the others know."

Ariel found a place to sit down. "While you're at that, please get me some food. I'm exhausted and starving."

------------------------------------

Lasciel stood triumphantly over the body of Uleus. She could care less about his final statement. She shoved sand over his body to give him a quick burial, as she respected his existence as a warrior. The sea would eventually do the rest. This Island was collapsing, but Lasciel had a feeling not everything happening here was over yet.

She wandered further into the Island wishing to see everything going on here. Her normal fear of going to far from Ariel had completely vanished. She knew that she was now strong enough to survive obliteration. She followed through tunnels and doorways until she entered a devastated crater through a gaping hallway and saw Hector's body.

She clapped her hands with glee. "Marvelous! One threat gone! Shame I missed the fun." She hopped down the newly created cliff and made her way to Hector's body. "One thing that can end my existence is gone now. Shame I feel he's the weakest thing able to do so." Her thoughts went immediately to the Wizards she so hated. "No way I was going to let you work with Wizards though." She didn't care if she was speaking to a corpse or not. She sat down next to his body and looked up towards the sky.

Happiness practically exploded from her. "I can't wait to possess that beautiful Queen. Things are going so well! Then the true game from all those years ago can begin!"

-------------------------------------------

Levi watched through the pool as that fateful battle happened. Maya hovered over his shoulder as they saw the missiles and bullet fire explode from the Island and humans and dicloni alike died. He witnessed Ariel's duel with Alice and winced as it happened. A few times he yelled out for them to stop. He clenched his fists. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

He felt Maya's hand on his shoulder. He glanced at her before returning his gaze to the pool. This cave had been his home for the last week now as he trained with Maya and used the messages within this cave to improve his magic. "This is my fault! If I hadn't left."

Maya embraced him. "This isn't your fault."

"I could have done something."

"When you're ready, you will." Maya held him tighter. Her voice had gained more emotion as they had lived with each other for the last week and he broke down all her walls.

He slowly stood up and turned away from the pool. "Lets get this training done. I can't watch this anymore."

-----------------------

A week had gone by since Lester had sent Saranrae to find Levi. She still hadn't found anything but signs of his existence. The group she had brought with her had started to doubt they'd ever find their target. She had tracked them to one town, but after that all tracking spells had been failures. It was as if this entire town and the land around it had been shrouded. This meant they had to search the old-fashioned way and that would take weeks.

The others had expected her magic to take care of it all, but when it failed most of them basically gave up. Only a couple of the six that she took with her remained and even they had their doubts. However, Sara would not give up. The challenge was half of the fun for her and tracking was a skill she had picked up before she learned magic.

Zero watched as his blade cut through Hector, cutting through his upper left shoulder, slicing up the organs and cutting the Grand King of Law’s heart in two. Hector fell back as blood was gushing out everywhere from him. Zero fell back as all his energy had ran out. Zero sat up as he began to breath heavily. This battle had taken everything out of him, but he was able to win, Hector was losing so much blood that even a man of his size would not survive for much longer. Zero heard the explosions around them. It looked like missiles stopped once Hector had fallen. This was a sign of relief for Zero, as if they had arrived earlier, Zero would of have been hit.

“The battle is over…” Zero said as he tried to stand up. As he stood, he noticed that Hector body was still breathing, although very tiredly. Zero felt the island shake and crumble. “You will be buried under the pile of this broken down island that was filled with nothing but war...a fitting burial for a man who know only war…” Zero coughed up a bit of blood as he moved a little away from this crater.

“Hector Schlenzanner...Reidswood...you were a man that wanted nothing more than to protect the world...and while you may be laying there, dying in your own blood, you are in a way, protecting it, for since you choose to become who you are, all the countries across the world have slowly become allies to put an end to you...and while the battle of the diclonius existence is still going on, we are in a better and friendlier state then we were before, so I guess we could thank you for that…” Zero then slowly and painfully walk away.

“Hector Reidswood...while the world will see you die as a monster...I will see you die as man...who wanted to protect this world...and made the ultimate sacrifice to achieve it…” Zero stopped. “I will protect this world from the evil that lies within...as I promised to Suzuki five years ago...and as a promise to you…” Zero began to walk off.

“Goodbye Hector Reidswood...may we meet again in the afterlife, for we shall battle again…” And with that Zero left the area.

--------------------

The islands rumbles and shakes caused the shield to shatter, leaving the group to witness what is going on.

“This place is falling apart! We have to retreat now!” Maj. Volkova said to the team.

“Understood” Suzuki replied. She then pulled out her device. “All units, if you are still here, retreat immediately! This island is falling apart!”

As soon as finished, she had noticed Alice speeding off towards them.

“Suzuki!” Alice said, catching her breath.

“Alice! Are you alright?” Suzuki asked, worried.

“I’m fine...where’s Zero?” Alice asked.

“He is still where Hector is...I don’t know what has happened…” Suzuki said with an upset tone. Alice looked up and notice someone walking in the distance.

“ZERO!” Alice shouted. The two medics quickly ran with Alice and Suzuki as they headed towards Zero.

“Zero!” They said.

“We have to get out of here...this island isn’t going to last much longer…” The girls nodded and helped the medics quickly carry Zero to the helicopter.

“Sir!” The Squads said. “Sir! What of Hector?” Cap. Schlenzanner asked.

“He is lying in his own blood...while he may still be breathing, the rubble of this island will finish him..” Zero replied. This angered Schlenzanner.

“That isn’t good enough! You should have cut him in half!” The dutchman then drew out the sword on his back. “I will finish him” Schlenzanner then dashed towards the crumbling building where the crater was.

“Cap. Schlenzanner!” Zero shouted, but it was no use, he was already gone. Zero’s shout then made him cough up more blood, he had to get some medical help.

“Squad B! I want you to stay near the island and keep an eye on him. If you see him, pick him up” Suzuki ordered the Squad.

“Yes my Lady!” The Squad responded. The two squads got in their helicopters and flew up. One helicopter, which contained Squad A, Suzuki, Alice, Anna and Zero, followed the G.O ships back to the G.O, while the other helicopter that had Squad B, remained near the island as they wait for Cap. Schlenzanner.

----------------

“What the?” Adam felt the island begin to violent shake. “Eve! We need to get out of here!”

“Ok! I am turning the helicopter around and it should he soon”

“Eve we don’t have a soon I need it now!”

“I am getting it here as fast as I can!”

A few minutes later the helicopter finally arrived and Adam crawled into the seat. The helicopter then ascended. “Ok it looks like you will see what I have built sooner then I thought” Eve said to Adam.

“What you have built? What have you been doing that I don’t know about?” Adam asked.

“Oh you will see” Eve happily replied. It was a good twenty minutes before they had returned back to their home in the quiet area of Cambridge. After the destruction of the kingdom, Adam moved to a quiet place in the city of Cambridge to begin personal work. He improved his skills with machines and created his personal A.I called Eve, who has been with him for three years now. Over the time, he has upgraded her, to a point where she now controls all electrical items that Adam had created, including their home, to which Adam spent a full year improving the structure and expanding further underground, where his workshop now resides.

As the helicopter landed, the medic machines that Adam had created moved towards him. Adam then got in the chair and the machine quickly took Adam inside. A few minutes and he reached the workshop, which had the medic room next t it, as he knew this would be where he would get hurt most, and let the machine get to work.

“Ok, we are here...so what is this thing you wanted to show me?” Adam asked.

“I thought you never asked!” Eve happily said, as if she couldn’t hold in the excitement. “Let me go and get it!” Eve disappeared off the hologram and it switched off. Adam was confused, but then he heard a voice on the speaker.

“Are you ready? I now present to you what I have built!” Eve said over the speakers. The doors slowly opened and Adam’s jaw dropped as he saw what Eve had created. He couldn’t believe his eyes...

*the day of the battle*

After Ariel and her forces had finally gotten away the field commander of the mercenary company, Friedrich, was about to pull those left out, when suddenly half of the remaining force was killed off by shrapnel and the wave of explosion itself that emitted from the now decimated island.

The other half died shortly after as many landed into the water and couldn’t swim all the way up by the pressure the ocean waters were pushing them downwards or suffered some wound that was the final tipping point for them.

Friedrich was not one of them.

He was able to swim to the surface and took one of the few remaining still working boats and drove before more shit could come to kill him, he was tired of this bloody battle that had just cost him all of his men. Well, all but one.

He did not know that all of his men were doomed to die anyway, planned to be nothing more than spreader of the deadly and highly infectious virus to all of the other non-diclonius and non-icelander forces, all but the two who were still alive. Him and the medic.

On his small little fast boat he followed behind after the self proclaimed diclonius queen Ariel and her followers. Initially he did so just to make sure that the ship was in good enough condition to be useful for long time for them but then suddenly he got a message from the high command of the mercenary company.

The voice was no one from high command.

“Friedrich, this will be your last job”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keeping quiet a low profile Viva had found a place to hide. It was a small little room with enough supplies to last him for months. He decided since he could not get into contact with the rest of the mercenary company he may as well keep himself in low profile like that.

He had gathered a few books and was now reading them. He barely could remember the last time he had peace to read. Sleep was good, books were better.

He still had the smoke and gas grenade, ready to use it if needed.

He was unsure how he went unnoticed, but was not too surprised, would not have been the first time he would have gone unnoticed.

He had no idea what was to transpire this night by the ship.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friedrich had waited till nightfall like he had been instructed, keeping out of sight till then.

He now accelerated his little boat quietly till he was just up to the ship, keeping himself out of sight from any patrol or lights there may have been set up on the ship.

He quickly got up into the ship with his tools, letting his old scars stretch a bit as he climbed up quickly.

He ran quietly and quickly in the night on the ship. The sounds he made while on the ship could have been mistaken by a cat to belong to a small mouse rather than of a human.

He put tiny trackers on the ship and special scramblers to make sure that his higher ups could keep track of the ship and that others could not track it down.

He soon enough got to the place where he was to place the last thing. It was simply a communication device that was like a laptop which Friedrich thought was to contact his higher ups. It had been marked as from Ragnar, though he had been told that it was simply to make it clear that it was from an ally for Ariel and her followers.

He then placed a simple letter that said nothing else than “Contact me now, I have important matters to discuss, you will be interested in how it shall benefit you, to the queen of the diclonius Ariel, from the free diclonius king Ragnar, Rex of Iceland and the P.R.O.E. union” as the sun was closing in.

Friedrich then pulled out his father’s treasure.

He had one bullet left.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Day after the battle*

Viva yawns for a second as he wakes up in his hiding spot right before the first slimmers of sunlight hit the ship.

