Chapter Two


More panels opened on the huge tank. This time, a large area around the upper half of the cone opened. Huge pieces of metal siding bent straight up, and small metal platforms began to slide out. This happened on both the side facing the library and the opposite side. When that happened, it revealed what was within.

The area was filled with soldiers. They were covered from head to toe in some sort of silver armor. Although it looked lightweight and was possibly a plastic derivative, it seemed to plate and cover the soldiers as if it was some sort of futuristic version of medieval plate armor. Each one was helmeted with dark eye and mouth openings, making the helmets more mask-like than designed for actual protection. Each one bore large and high-tech weaponry, armed to the teeth with it. However, it too seemed lightweight, and they slung it around easily as they ran out to the edge of the platform. Immediately, cables were lowered to the ground, and in perfect military form they soon grabbed on and began to rapple themselves off the side of the huge tank.

Meanwhile, a space near the bottom opened up, and a ramp began to extend down as if large equipment was going to come out. As the landing soldiers took up a guard post around the area, they secured both sides of the tank to allow this to happen. Meanwhile, large panels opened up on other parts of the tank, and huge rotating weapons began to come out and aim in all directions. Unusual kinds of cannons and missile launchers accompanied areas for machine gun fire, and soon the huge machine was guarding a sizable area from intrusion.

The new soldiers had barely dismounted, however, when sparks suddenly burst off of their armor. It appeared that they weren't finished with resistance yet. Some of the survivors had taken position near the columns of the main library, and now were firing small arms off at the enemy. However, the new soldiers didn't seem to care much. Some of them took cover, before one with a particularly large gun, complete with some sort of power backpack, came out and took position. He raised up his weapon and aimed straight at the enemy, not caring about the stone columns that they were hiding behind. The defenders ducked behind the concrete, but the man fired anyway. Immediately, a red hot beam of energy shot out, pierced the stone as if it wasn't even there, and hit the person on the opposite side. The defenders, from where they were, gaped in shock. But the laserman didn't waste any time. He quickly marked the rest of them as well, and soon the last resistance was dead.

By this point, the bottom area was open. Immediately, more of the armored troops poured out. They seemed to have some commanders in charge of them, who were decorated with some color on their armor. They quickly pointed them around and gestured to them to go in several places. In addition, large artillery was pulled out. The strange weapons seemed to be made of huge rows of gun barrels, and were pushed along by the soldiers. Once out, they quickly brushed them out and into position. As more soldiers continued to fill the area, an order was soon given out in cold Japanese.

"Get inside and find the book."

As if in response, a troop of twenty soldiers began to fan out and move in to the entrance. They were on the lookout for more enemy units the whole way, but only dead bodies awaited them as they made their way up the stairs and to the main facility. However, as they passed by the concrete columns that framed the entrance, five of them turned and looked to see their handiwork. Soon after, they raised their weapons again, while other soldiers flooded into the library.

"Lieutenant!" One sounded in a much rougher, country-like tone. "We have a live one!"

"Take him." The lieutenant called in reply. "If he resists-"

But the lieutenant couldn't finish, because he was cut off by a scream of agony. At that moment, a white substance flew up from behind the soldier and smacked him in the face, and seemed to stick like glue. Yelling out, the man, now blinded, staggered back and waved his weapon to the side. Moments later, more white substances came out. One proceeded to cut his gun in half, while another tore right through his armor in what seemed like a fatal blow. He fell to the ground immediately. The four with him turned in surprise to the target, and began to raise their own weapons. However, a flurry of white darts cut them off, as their weapons were cut into pieces and darts shot through their bodies. Within a few moments, the whole unit was dead.

The soldiers immediately stopped their entrance into the facility. Instead, they quickly began to fall back and take a defensive position again. Those already inside rushed on with their chore. One of them managed to grab the body of the first soldier and drag him back with them. But once he had taken cover with the others, he looked down to see what had caused the damage. In a bewildered voice, he called out to the others.

"Paper?"

Moments later, the target risked a step away from the column. The soldiers looked up and soon saw who it was. It was not a he after all, but a she. What more, she looked rather young, scatterbrained, and innocent as well. She was dressed in a light suit with an overly heavy tan coat over her shoulders, and a huge pair of glasses barely hung onto her face while her black hair messily fanned out over her head. However, in one hand, she held a fan-shaped array of what seemed like ordinary paper. On seeing how many soldiers were out there, however, she gasped and only threw one recklessly before dodging back inside. The paper in question sailed through the air and right to one of the soldiers hiding behind an