*Bang*

Viva suddenly has his eyes full open at the sound of a gunshot. It came from above. It was only one, no matter how long he waited for another one to come the sound would stand alone with the first rays of the sun.

Viva kept quiet but waited ready, ready to listen and ready to react if need be. He hoped that he only needed to be ready for the former in his little room.

Finally he heard something roll off this ship. Viva was all too familiar with the sound. The sound of a body falling into the sea.

He took out his little cross and gave a pray as quietly as he could, assuming the worst had just happened.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ragnar slumped into his uncomfortably small chair at what he was seeing on his laptop. Everything he could find did not fit her, no one fit the description of the eyes, at least none that were possible.

There was only one that he found that could fit but it baffled him for one simple reason that he muttered under his breath, “How is she still alive?”

The only thing that fit was she was like was one disease, but it had been exterminated over three decades ago, before he was even born, and even if there had been one still carrying the disease, it was from a different part of the world, and it would have been impossible for them to survive for so long.

“Maximum life expectancy, one year” said Rex in a sad tone. Ragnar Tyrson would have rather wanted it to be happy through cruelty, a mocking tone, a vicious tone, an insulting tone, anything but a sad tone, for if it were any of the other he would have been sure that this was some cruel joke played by Rex or some trick to make him doubt himself, but a genuine sad tone was what he got instead.

Ragnar was racing through his mind, eventually he was about to ask when Rex asked back right before “How much do you remember of that night?”

Ragnar’s confusion turned to anger as he said back in his head “You know very well how much I remember of that night! What I do not know is why she is still alive!? How does she have an extinct disease!? How did she get to Iceland if she had to have gotten the disease from somewhere so far while having no parents, no caretakers and no nothing to bring her to Iceland!?”

It was only a few seconds or a few decades till the answer came, he really could not tell how long it was, he lost his sense of time in his anger and frustration as he waited for Rex’s answer.

“She never was”

Ragnar was left baffled and confused at the answer, but before he could ask as to exactly what he meant by it it all clicked together in his mind.

He did not have to ask Rex for confirmation of it, as Rex answered before hand. “She was nothing but a figment of your imagination, or rather its imagination, the only one that you ever fell for”

Ragnar was left stunned, he looked down, only for a moment returning to reality with the raven on his shoulder shifting a bit at his movement, his body was acting up. He breathed a bid oddly, a bit heavily, he twitched around, a small whistling escaped his lips, his hand moving a bit erratically as it did nothing of importance, significance or notability, his eyes blinking, the world turning darker, colder, emptier, something under his mask was caressing his cheeks and under his eyes, he was unsure that they were tears, they felt more like small pieces of glass cutting and piercing into his skin then wet and gentle tears.

When he felt like he could see he was still at the table with his laptop, the raven was still on his shoulder, and he was still in the chair that was too small for him. That was however not enough to fool him as the world around him was dark, empty and cold.

The buildings that had surrounded him were now cracked or partly broken, a few of them completely demolished. Not a single window was whole, not a single sign of another living being having been there before him and the raven if it were not for the buildings.

And then there was the snow. No, this was not simply snow. These were falling ashes and snow that covered the ground in its entirety. The snow and ash were deep and thick, he could tell from a simple look of it.

As he looked up where the ashes and the snow were falling from came the only light that lit this place up. The sky was completely black and dark, blocking any rays that the sun might have wanted to share, yet it still was the only thing that produced any light.

Glowing hot ashes from the completely black and dark smoke sky provided small dim light, like stars of the night sky would have. Occasionally a small flame seemed to escape the smoke though only for a second before dissipating. Once in a while a flash of light could be seen in the smoke followed by the noise indicating it to be lightning passing through the smoke.

“Beautiful, is it not?”

Ragnar jerked his sight to someone who looked like him, in fact he looked too much like how he was before he suffered his own self inflicted wounds.

The only thing that was at a miss was the crown on the man’s head. Ragnar would never wear such a crown, for while he was now a king he did not consider himself truly a blue blooded royalty.

The man took a seat, soon enough he said “You still have questions that Rex has not answered”

Ragnar looked at him and simply nodded. “Of course Rex knows nothing about sticking around for questions of someone confused and baffled”

Ragnar recognised this and suddenly said “You are the prince”

The man looked over to him and gave a charismatic smile “Good, you are learning fast, though just call me Hertogi, but now, you have some other questions, do you not?”

Ragnar nodded and asked “Who is it that is pretending to be, well, my hallucination, and how does she know about that hallucination? Especially in such detail”

Hertogi said simply but coldly “You may not remember it but you told one man about your encounter with her and described in detail, Friedrich Nietzsche”

Ragnar finished the thought on his own “But he did not know it was a hallucination...he thought it was real and tried to fool me with it...even in death his plans continued...the fucking bastard”

A bit of time passed till another question finally came “But, why did it give me that hallucination?”
Hertogi simply gave a look of someone that was tired of talking but he still answered “The voice wanted you to kill humans, it did not want you to wallow alone and in pain till eventually fading away”

Ragnar looked at Hertogi for a few moments before looking away and asking “How did he fool me though?...”
Hertogi gave a simple answer “You are a very good liar to yourself”

Silence lay for long till suddenly he noticed Hertogi having disappeared, moments later his eyes open from one of his blinks. The world was back to how it was before he blinked. Ragnar now realized something important, his mind was deteriorating to those minds, and it was doing that very quickly.

He knew that soon only three would be left, and he would disappear-“wait, the third one has not spoken to me”

He felt something unusual and tried to see if everything was alright with him.

It seemed to be so.

Finally he looked around and noticed that a few eyes had moved over to him, which he could perfectly understand.

As he was about to stand up he felt something land on his shoulder and saw that another Raven had landed on his other shoulder, but it was carrying something in its mouth, three small pebbles. The raven let them go and Ragnar catched them in his palm and looked at them.

Ragnar was confused and surprised.

“Rúnir?” said Ragnar, as he saw that the three pebbles had three different runes. He recognised the three different runes, in fact they were the only ones that he had learned by heart, though all of them for different reasons.

Suddenly something clicked in his head. He closed his laptop, picked it up and suddenly bolted away from his spot, the ravens still on his shoulders.

He was distracting himself, no time to dwell on the pain of the past, the lies, the betrayals, the discovery of warmth in the past having not existed, he could not let himself slow down for that, he had to keep moving, he had more important things to focus on, at least, that is what he told himself.

He got to a special private room and after having gone over every tiniest miniscule detail of the room to make sure no one could know what was happening in the room he settled down and opened his laptop again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a simple task, the young bureaucrat diplomat was simply to come to a meeting. It was a meeting with a few important countries. USA, China, Russia, Brazil, Saudi-Arabia and some other countries, most of those being much smaller countries either famous for being dictatorships, oppressive, poor, corrupt or formerly communist, only few of those other nations did not fall into those categories. A few large corporations were also present there, most of them involved in the military business in some way.

He was only to get them to sign the deal. The deal was simple, Ragnar was to help manage an international military alliance, though he was mostly to streamline the system and make it more efficient, though some of the conditions made a few countries unsure of joining. The USA was one of them, along with Brazil and few other countries. They were to sign a different deal that still gave them the rights to declare war without the need of approval from the alliance, as well as a few restrictions, most of them involving keeping some human rights, though that could come at the cost of the ever so important efficiency Ragnar was going to provide them.

With the exception of Russia there was not a single european country that was about to sign this deal.

Enemies, rivals, friends, colleagues, equals and some who have no opinion of others had gathered here.

The deal was a simple master stroke of brilliance, as it was not a deal between the countries to Ragnar’s country which would have made this a much more public and bureaucratic matter, no, this was a simple deal with a corporation, it just so happens the corporation belonged to a King.

The deals were official but not enough attention was given to them for the public to fully realize what had just happened. It was perfect for Ragnar’s plans.
Ragnar knew very well that eventually, something would happen to light the fuse.
He was not gonna be on the losing side of what was to come.

Gold helps, but wars are won by men and iron.

Ragnar was gonna make sure that even before the war start he had already won, through pen and paper.

Too bad for the bureaucrats there though, as it is them doing everything through pen and paper at the moment.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Where the fuck am I?” grunted out Friedrich, he was not sure whether he was half dead or fully dead, or maybe just suffering from a bad hangover.

Friedrich sat up before he felt someone push him gently back down, it was some kind of nurse. He guessed he survived the ocean waves.

Ribs broken, he can still feel that his shoulder was dislocated at some point, though the nurse was good enough to at least pop it back in. He was pretty sure some of his organs had also felt the impact by the pain he felt as he breathed. He had a few cuts still on him, and all seven of his fingers were broken except one of them, which he smiled that it was still working, his trigger finger.

He had a few cuts that had been sewn shut by the nurse most likely he assumed. One of his eyes was half blind and one side of his ears was completely deaf, he was yet to find out whether it was only temporary or permanent.

Friedrich did not understand the language that the nurse was speaking, though he recognised it as that language they spoke in that town before they went off into this battle, how he had gotten there or somewhere in that country he was not sure.

He simply cursed under his own breath in german a simple phrase “Wasted fucking bullet” before lying back down, letting himself to be taken care of the nurse, closing his eyes and trying ignore the pain for now.
His job was done.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sam was sitting down. He still has no idea how he and those two kids ever got to here, which Sam had discovered was the USA. He and the two kids have been there for a week, and sam had to admit that he was embarrassed if anything else that the two kids were the ones in control, if it were not for the fact that one of them was a diclonius.

The last thing he remembered before he woke up with the two kids standing over him in the USA was being surrounded by a huge group of diclonius and being held by someone or something.

Right now he was fishing. He could not get in contact with anyone from his terrorist group, and even if he could he doubt he could escape this country alive.

The two kids had far greater wit than at first he thought, seeming to always finding ways to get him out of trouble. He was slightly relieved by the fact that they needed him to be able to buy the supplies they needed, as well as sell what they do not need.

A lot of the other homeless people did not give too much attention to the diclonius girl, with the exception of the occasional alcoholic or crazy nut. It was really good, for if anyone would have reported them he would surely be found out as a terrorist, the girl would be most likely killed by some trigger happy or paranoid person, and the little boy would probably be sent to some orphanage or something like that, and from the sounds of it, the two are not gonna be separated by anything, thought Sam.

Sam was taken out of his thought as he felt something bite on and he pulled it in, getting a good fish.

“Kids, fish having dinner”
He was still bad with his english though.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*5 years ago*

Ragnar was working hard, he was forcing himself to overcome his weaknesses.

The voice kept on taunting him, constantly criticizing him, constantly telling him his flaws.

Ragnar was unsure whether he should thank or curse the voice for being a bastard. The voice constantly degraded him down by insults, but Ragnar was an odd case. Instead of giving into the voice he just did everything harder, better, trying to overcome his weaknesses, to improve his strengths, almost everything that the voice had said he had overcome, all just to prove the voice wrong. He was constantly driving for perfection, which what the voice seemed to be demanding.

But now, there was a different thing the voice was attacking him on, and a different thing that was driving him. He was pushing himself further and further than ever before with his new motivation and drive.

Twenty five years, that is how long he had left to live.

For some that may not sound too horrible, after all, he was living a good and a rich life. If he wanted something he could almost without question afford it. But that was not what was getting to him.

Additional twenty five years was not how long he was expected to live, but what was thought was gonna be his maximum life span. When he will hit thirty eight he is expected to die.

He was not gonna die out of any disease or anything, no, he was just gonna die.

He was not gonna die old, he knew that from what the doctors had told him.

His heart, his lungs, liver, kidneys, everything would give out faster due to his size. His heart is expected to give out after only twenty five more years, if not the heart it might be one of his kidneys or his liver in processing his blood, it might even be his lungs that simply cannot get enough oxygen for the massive body.

Even if he would not die then he would most likely suffer from dyslexia or some other medical problems, he would not live a good life if he ever reached his elder years.

For now though, his size seem to not come with any particular weakness, for the most part he had lucked out of most of the problems that his massive size should bring him at even as early stages as age of thirteen.

He could not overcome this weakness, and the voice kept on reminding him of it. That no matter what he could not overcome it, and that he should not bother with the ambitions that had been seeded in by his father’s words and grown with his accomplishments.

But instead, Ragnar was not giving up on his ambitions, no, he was just gonna try harder.

Every minute he was studying, training, helping out in research, managing and improving his father’s company, there was not a moment spared to go a bit slower, not a moment to look for the small things, to look for warmth, to look for something like what his father gave him, or to look for something that his father had failed to find himself.

Every single part of him told him that it did not matter how long he lived, that if he could live a day as a great man was better than to live for thousand years as a common man.

When death would eventually take him he knew it would not be before he had changed the world. It would never come before then, he would not allow it to come before then.

He could not allow it.

He cannot allow it.

He shall not allow it.

He cannot stop it.

It cannot stop him.

With that he suddenly threw it, a rock only weighing over three times his weight. He was training the old viking way, it was stage number three out of five, just enough to be allowed into a proper raiding party back in the days. Each stage was equal to his own weight times the number of the stage, it would only be a year later till he could do stage five without too much problem.

But for now he had to return to his studies, he could not waste any more time. He pulled out a book and started walking towards his room to continue his study, reading Niccolo machiavelli's The Prince on the way, for the second time, that week.

His past did not matter to him, it was his future that mattered to him, for only the future is where his ambitions will wait for him.

The past of the world is what would teach him how to find his future.

How he could become Ozymandias.
----------------------------------------------------------
words: 4046

"Hello girl..." Hector said from the ground where he lay, his eyes fluttering open. Despite the fact that his body was torn up, he felt more in control than he did before. Now that his mind was no longer being stressed by "Heavens Divide" it felt easier to think and move.

But this was only a farce.

There was no anger nor disgust in his voice or face. It was a calm look, a fatherly smile as he pushed himself up. His body tottered slightly as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

It was all a farce.

Even if his incredible endurance could survive broken bones and a huge beating, it could not help him survive a heart that had been destroyed.

"You underestimate us humans." Hector replied without looking at the girl. He seemed more focus on the shore in front of him. "You think you can conquer us girl? Hm, you have no idea the powers we humans have to offer. You'll be crushed by that arrogance.

...Just like me..." he thought at the end without speaking. He did not care for Lasciel but instead focused his eyes on a person that appeared before him a bit ahead.

"Ah? There is a familiarity about him."

“E-Eve...H-How did you do this?” Adam asked, completely gobsmacked. What walked out was a woman, black raven like hair, blue eyes as bright as the sky, a figure that woman dreamed for. The woman wore a black tight battle suit, which complimented her figure perfectly.

“So what do you think?” Eve asked, smirking and placing her hands on her hips. Adam couldn’t believe it, he thought he was dreaming.

“A-Amazing!” Adam replied with amazement. “Is this all real?” Adam asked as he walked around Eve, looking up and down her with eager eyes.

“Made from the finest materials! It is as if I was a real human being!” Eve happily replied. “Oh...Adam…”

“Yes Eve?” Adam asked. Eve then grabbed him by his throat and chucked him across the room.

“You remember earlier when I said that when I have a real body that I was going to kick your ass?...well time to make it a reality” Eve’s right hand then transformed into an energy cannon as she pointed it at Adam. At the click of her feet, rockets appeared from the back of her boots as she then charged towards Adam.

Adam cowered in fear as Eve got closer and closer. “Wait Eve stop!” Adam cried. Adam noticed that nothing happened to him and he slowly began to open his eyes. Eve was right in front of him with an evil smirk.

“Come here!” Eve demanded, using her hands to grab him. She then press her lips against his. Adam was in shock, they felt so real, as if he was kissing a real human being. Adam was amazed at how far Eve has reached in her time with him. She has been able to build machines to help Adam in every situation in his home, from helping him clean, to helping dispose of unwanted items, and now, she has perfectly created a life like human, although she will always be an A.I in a cyborg like body, Adam was happy now that Eve can help him more than just being his navigation, she can help him fight, collect information and heal him up during battle. Eve eventually let go of their lip lock. “Do you know how long I have been waiting to do that?” Eve asked, getting up and sitting on the workshop. “I also don’t understand why you are so surprised...I mean, you built me as the perfect A.I...you should have know it wouldn’t have been long until I did this..” Eve said with a sad look on her face, but she quickly turned into a happy one and stood up. “And I mean look at me! I am the exact image that you created me to look like, I am your perfect woman!” Eve smiled and did a little swirl.

“The reason why I am so surprised is because I am in shock...as I never thought It would ever reach this stage...I was always in denial, because I thought it would never happen...but here you are, my perfect woman…” Adam replied still in shock.

“Well...with that all said, how about you rest in bed while I make tea? We have a lot of work to do” Eve happily said.

“Yeah...that would be nice…”

“OK! Medic machine! I need you to take Adam to his bed” The machine obeyed and placed Adam in the chair. “Rest, heal up and get ready, as there is something else I want to do with you” It then began to move as it took Adam to his bed, there was a lot of work to do, so Adam getting healed was top priority.

---------------------

The two medics were getting to work on Zero, they had to quickly cover up his wounds before they got back to G.O headquarters. There they could fully heal him up with the medical equipment that is provided by both G.O and by the E.U. It was some time before they reached the G.O headquarters. Once they landed, the medics quickly rushed Zero to the Medic Room, they had to patch up the wounds quick before it got worse, considering that Zero had reopened the wounds that were stitched up a week ago.

Alice, Anna and Suzuki slowly got off the helicopter with Squad A. “I better go join Zero, I need help with my wounds as well” Suzuki simply nodded and Alice then quickly headed towards the Medic Room to go get healed.

“We will remain here, waiting for Squad B to return...and if Elena wants to talk to me, she knows where I am” The Squad nodded and stood guard as Suzuki patiently waited. There nothing much to do right now until either Squad B returned or once Zero is all patched up.

----------------

Schlenzanner moved through the rubble, the island was quickly falling apart, but Schlenzanner wasn't going to let Hector breath for another second, he was going to finish the job. He didn’t care if he died on this island, as long as he knew that Hector was dead was good enough for him. Luuk eventually found the crater where Hector was in the middle of. He noticed that Hector was sitting up. This angered Luuk, as this confirmed that Hector was still alive. He gripped his sword tightly, it was time to end this.

Luuk began to slowly approach down the crater. “Hector...it brings me so much happiness that you lay here in your own blood, broken and on the verge of death...but we both know that this won’t kill you quickly yet...which is why it brings me pleasure knowing that I will deal the finishing blow...and bring the honor of my family name back after you ruined it with your dictating selfishness…” Luuk then looked to the sky.

“although...you have in you everything that would make a Schlenzanner...determination...endurance and the hunger for battle...so I know that I will enjoy the battle that will happen...even if you are in pieces”

Luuk then drew his sword ready. “I don’t care if I don’t make it off this island, as I know that you will come down with me no matter what happens...so prepare yourself! As your final battle begins now!”

Hector looked over at the person who had arrived. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the person from head to toe. The familiarity of him did not escape the King of Determination. He smiled, calmly, fatherly, Hector Schlenzanner smiled as the man stepped up to him with his blades raised.

"You do look like him. The man I once called father, William Schlenzanner. You look just like him, younger but the family resemblance is uncanny. It's like nostalgia for me really."

Hector felt the blood drip from his lips and he slowly reached inside of his pockets, feeling around with his fingers inside of his tattered coat. He grasped around something. Was it a weapon perhaps?

"...I wanted to save the world, so I became a monster to seek out that idea. But this is how it should be right? It is not a Diclonius that will defeat me, but a human that will. More so it is only right and ironic that it would be you. A member of William Schlenzanner's family."

The ground cracked around their feet as the island was split down the middle. At long last Hector pulled out what his fingers were holding and looked at the piece of candy that was given to him by Lecter now resting on his palm.

"...Three minutes huh? Just enough time to have some fun."

He put it in his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed. A burst o energy ran through his body, an increase in strength, defense, agility and power. For three minutes Hector Schlenzanner was imperfect and yet more perfect than ever before. He took his coat and tossed it aside, letting the uniform fly through the air. In nothing but his dark jeans, the old man's features were toned and the bruises, slashes, cuts, breakings and spoils of war and battles from today and years before were all over his body.

He had no weapons, no sword, no axe, no gun. He had no armor of any sort. His heart was destroyed and death would come his way.

So the Hector Reidswood launched himself forward and thrust his palm outwards towards his opponent.

Lasciel listened as Hector spoke at her. She said nothing, but wore a smile like she was up to something and that something could only spell trouble. He spoke of how arrogance was his downfall and would be hers, but she had no need for such emotions when she only needed her goal. She would return to this world in full. She would assert her dominance over all dicloni, and she would win the game that had been set up by her sisters of old. She may have not been the only ancestor seeded into the bloodlines of the dicloni, but as far as she knew she was the first to come this far, and nothing would stop her from taking over Ariel.

Then a newcomer came to the party. She guessed they had some history with each other for them to be speaking this way, and stepped back to stay out of their way as things came down to blows. She saw Hector take a piece of candy and felt what could only be explained as Magic go off and she hissed reflexively. She hated Magic and every time it happened before her she felt the urge to kill it. She held back however, as this was not her fight, and Hector was a dead man anyways.


-----------------------------------------------------------

Ariel would normally have relaxed more as they got further away, but she felt more agitated as they kept going. She had expected Lasciel to get back the fact that she hadn't returned worried her. Food had been brought to her, some military rations from the storage of the ship. She had gobbled it down and asked for seconds. The flavor wasn't spectacular, but she felt much better after eating. The food also helped to be a distraction.

There still was another hour before they made it to a port that had the supplies they'd need. When they arrived, that town would be wiped off the face of the planet.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Lester snarled as he watched the battle finish through a scrying orb. Nothing was going as he had planned. Excalibur would pay for his interference. He threw his cane to the ground and flopped heavily into his seat. At least he only lost two of the dozen mages he sent there. The others had escaped as planned should something happen to him.

He then felt a familiar twinge as he smelled the rotting scent of blood magic. Inagi stood, rather leaned on the door to Lester's office. "I found one of Exalibur's base. Heavily shielded against magic. Although my blood magic was more than enough to usurp his capture of me, I had little opportunity to use it until after he used me."

Lester sighed. "Hmmm... fair enough. I should have expected him to have been able to read my plans. We only had the same damned education after all. We'll not underestimate him again. He has only sharpened with age, and so must we. Take care to sparingly use that blood magic of yours, and definitely never use it on other people."

Inagi winced and looked away. Lester saw that and read into his body language. "You did it didn't you. You made thralls didn't you?!" He rose in his seat as he spoke. His tone ever rising.

Inagi nodded once. "I had no choice. I would have died otherwise."

Lester stood up from his seat and approached Inagi menacingly. "You do understand what that does to a human's mind, right?"

Inagi shrugged. "I killed them after I used them. No need to worry about their mind."

Lester slapped him upside the head. "FOOL! Not their mind! Yours. No more chances. Never use that on another person ever again. NEVER! It's better if you don't use that foul magic ever again in the first place."

Inagi scowled. He didn't appreciate Lester's lecture. After all, he felt fine. Fantastic even. "Fine." He said it, but he didn't mean it. He certainly didn't mind being the one in charge of others, and he had great fun dominating Excalibur's men. He turned around and headed to his room.

Lester grumbled irritably about this whole day and returned to his seat. He had to prepare for the next stage of his work. He wouldn't let anything get in the way of that.

*The day after the battle, five days to first civilian deaths to the virus*

Ragnar was clicking quickly, reading at speeds uncommonly fast.

Thousands of records, thousands of translations, thousands of sources, he was going through them with two ravens on his shoulders and three pebbles with runes on them in one hand.

He had to be quick before he would be contacted to come to the meeting with the so called queen of the diclonius kind, her crown given to by the great order and the European union, and not by diclonius kind.

“Titles, they are funny, titles certainly are magical” he thought “They can command respect of others, they can change the nature of others, they can silence justice, they can wage great wars, they can inspire hatredand mercy at the same time. Titles give one the right to be cruel, they give one the right to enslave, they give the right to burn it, different titles just do it to different extent. But all titles come with a price, responsibility, jealousy of others, stress, threats, loss of the soul, the dying fires of the passion for life. Too many for me to bother remembering, it is too late for me to revoke my title anyway. I am ready for it all, I have overcome every obstacle thrown at me before, this is my ambition, and its fires shall just grow, for regardless of how things go, I am not depended on a title that others have given me, I took it for me.”

His thought was brief, only a second, he could not waste too much to it under such pressures.

Millennia worth of records, no, millennias worth of records is what he was going through. It was primarily the germanic and nordic regions he was going over, but also a bit of celtic records.

Magic was real, he had experienced it for himself, and he had witnessed his enemies use it in battle. Simple connections, assumptions, speculations, test through the mind, test in the real world, he was making many connections.

He thought now that the valkyries in nordic legends could have been diclonius, it made sense to him. Women with such great powers would have been respected and seen as sent by the gods, for all he knew it was possible that they might have. But there were other things that supported this idea. In the great witch hunts only in Iceland, the land that preserved nordic viking tradition and language far more than any other, only there were more men than women burned for heresy. He knew it might be a long shot but he guessed that the witch trials may have not been going after not witches, but unlicensed magic wielders, peasants that came over the knowledge and learned magic that should have been preserved for nobility, but why were women then burned more often instead of men, simple, diclonius were almost one hundred percent made up out of women, as far as he can tell, he knows maybe two exceptions to that rule, and really, who would be able to make the distinction between vectors and magic, that is to say, besides the people that had lived in peace with them.

Stretch? Probably, but it was a possibility, and the more he assembled of sources the more confident he was in this belief, though he could not tell whether magic at some points was leaked out from the select nobility and clergy, whether it was still a secret group with the knowledge or whether this is being rediscovered.

One thing was however certain there that brought a smile to his face.

They had not found this magic.

Runes.

Rúnir, so many different runes. In his palm were three pebbles of the three runes he knew by heart.

Óðinns rune, the rune was to symbolize the great head god of the norse gods, Óðin, the god of wisdom, magic and co-god of war.

Týrs rune, the rune was to symbolize the great one handed god of the norse gods, Týr, the god of heroism, justice and co-god of war with Óðinn.

Ægishjálmur rune, an old protection rune, it was supposed to have protected one from all evils in the world and the anger of the rich and powerful.
He made the assumption that when it talked about the anger of the rich and the powerful it may actually mean protection from their different non-rune magic.
But with evil, he assumed mostly fires for this rune usually appeared in stories involving a dragon.

This made him ponder though.

If his theory was correct about the position of Diclonius in nordic society, is it possible that other beings may have existed to inspire their creations in stories? He could neither confirm nor deny it, but he knew he would be lying if he ever said he did not want to see a real dragon.
He doubted though that even if the stories were true about dragons and elves, fairies and whatever else they mentioned, they most likely were extinct or too few to recover. It disappointed him the idea that of all the creatures that might have existed, only one was left for a certainty at a level they could recover at.

If he was correct on his assumptions, humans may have exterminated all but the diclonius race, and left this world poorer.

His european guilt rose to the surface as he thought of all the brutal services of ancient infidels, the wounded and the crying witches.

“Krúnk”

He was snapped out of those thoughts by the crowing of one of the ravens.

“thank you”

He said to the raven.

He hated when those thoughts popped in his head, they did nothing for him, the method to his madness was to make sure he felt not this pain nor sadness.
He never gained anything from being sad or in pain. Only work rewarded him with anything. Pity could not complete anything.

He took one of the runes. He was sure he knew how to use it. It was Óðinns rune.

He put it on a string, soon putting the other two on it as well. He put it onto his neck, like it was a necklace, and with a simple breath he said the words.

“Óðinns rún”

Old Ragnar died with those words.

He had been dying for a while, but he had not minded, there were three new of him to pick up the torch.

He felt the blood that disappeared in his body, the rune he had said the name of becoming red with blood.

Not a single part of his skin had broken to spill the blood for the rune, that was not needed.

Ragnar opened his eyes and right away noticed two things.

Of the two eyes that belonged to him, only through one he could see.
The other thing he noticed that he was seeing through hundreds, no, thousands, no, many more than most would think possible eyes. He right away knew through which eyes he was seeing, as two of those were looking at him. He was not sure how he was not suffering from having his senses overwhelmed by all the visual and sound information he was getting from all those ravens, and how he was able to separate them all from each other, but he assumed it probably came with the rune’s magic, otherwise it would have been completely unusable.

A smile spread across his face with a tinge of blue that came to his black eyes.

“Perfect”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many kilometers away a pair was arriving to a city, a coastal city.

They were to pick up one thing.

An EMP bomb.

The bomb was to be powerful enough to shut down all the electronic device in a many times bigger city.

The pair were both young, even younger than the one who had commanded the creation of the EMP bomb.

They were both sixteen. Only two years younger.

One was a short, blonde haired boy with a young boyish face and golden yellow eyes. He was dressed in a black fine suit and a black trilby on his head.

The other one was a diclonius girl with red eyes and silver like hair, neither long nor short. She was dressed in a green blue clothes that covered most of her body, looking almost like one entire suit, and a pair of glasses. She had a simple traditional japanese headwear to cover her horns, which was enough to both get many questioning eyes but enough to cover her horns with no problems. She carried a wooden sword on her back.

She was looking around, seeming nervous while the boy was picking up the package. She said to the boy “Sir Kuzu, I think I sense another Diclonius nearby”

Young sir Kuzu responded back while getting the package in a comfortable position “Do not worry Peko, we will soon be gone, we just have to pick up the delivery, wait for the signal, activate it, and than we will be picked up, plus anyway, you should be able to handle on diclonius, and even if you might not be able, we could always try to get out of here”

Peko nodded, though she still was a bit nervous as she sensed the diclonius.

She mainly sensed one in close by proximity, and as far as she could tell it was not a very powerful diclonius. Yet, that still made her worry for her young equal aged master.

Suddenly, they both heard someone call to them.

“KUZU, PEKO”

They both recognised the voice and turned around with wide eyes at the sight of one young Diclonius girl, one young boy, and a man holding a fish with a smile and a voice that they recognised.

“Uncle Sam?” said Kuzu baffled, Peko sharing the same baffled expression.

Kuzu’s youngest and most embarrassing uncle ran over to Kuzu suddenly and hugged the little sir.

Kuzu was too confused and baffled by the fact that he had just met his youngest uncle on this short trip to the USA, that was supposed to just be simple business.

Before Kuzu could get his question across Sam beat him to it. “What you in America?”

Kuzu sighed and cringed at the bad english, but responded “I was sent to handle a small business for the family, the real question is what are you doing here?”

Sam pointed to the kids and said “Hostage” the two kids stepped forward and said “Long story, none of us no all the details, but the end point is we ended up here and he thinks we are keeping him hostage for some reason”

Sam looked at them and raised an eyebrow in confusion and surprise “Me not hostage?”

The two kids nodded.

Kuzu sighed and facepalmed before saying “I cannot leave you here, come with us, you are gonna need room, and so will the two kids”

And with that said they all started to walk to a hotel, the horns of the two diclonius disguised and they all brought to the room, where questions, answers, food, drinks and stories would be asked, said, eaten, drunk and told long into the night.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was another day of work. The employee was drinking some cola while the automated system was doing its work.

He believed that this was expecting too much, the system would be impossible for almost any machine short of being self conscious or something like that to be able to respond, but he guess this is what happens when the bar is raised every day for ten years, inevitably it just gets too high.

He did not mind though. His job was good, relaxing, simple, had a lot of benefits and paid well. He just found it boring though at this point.

The system’s main goal was to try find the most advanced software through infiltration of other systems. It did not damage the other systems but it did test them. It was a great way to find really advanced software designers and creators, giving a huge competitive edge to the company as they could find and capitalize on the talent. Though after ten years nothing short of fully autonomous advanced self learning AI could pass the test.

The employee regarded that as simply science fiction but he did not mind, he was not paying for this.

The system began its work and started rapidly infiltrating many different softwares around the world. If it was at all connected to anything it would infiltrate it.

And if it could pass the test, a notification would come to the employee, the location given of the software and a small box of would come to the software that passed the test simply saying “You passed the test, please do contact us, we may have certain things to discuss” and bunch of different information on how to communicate Ragnar’s company, or rather a special section of it.

The employee has not had to answer anyone for a long time, and was not expecting today to be any different.
---------------------------------------------------------
words: 2158

“So...how was it? Hehe” Eve happily asked with a smile. Eve was laying in bed with Adam, naked, and it looked like they had fun.

“It was like the real thing...it felt...amazing…” Adam replied, almost lost for words. This was the most amazing thing he has done, and Eve knew what to do.

“That’s good to know...well if ever want to do it again, just ask, I will be happy to serve” Eve said, giving Adam a cheeky wink. Eve then got out of bed and put her clothes on. “Now I better get down to the workshop and test out my weapons, I haven’t fully given them a test and I want to know how much damage that they give out, as well as the distance and how effective it is at different situations...this could take me a few hours so rest up” Eve blew him a kiss and walked out of the room.

Adam laid back on the bed and looked at the ceiling. “It’s going to be weird having another person in this house...but then again it’s Eve so it’s as if nothing has changed...but I now have a sexy woman walking around my house...so I have that going for me…” Adam just sighed and laid in bed. It was a busy part of his life right now. A war had broken out, Excalibur still lives, Jamie is still alive and now Eve has become real. “Uh...how annoying…”

-------------------

“I have returned Master” Itachi said to Excalibur as he entered the room, kneeling in front of Excalibur as he sat in his chair.

“Excellent...and what of the base?”

“Destroyed Sir...not a single person survived…” Itachi replied.

“Shame...would have been nice if one of them survived long enough to tell me what happened...but I have the security cameras that will help with that...What about the blood? Did you collect enough?” Excalibur asked. Itachi then pulled out a container from his pocket.

“Yes, my Lord, I have gathered a lot of blood from that magic user, it seems he used something that is not usual for a magic user to do..it seemed like blood magic” Itachi replied, placing the container back in his pocket.

“Interesting...take that blood to the lab, have it analysed and gather as much info as you can...that magic user is different from Lester’s usual men, and I want to know more…” Excalibur rosed from his seat and headed towards his room.

“Understood Sir” Itachi rose as well and headed towards the lab.

“This boy is very interesting Lester...he seems much stronger than your usual men... I can’t wait to see what I can get out of this haha!” Excalibur evilly laughed as he continued his walk to his room. This had gotten interesting again, and with what else he has in store, this was going to be fun.

-----------------

The medics were hard at work, trying to stop Zero’s wounds from getting worse, but Zero was still losing too much blood. “Hurry! Hurry! We have to stop the bleeding!”

“I’m trying! It’s just not stopping!”

Alice walked into the room, hoping that she could get herself patched up, but once she saw that Zero was in trouble, she got worried. “What’s going on?” Alice quickly asked as she rushed in the room.

“We can’t stop the bleeding! The wounds have been cut deep and it won’t stop!” The medics replied, the two girls couldn’t stop the wounds and they were running out of options.

“Out of the way! I know something that will work!” Alice stood next to Zero and placed her vectors on him. Alice concentrated and Zero’s body began to glow. The two medical Lieutenants watched in amazement as Zero’s wounds were being healed and the bleeding began to stop.

“How did you do this?” Lt. Andersson asked with shock. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Some Queen diclonius have the power to heal wounds and regenerate lost limbs...the only problem is that it takes a lot of energy out of us” As Alice said this, she began to fall on her knees, her energy was low already, so this made it extremely hard to stand. Zero slowly woke up, no longer feeling the pain from the wounds that was inflicted on him hours ago. Zero then noticed Alice and caught her before she fell.

“Zero...thank goodness...you are alright…” Alice weakingly said.

“What happened?” Zero asked.

“I used my power to heal your wounds before it almost killed you...but as you can see...it has taken a lot out of me and I could use some rest…” Zero looked at Alice and hugged her, embracing her after she had saved his life. “This is all I need...ok maybe some sex as well, but I haven’t got any energy for it...this is unfair!” Alice said, giving out a little chuckle.

Zero picked up Alice and laid her on the bed. “Sleep well Alice...please sort out her injuries” The two medics nodded and got to work. Zero left the room and headed outside.

“Zero!” Suzuki said as she ran up to him. “Your wounds, how did they get healed so fast?” Suzuki asked.

“Alice used her power to heal me, she is resting in the Medical room as it took all her energy out of her” Zero replied. “We need to speak with Elena, as we need to let her know of what has happened and on what we are going to do next…”

“Agreed, the sooner we sort this out, the better” Suzuki said to Zero, agreeing with what he said. “Once we are sorted here, we will return back to E.U headquarters, we have work to do and sorting out future plans”

“Yes, my Lady” Zero said to Suzuki. The two began heading towards Elena’s room. Anna followed closely with them. With Hector’s reign over, it was time to find out what the next case of action was, as well as what needs to be done back at E.U headquarters. There was a lot of work to do.

------------------

Schlenzanner watched as Hector swallowed what looked like a pill and stood up. Luuk then prepared himself as Hector charged at him with nothing but his palms. He fought back, using his sword, but Hector’s power somehow pushed him back, causing him to fall back and drop his sword.

“What the?” Luuk wondered as he got back up, where did this surge of power come from? It didn’t matter to him though, as this wasn’t going to stop him. “I don’t need a weapon to beat you...I just need my fists...for I having something that you will never have...pure Schlenzanner blood...I am everything that my father taught me, as his father taught him...I have been trained to be the very best...I have been trained for war...and I have...THE SCHLENZANNER DETERMINATION!!!” Luuk then gave Hector the motion to come at him.

“Come at me fake Schlenzanner...let me show you what real determination looks like…”

Lester turned back to his paperwork. Some level of relaxation coming back to him. He knew he was fortunate in the fact that whatever mess of blood Excalibur collected from Inagi would be guaranteed to degrade to the point of uselessness before it can get prepared properly for research. That fact had infuriated Lester personally on the several occasions where he attempted to study Inagi's blood. Something about blood magic destroys the very blood it uses. The only information he had ever gotten out of it was the fact that it was indeed Inagi's blood and that was because he had managed to catch that just as it dissolved before his eyes.

He leaned back and turned his head toward the door as someone knocked on it and opened it slightly. "Sir?"

Lester turned his seat to face the door. "Come in."

One of Lester's subordinates entered the room. "Your flight to the United States is ready. We're ready to go whenever you are."

Lester stood up. This was the thing he anticipated the most. Moving forward with his plans would certainly brighten his day. If he could convince the United States to support his goals then that would be a huge win for him. He stood up and straightened his tie. "Excellent." Now that he had discovered a way to give non-wizards the ability to use magic the next steps of his mission to eliminate dicloni would come to fruition.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inagi didn't end up going to his room. He left the base completely. Nothing was going to stop him. Not even Lester. He felt more free than he ever had. He had no inhibitions. His argument with Lester had been the final straw. He didn't care about what the old man wanted anymore. Not when he had as much power to do whatever as he did. He wanted to do something exciting. Life threatening. Fun!

He left the Mt. Fuji area completely and made his way back several hours later to where he was captured. Everyone was dead. He smiled as he looked at his work. He began to investigate the base to see just how much he could find out about the others. He could think of no better prey than Excalibur and his man Itachi.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ariel and her crew arrived at the port town and still no sign of Lasciel. The lack of support from the ancient diclonius still disturbed Ariel, but she began to think that this was still a test and in that case she better pass with flying colors. She hated being tested by her ancestor, but her desire for the power to meet the ends to her goals outweighed that hate. The town was grossly under-prepared for the incoming raid.

The town even helped unwittingly as they believed the boat was nothing more than a GO vessel coming in for a refueling, something they regularly had. All GO troops that had been stationed there previously had been called to the battle, and Ariel imagined it would take some time for them to regroup and return. The raid was a bloody massacre. Compared to the recent battle, this raid was like stealing candy from a baby and then killing the baby. It didn't take long before they had gathered enough supplies and not much longer after that to slaughter the town of one thousand humans. Before long after that, they were on their way to the United States.

*The day after the battle, five days to first civilian deaths to the virus*

Ragnar was clicking quickly, reading at speeds uncommonly fast.

He smiled as he read.

He had quickly sat down when he noticed that he finally had been sent the report of the battle.

He was not smiling because he was happy that so many had died, but rather because he knew how to use this as a political weapon.

While the European Union and the Great Order might act like europe was fully united Ragnar knew that was far from the truth. It was just they were not divided against each other.

Each notion of europe might think it self as european but none think of itself as europe first. No, europe was the center of countries with strong national identities, it just so happened that the national identities and history had created peace in modern times.

Ragnar was not thinking that he could get any european power to fight against another, but he could possibly push separatists in these countries, and what stronger weapon for that then to show what the leaders of the european union were doing, creating million of tragedies, all only turned into statistics, for the death of one man is a tragedy, death of a million is a statistic, but both were weapons he could use.

This is not to mention the divide between siding with the european union and the russians that was in the eastern parts of the continent, which Ragnar knew would be a hard battle waged not by weapons, but by words, and Ragnar was to make sure he could get as many of those from under the noses of the Great Order and any possible enemy of his, while most will most likely strive to get the last of the superpower nations, the United States of America, which he was sure was more or less in his pocket, or at the very least the part that mattered when things will go south.

Ragnar knew that this was not perfectly safe, but it was his best option when tensions rise. Even in worst case scenarios he could at least weaken the USA or EU if things boil over.

However, while all of this delighted him as he indulged himself in his planning as scenario after scenario played in his head he suddenly noticed something unusual. Civilian deaths. He right away checked on where those deaths originated from.

He discovered that these were civilians that had been killed in a port town not far away, and while not technically been in the battle they had been counted as casualties from the battle due to the close proximity.

Of what he could find it was regularly stationed by some Great Order vessels right before the battle and some troops, that had than left.

Ragnar right away realized who it was “Well, geez, I do wonder who massacred them” he said with a tone of sarcasm.

Despite the annoyance this was still perfect, no, not perfect, but almost a miracle of luck as no proper information could be found besides the place was raided and there were no survivors.

A smile was stuck to his face behind his white mask as he made one call, or rather a recording.

As the recording that he was to send soon afterwards to Ariel started he removed his mask, exposing hs blue tinted black eyes, the smile refusing to leave as he said his first words into the recording.

“Good day, or evening depending when you decide to actually answer the device, Ariel, good to see that you got the device and instead of destroying it decided to actually listen to this recording. I am too busy right now to answer personally right now but this should do” While his voice was still distinctively Ragnar’s it was still noticeable difference in how he spoke.

“I assume that you are the one that killed all those civilians in that little port town, you did not have to do that, but since you did you did give me a opportunity that certainly will be useful for me, so I have to thank you for that, even if I have no doubt you did not plan on helping me through it.”

Ragnar knew exactly what he could do with that. A simple fable of blame put on Omnibus, claiming that they massacred many innocent civilians while they were losing to the Great Order is just what he needed to help turn the public against Omnibus and other anti diclonius organizations. At the very least people will be a lot more resistant against their fear mongering. It was also perfect for maybe some power grab while people still fear the remnants of Omnibus, and Ragnar could plan ahead of time to exploit it more and before others.

“But now, lets get to business” He said with an unusually happy tone “To begin with, there is a virus that is spreading rapidly, and now almost every soldier that had been in the battle is now infected with it. Chances of survival are below a million, though it will take at least a week before symptoms come into effect. Do not worry, my people are safe from it, and so are anyone of the diclonius race or those that have been infected with the retrovirus. Do not ask me the specifics of how I know this, I like to keep my little secrets” He finished with an almost child like innocent smile on his horrific ruined face.

“But now, there are few things that we must discuss in the light of this. One, I recommend that you will make plans for you state now rather than later, which connects to the second thing, and that is I highly recommend that you do not kill all the humans in your next raid.”

He seemed to adjust himself as he started his next part “I know that the latter might be something that you do not agree with but listen here, when this war is over you are gonna need something to hold up your monarchy beyond simple promises of revenge or domination, and well, you will most likely see possible infighting or even outright abandonment of others to your cause for a simple reason, they want good lives. Something very simple on paper but very complex in execution. However, if you actually capture some humans instead of killing them, then you might be in a different position. While I do not support nor approve of slavery I know very well you are not gonna let them live under you rule under any other condition. Having some of them to be your farmers, some of them as factory workers and some of them as professionalists for example state bureaucrats or doctors, maybe even servants and having them be in the ownership of the state, in other words you, or of some individuals within your group is a good idea to make your people stay loyal to you afterwards, as well as not starved or injured either, maybe even have them be content under your rule. This could also help improve you in the current status of things, as you could reward loyal or skilled followers of yours slaves or the services of those slaves. For example, if you capture a professional chef then you might have some luxurious food for yourself to enjoy as well as those that you find deserving of those awards. This is not to mention that having an underclass below all the other of your followers will give them a sense of status over others, which will make them more likely to be content and happy, not to mention willing to defend what they get from under your rule and enforce that rule.”

Ragnar rubbed his template a bit, it was a bit hard for him to concentrate on this subject all the while seeing and hearing from so many different ravens from so many different parts of the world.

After that he quickly said “However, I know even with all that, you might still need some convincing, so I shall make a deal. For every person that you spare the life of and capture instead of killing I shall provide you with a year supply of variety of food at your request, as well as financial support equal to twenty five thousand dollars per each one of your followers for one extra year after all of this is done. But if someone asks, do not tell them I suggested this to you, I do not want to be associated with this beyond what I will have to. Give them the retrovirus and they will survive the virus.”

He gave himself a pause before looking towards the door for a second. It looked like he was simply checking whether someone was coming or not though in reality it was just to look away for a second and try to distant away from what he had just told Ariel. He justified it to be that he was helping out an ally as well as maybe saving some people from being killed by Ariel and her followers.

When he looked back to the recording he started again “Now, the next topic is far less about future plans and more of a warning, be careful who you trust. If there is anyone on the ship you trust, be careful. If someone seems to follow you for selfless reasons, question it, for most people tend follow for selfish reasons. It might not be apparent what that reason is, though it is almost always there. Many of your followers follow you because they want revenge on humans, but when that is over it is very likely they will not follow you anymore or if you fail to give them their revenge on them they may possibly abandon you violently. Some follow you because they feel it to be safer following you than not to follow you, and the moment that stops being true they may abandon you. Some follow you because of some of your strengths and the best qualified to lead them, but if that is ever disproven then they will abandon you. Some follow you because they see your influence and think you are the winning team, the moment you stop winning or you lose influence to another, be careful, for they may also abandon you. Almost none of them are loyal to you yourself, but a certain thing you provide and they want. But be careful of those that seem to do it for no selfish reason and just out of loyalty for you, because it is very possible they simply want to replace you or even control you. Those that are truly loyal to you yourself are special type of people, usually weak minded people. Remember though, almost all actions are acts of selfishness, regardless of whether the consequences are selfish or not, for even a person who seems to never perform a selfish act may be satisfying a selfish desire to feel better for themselves, and even then, it is rare that it is ever something eternal. I am telling you this because I would rather want that you do not lose your influence nor power, after all, you are useful to me in our little alliance.”

He cracked his fingers a bit, a small habit of his, before continuing “Also, the final thing I wish to tell you is something you may have wanted to know earlier, and that is I have a peculiar and severe case of multi personality disorder. I did not tell you this earlier for obvious reasons, and I do apologize for leaving that information unmentioned. Do not worry though, I am perfectly capable of doing my job and my part in this alliance, I just thought it to be a good idea to inform you of it so you will not be caught by surprise in the future. Oh, and by the way, if you find a short sixteen year old blonde boy with a very young and boyish face and he is followed by a diclonius with red eyes and silver like hair of same age, do not kill him under any circumstances, he might be our best hope to find some of our kind safely, not to mention that he is a member of a certain family that my family had been having business with for a while, and we had made some recent deals that involve keeping him alive, you might recognise which family I am talking about when you see him, though he also often mentions it.”

With that he bowed his head slightly towards the recording and said “That is all Ariel, you can communicate back if you wish so, vivat regina Ariel, bonum a rege Ragnar.”

And with the bow of the head and the finishing latin words and name he ended the recording. The recording then sent to the communication device that Friedrich had set on Ariel’s and her followers ship, before he had fired of his pistol into the air and then jumped into the sea to wake up and attract attention of Ariel and her followers to the spot the device had been place, the recording now waiting for Ariel to answer and listen to.

Ragnar quickly wrote, sending another message to headquarters, informing of the plan to frame omnibus of the massacre of that port town in the battle, and having their one omnibus prisoner tricked into believing that it had been done by omnibus and then have him testify against Omnibus.

It might have been a lie, but there was some truth in it. After all, Omnibus had already massacred many before, the difference was just this massacre was not towards the diclonius race, and that is what would all be needed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The deal had been signed.

It felt like they would never finish signing the deal, but it finally all of them had finished.

The young bureaucrat diplomat gave a sigh of relief as the last of the papers were signed by the countries and the corporations.

The young bureaucrat diplomat however did not truly realize how important this had been. He had thought this was simply to improve diplomatic relations and increase the profits of the company.

Oh how wrong he was to think that was the only reason the deal was important.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I swear to go I will snap like Mark did if I have to hear another word from you!” said an annoyed man to his co-worker.

Despite the plans of getting to Iceland before sunset delays with the plane had prevented them from so. Some bad weather had grounded them for a bit, costing valuable time before their target starts waking up from the tranquilizer’s effects.

She was still asleep for now though, her bunny sticking close by her while the three varangian guards wait along with the other seven of their colleagues.

Before a response could be given the pilot was given the clear to take off and with it interrupted the arguments in the back of the plane, as the plane started accelerating and soon enough lift off the ground.

The more quiet of the three that had been put with the target and the other two ‘pleasant’ colleagues was simply thinking about the target.

Specifically he was thinking of her mutation.

It was such an obvious mutations and deviation for something no one had discovered before as far as known, but what interested him more was the fact what har mutation resembled like.

It moved slightly in her sleep.

It seemed so delicate that he was surprised that one of the other two claimed he saw them actually be strong enough to work.

Regardless of whether that was true he was still fascinated just how delicate it seemed to be, and yet, it does not seem like it had ever been broken or hurt, not even when she fell to the ground when the tranquilizer hit her and put her to sleep. He swears they must have broken if it were not for the fact that it was clearly not.

But, there was also how it looked so familiar. How it seemed to fit a common image that many had seen. He would not be surprised if she were one of those rather than a mutant, she certainly looks like she could be.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ragnar had exited the building, carrying his laptop he walked through town.

He was heading back to the E.U. headquarters to check again on their status.

Both of the ravens that had been on his shoulder were flying right above him close by.

It was mostly just a simple stroll, since he expects them to contact him.

He had put on his white mask again before exiting even the room, knowing how others would have reacted to seeing what his face had become at this point.

Suddenly, a flash came to him, as if time stopped for him to see something.

It was a rock, going directly to his head from behind. It had been clearly thrown at him.

Time seemed to resume when Ragnar decided to move his head slightly, and sure enough a rock flew past were his head was before he had moved it.

He turned to whoever threw the rock.

It was some lone idiot kid that had thrown it.

Of what he could understand he realized the kid had called him “Ragnar the bastard king” in italian. It was clear that the kid was not from around here nor that he had any sense, at least in Ragnar’s opinion.

Ragnar’s black eyes turned to tinge of red and a sadistic smile appeared behind his mask as he walked up to the boy who was now panicking.

The people around got worried as suddenly Ragnar picked the boy up and said inches away from his face “The bastard king is still a king, little boy” before tossing him to the ground, the kid ran off in fear.

The smile was wider till the red tinge disappeared and the blue tinge returned, as he then continued heading to the E.U. headquarters, continuing his little stroll.
----------------------------------------------------------
words: 3054

A smirk of confidence spread over Hector's face. About a minute had passed already, though there was no sign of his body giving out yet. Perhaps it would last that full 3 minutes, that 3 minutes or the old man to have his final time of fun.

He moved his body forward slightly, clenching his fist. Words did not have to passed form his lips. He too had been trained by William Schlenzanner. There was nothing more to this than one final fight. The outcome of this battle had long since been decided.

He, Hector Reidswood would die on the island. That was the fact of the matter. He would die so this battle had nothing to do with winning or losing. This final fight was just one fun thing to do before the end. That was why he smiled, a fatherly smile, warm and tender. He showed no hatred or disgust for the enemy in front of him.

A long time ago there was once a young boy who wanted to save the world. There was a lot of things he still wanted to do, so many things to see. But this was his final battle, his final days. So it was clear that the fatherly smile on his face desired one thing.

One last good fight.

He launched himself forward and attempted to slam his open palm right against the man's chest. It wasn't an attack meant to harm on the outside, it was an attack that was meant to damage on the inside.

OOC: Once the battle here is done, I will get posting with the G.O and everything else and the time skip you kids keep doing

Ariel rested on the ship as they began their journey overseas. Along the way Sophia came up to her. "My Queen. We recently discovered a device on the ship that wasn't here before. We think someone brought it on, someone fired a gun as we left, most of us assumed it was a survivor of the crew and thought nothing of it, since he wouldn't have survived past that bullet, but it seems we were wrong."

Ariel saw the device and recognized it for what it was. "Very well, give it here."

She activated the device and listened. “Good day, or evening depending when you decide to actually answer the device, Ariel, good to see that you got the device and instead of destroying it decided to actually listen to this recording. I am too busy right now to answer personally right now but this should do” While his voice was still distinctively Ragnar’s it was still noticeable difference in how he spoke.

“I assume that you are the one that killed all those civilians in that little port town, you did not have to do that, but since you did you did give me a opportunity that certainly will be useful for me, so I have to thank you for that, even if I have no doubt you did not plan on helping me through it.”

She rolled her eyes, she had no need for his thanks, she didn't care to help him in any manner. Her agreement to ally with him was meaningless to her.

“But now, lets get to business” He said with an unusually happy tone “To begin with, there is a virus that is spreading rapidly, and now almost every soldier that had been in the battle is now infected with it. Chances of survival are below a million, though it will take at least a week before symptoms come into effect. Do not worry, my people are safe from it, and so are anyone of the diclonius race or those that have been infected with the retrovirus. Do not ask me the specifics of how I know this, I like to keep my little secrets” He finished with an almost child like innocent smile on his horrific ruined face.

“But now, there are few things that we must discuss in the light of this. One, I recommend that you will make plans for you state now rather than later, which connects to the second thing, and that is I highly recommend that you do not kill all the humans in your next raid.”

She glowered. That was not what they had agreed on. The news on the infected people was great for her, although it lacked the satisfaction of the slaughter, but what truly irked her was the fact that he recommended her not to kill all the humans. If she had the choice, she would definitely slaughter all of them.

He seemed to adjust himself as he started his next part “I know that the latter might be something that you do not agree with but listen here, when this war is over you are gonna need something to hold up your monarchy beyond simple promises of revenge or domination, and well, you will most likely see possible infighting or even outright abandonment of others to your cause for a simple reason, they want good lives. Something very simple on paper but very complex in execution. However, if you actually capture some humans instead of killing them, then you might be in a different position. While I do not support nor approve of slavery I know very well you are not gonna let them live under you rule under any other condition. Having some of them to be your farmers, some of them as factory workers and some of them as professionalists for example state bureaucrats or doctors, maybe even servants and having them be in the ownership of the state, in other words you, or of some individuals within your group is a good idea to make your people stay loyal to you afterwards, as well as not starved or injured either, maybe even have them be content under your rule. This could also help improve you in the current status of things, as you could reward loyal or skilled followers of yours slaves or the services of those slaves. For example, if you capture a professional chef then you might have some luxurious food for yourself to enjoy as well as those that you find deserving of those awards. This is not to mention that having an underclass below all the other of your followers will give them a sense of status over others, which will make them more likely to be content and happy, not to mention willing to defend what they get from under your rule and enforce that rule.”

She clenched her fists. This wasn't about leaving survivors behind, this was about securing survival for the diclonius race. Any survivors of the human race would mean the possibility of rebellion. If any successful rebellion happened it would put everything back into the human's hands. She could not allow that. She knew about some dicloni being able to produce children themselves now, and males did exist even if they were rare. They would survive without humans, that is how it had to be. Her crew understood that, she had made her position perfectly clear, and they were totally on board.

After that he quickly said “However, I know even with all that, you might still need some convincing, so I shall make a deal. For every person that you spare the life of and capture instead of killing I shall provide you with a year supply of variety of food at your request, as well as financial support equal to twenty five thousand dollars per each one of your followers for one extra year after all of this is done. But if someone asks, do not tell them I suggested this to you, I do not want to be associated with this beyond what I will have to. Give them the retrovirus and they will survive the virus.”

During the next pause, she looked at Sophia who was listening along. The young diclonius had been listening intently. Sophia looked up at Ariel and smiled. "You aren't going to give them the retrovirus are you?"

Ariel nodded. "They don't deserve to survive. We have no need for such a bribe. Money won't feed the punishment humankind has coming."

“Now, the next topic is far less about future plans and more of a warning, be careful who you trust. If there is anyone on the ship you trust, be careful. If someone seems to follow you for selfless reasons, question it, for most people tend follow for selfish reasons. It might not be apparent what that reason is, though it is almost always there. Many of your followers follow you because they want revenge on humans, but when that is over it is very likely they will not follow you anymore or if you fail to give them their revenge on them they may possibly abandon you violently. Some follow you because they feel it to be safer following you than not to follow you, and the moment that stops being true they may abandon you. Some follow you because of some of your strengths and the best qualified to lead them, but if that is ever disproven then they will abandon you. Some follow you because they see your influence and think you are the winning team, the moment you stop winning or you lose influence to another, be careful, for they may also abandon you. Almost none of them are loyal to you yourself, but a certain thing you provide and they want. But be careful of those that seem to do it for no selfish reason and just out of loyalty for you, because it is very possible they simply want to replace you or even control you. Those that are truly loyal to you yourself are special type of people, usually weak minded people. Remember though, almost all actions are acts of selfishness, regardless of whether the consequences are selfish or not, for even a person who seems to never perform a selfish act may be satisfying a selfish desire to feel better for themselves, and even then, it is rare that it is ever something eternal. I am telling you this because I would rather want that you do not lose your influence nor power, after all, you are useful to me in our little alliance.”

She glowered again at the device, she didn't need his device. She had lived for much longer than he and experienced far more as well. There was no way someone like him would tell her how to lead.

He cracked his fingers a bit, a small habit of his, before continuing “Also, the final thing I wish to tell you is something you may have wanted to know earlier, and that is I have a peculiar and severe case of multi personality disorder. I did not tell you this earlier for obvious reasons, and I do apologize for leaving that information unmentioned. Do not worry though, I am perfectly capable of doing my job and my part in this alliance, I just thought it to be a good idea to inform you of it so you will not be caught by surprise in the future. Oh, and by the way, if you find a short sixteen year old blonde boy with a very young and boyish face and he is followed by a diclonius with red eyes and silver like hair of same age, do not kill him under any circumstances, he might be our best hope to find some of our kind safely, not to mention that he is a member of a certain family that my family had been having business with for a while, and we had made some recent deals that involve keeping him alive, you might recognise which family I am talking about when you see him, though he also often mentions it.”

With that he bowed his head slightly towards the recording and said “That is all Ariel, you can communicate back if you wish so, vivat regina Ariel, bonum a rege Ragnar.”

Ariel sat back. "Find some of our kind safely? What kind of fool is he? I am a Queen! I can sense all dicloni for miles, and they can sense me." She activated the device's communicator and said one word. It was a simple, yet powerful word. It carried such anger and bloodthirstiness that its meaning was clear in all perceptions of the word. "No." Then she tossed the device into the water.

Sophia looked in the direction that the device was thrown in. "Are you sure you should have done that?"

Ariel shot a cold look at the slipelit. "I've had experiences with people using such devices to track your position. I don't want that man too much information. Besides, he is one that is interested in keeping humans alive, even if they're to be slaves they are too dangerous to keep alive. Humans are smart and resourceful, if they find any advantage they will take it."

Sophia nodded. "What will we do if we come across that boy Ragnar mentioned."

Ariel's cold look turned into a twisted smile. "Why we do the opposite of what he asked, and if we can, we turn that diclonius follower into a follower of our own. If not, we'll have to kill her also."

Sophia nodded again. "That would be a shame. Perhaps we can convince her that humans are threats that should no longer walk this earth."

Ariel looked out to the ocean. "Perhaps."

*The day after the battle, five days to first civilian deaths to the virus*

Ragnar stopped a few moments before the EU building would come in sight as he heard a small beep, letting him know that Ariel had started listening to his message.

He put one finger on the earpiece he had put on with the mask and listened.

While Ariel did not know it her voice was being recorded while she was watching the message, a small thing that the communication device did, just to make sure that her response to the message was not simply a lie.

Ragnar was slightly disappointed by the silence of it all, only hearing his own recording for the most part as few comments were given, though he was not too surprised when he finally heard someone, even if that someone clearly was not Ariel.

"You aren't going to give them the retrovirus are you?"

“Of course Ariel did not follow the instructions of not letting anyone else on board there hear this recording,” He thought to himself “that would be too much for the queen whose followers are outnumbered by population of a single skyscraper, whose land is a single ship and with the sure fire rule of a fascist monarch with no clear heir”

"They don't deserve to survive. We have no need for such a bribe. Money won't feed the punishment humankind has coming."

While he was expecting her to reject the idea he felt absolutely insulted by what she said “She fucking calls that a bribe!?” He said in his head, almost yelling it out if he did not keep control of himself “If I were to bribe her I would not be offering something as simple as support for her future state, it was a simple fucking international support deal...no, not really, after all, who is to say she really is not just some nutball with a few followers, nobody recognises her as a country, all she is is a leader of murderers for now”

Even though the recording of his finished he was still listening in, it would not stop till it broke.

"Find some of our kind safely? What kind of fool is he? I am a Queen! I can sense all dicloni for miles, and they can sense me."

Part of him wanted to strangle her now, the rest of him wanted to hit her with a truck. But even though he wanted to, he had to keep himself in control.

"No."

The importance of that no did not go over his head, he could tell she did not like him either. He was not surprised hearing shortly after the device short circuiting as the saltwater of the ocean made it unusable. He guessed she threw it out into the ocean waters either out of anger or thinking that was the only way he was keeping track of them, or possibly both. Ragnar did not worry though, she did not know of the trackers that had already been put on the ship, it would take weeks for her to find even one, and many months of thorough search to find them all.

However, he realized what this meant. It did not take long till he had communication with headquarters “Pull out Kuzu and Peko now, it is a good possibility that Ariel will not follow my request, so we can not afford to keep him there for long. Send in Einherji, just in case if Ariel arrives before he has fully left”
For now though, he found the best action against Ariel will be inaction. He knows he can tip off anyone to get rid of her or send forces himself to deal with her, but he found that to be unnecessary and that even not following the request of her allies she was more useful as alive, seeing as her chaos would help cause distractions away from him.

With all that done he continued his walk and soon enough he was within the EU building’s sight, he was heading over back to where he was before.
At least that is what he had planned on, though he noticed that more security had come. Ragnar raised an eyebrow to this, as fewer guards had been there earlier that same day.
He wondered whether they had beefed it up after he walked in earlier today, after all, many probably would mistake him as someone planning out a murder.
He called through his earpiece for one of the officials that had been with him in case of something like this happened, but it would take a while till he would arrive, and in the meanwhile he just stayed there. Just in the sight of the people in the EU building and it in his sight.

Ragnar regretted not getting a soda first.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Einherji?”

A man did not move as he heard his title.

“You are to be sent on a mission”

Still no movement, though a voice came “Objective?”

“Extract and defend Kuzu and Peko”

Small amount of movement came as he contemplated “threats?”

“Possibly almost one hundred diclonius working together.”

He said nothing for a while till asking “Am I allowed to kill the threats?”

Only a nod was given back.

He got a devilish smile and said “When do I begin?”

“As soon as you are ready”

He stood up from the bench and said “So three years ago? Sorry for being so late then.”

A small gulp escaped the guards throat as he opened and let Einherji get himself ready.

He had lived to the title three years ago, and nothing indicated that he had lost his touch with time, if anything, it seems to be that he just got more time to think about it.

To the very last detail.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sam was preparing up some sushi. It was one of the few things he was skilled at, and his family had known of that for a long time.

But even though he was the black sheep of the family Kuzu still found him to be fun, to a certain extent, but he did not hate Sam like the rest of his family.

The two kids were raiding the place of any sweets that were there while Sam was preparing Sushi.

Kuzu was sitting down with Peko, who showed little sign of any emotion in any way, like she usually seemed to do.

Kuzu was to leave tomorrow, though he did not want to abandon his young uncle here alone nor did he want to leave the two kids here to suffer whatever the state plans on doing with them.

He still did not know about the extraction operation that was to get him out of there with Peko before the next morning would arrive.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ragnar had gone and gotten himself several soda bottles, it was a small walk but he did not mind, it would be a while till the official would come and confirm that he was Ragnar.

He got many different types of soda. And he had a lot of time to drink all of them.

----------------------------------------------------------
words: 1190

Eve spent hours down at the workshop, doing all the tests on her new weapons, testing range, strength, durability and accuracy. Everything went to plan, as her cannon guns excelled at each test.

“Perfect...now to test the body…” Eve had machines prepared to attack her. This experiment was going to test how the body worked in battle, Eve would be embarrassed if she made a body that was useless, so this had to work. The machines fired at her and she used her bodies agility to dodge the bullets, doing constant backflips as she moved across the room. As she stopped, she was ambushed by one of the machines from behind. Using her scanner, she reacted quickly and caught the blade the machine had swung at her. she then punched the machine, causing it to fall to the ground. Eve then easily dodged the incoming blade coming from the other machine and then pulled out her own blade. The two fought off in a duel, both implanted with fighting tactics from the greatest fighters that existed. The two squared off for a good ten minutes straight before Eve found a weakness and struck, piercing the blade through the machine.

“I’m sorry, I’ll fix you up after this!” Eve said to the machine before pulling out the sword and the machine falling down to the ground. “Test successful...the body works much better than expected...not a single scratch on me” Eve said to herself, uploading her results to the computer. Everything was a success, no failures to report and this made Eve happy.

“Ok, with that all done...it’s time I upgraded Adam’s weapons…”

--------------------

The scientist did everything they could with the blood that Itachi had given them. They were told to find as much information as they could, but they couldn’t, they did everything, but they got nothing, the blood gave them nothing, and then it just disappeared.

“What?” The scientist shouted. “Where is it? Where has the blood gone?”

“I don’t know! It just went!”

“What do you mean it just went? Impossible!” The scientist shouted. He went to the container that contained the blood and rub his hand everywhere, but it was true, the blood was gone, he felt nothing. “What am I going to tell Lord Excalibur?” The scientist said, worried. Nothing was going right.

---------------------

Itachi walked into Excalibur’s room, where he was relaxing in his chair as sipped his cup of tea.

“Itachi, what do you have to report?” Excalibur asked.

“I’m here to report on the blood that we took...and it is not good…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the reports have said that the blood gave back nothing for information...and then it just disappeared…”

“Disappeared?” Excalibur said, shocked. “How?”

“The reports said that it just disappeared! One moment it was there, then...just gone…”

Excalibur rose from his chair and stared at his fireplace. “Hmmm...either he got lucky...or this magic user figured a way to hide his tracks...interesting…” Excalibur couldn’t help but smile. This was becoming very interesting. He hated that this interest involved something with Lester, but for now he didn’t care, this brought a genuine smile to him.

“Anything else to report?”

“Yes, my Lord...Project E. is currently out 50%”

“Excellent…” Excalibur gave an evil smirk. “Things are getting very interesting…”

-------------------

Zero, Suzuki and Anna made their way through the corridor. They were on their way to speak to Elena, as with the war with Hector now finally over, it was time to decide what was the best option to do now, as much work is needed if they want to help give the diclonius a place in this world. Many nations that are not in the E.U are still very skeptical of accepting diclonius, but Suzuki, with the help of Elena, has been able to get the E.U countries to unite with one another, which in turn has helped in the terms of more quality goods being transported between the countries in the E.U. And with Suzuki’s new law to be implemented, there will be less and less poor people in the E.U in the next few years.

The only problem was to try and help the countries outside the E.U, getting them to see that the diclonius can live side by side with humans, as well as help them solve their problems with poor people and unemployment. It was a tough task, but it’s not going to stop Suzuki in creating the perfect world that she imagines. She knows that it will never be as perfect as what she wants it to be, but nothing can stop her from trying to get close to it.

For now, it was just to discuss what’s next with Elena. The three arrived at the door, looked at each and then walked in. Zero walked a few steps and then bowed. “Master General Elena, we have returned”

------------------------

Luuk stood there, ready for Hector to attack, if Hector was taught the same way he was taught, then Luuk will know every counter for each move that Hector throws at him, the advantage for Luuk being that he was taught an updated version from his father, as during his father’s time, certain moves and techniques became easy and too noticeable to see and became easy to counter, which is why his father taught him some new moves, which required using the opponent's momentum against them. As Luuk watched, Hector quickly launched himself, palm open as he was aiming for his chest. Luuk knew what he was planning and used both his hands to block the attack. Luuk knew he couldn’t stop the pain that Hector would inflict on the inside, but with what Luuk was doing, he was making the damage not as bad as Hector was going for. Hector’s open palm collided with Luuk’s hands, pushing him back a bit, as well as inflicting some pain on the inside. Quickly, Luuk moved his hands and, with using Hector’s momentum, flipped him over and slammed him to the ground, his fist being slammed into Hector’s stomach as he landed.

“We were taught the same moves, we were taught the same techniques...did you really think I didn’t know what you were going to do?” Luuk coughed up a bit of blood, as the attack left a mark. “My father taught me the moves that his father taught him...the only difference is that my father learned and then improved, teaching me new things that were better than what his father had taught him...my father never taught you this...as you had joined the G.O and moved away from Holland, meaning that I am now the one that will pass down this technique...the Schlenzanner technique…” Luuk then pulled up Hector and pushed him away. He then motioned with his hands for Hector to come at him again.

“Again! I came here to fight the Great Hector...not some old broken man…”

Hector calmly brushed himself off as he smiled without ill intent against at his enemy. Two minutes had passed probably, just a minute before it all ended. This was fun, just a good fight to end everything. The sun which was setting over the horizon cast an orange glow over the island where the two men fought.

So this man was taught by William as well. It figures, perhaps at his prime his physical abilities would overwhelm this man, but he was practically half dead right now. Forcing his body to move past its limitations.

One more minute.

"ARRRRRRGH!" Hector roared and launched himself at Luuk and threw all of his strength in one mighty punch towards the man's face. It was not like before, where he accurately targeted his opponent's body. It wasn't streamline or flexible or anything of the sort. If his normal fighting style wouldn't work, then in the last minute he abandoned all of that.

This punch he threw was the kind of punch that a street brawler would've thrown. Yet it contained his power and determination behind it.

He wasn't even going to bother with blocking.

Luuk watched as Hector smiled, this made Luuk smirk. He knew that the next attack would be Hector’s last, but he expected him to throw everything at his, and Luuk was going to throw it all back. Luuk watched as Hector roared before launching his final attack, throwing his fist towards Luuk. He recognised that it was not one of the moves that he was taught, more of just a normal street fight move. Luuk prepared himself and then launched himself as he threw his fist towards Hector as well. “LET’S FINISH THIS!!” Luuk roared, charging at Hector. This was the be all end all, this attack would decide the winner. They got closer and closer until the fists connected, what come next was an impact that you wouldn’t think could be human. The force that came from the collision caused more of the island to collapse, whoever couldn’t escape now would be doomed, as it would be too late to get out.

The dust cleared and the two men laid down on the floor, both covered in blood. Luuk laid there, breathing heavily, he didn’t know if Hector was still alive or not, he currently didn’t have the strength to move, that last attack took everything thing out of him, but he could do nothing but smile

----------------

Squad B stayed near, looking for Luuk until they were given an idea of where he was. All they could see was a massive force of energy collide, causing parts of the island ti complete break off and fall into the deep. “There he is! Quickly get us down!” Maj. Volkova ordered. Lt. Olsen nodded and quickly lowered the helicopter down to the crater on the island, it was the only thing that staying up around the island, but it wouldn’t be long before that would begin to crumble too. As they reached the floor they found Luuk and Hector. They quickly rushed to him and helped to pick him up. As they were quickly walking him back to the helicopter, Luuk looked at Hector and gave him a smirk. “Thanks Hector Reidswood...for giving me one hell of a fight…” Luuk then coughed up some blood before he got placed on the helicopter. The helicopter rose from the ground and flew away, as the island began to slowly sink under the water.

“And so it ends…” Luuk said to himself. Hector’s reign was over, but this didn’t mean everything was going to end here, there was still the other countries that don’t accept diclonius, as well as people like Excalibur, who plans to take over. To Luuk, this was just another day at work.

“Lt. Olsen, get to base as soon as you can, Cap. Schlenzanner is going to need medical attention asap” Maj. Volkova said to Lt. Olsen.

“Understood” He replied, flying the helicopter as fast as he could. The battle with Hector was over, but another war could just be over the horizon.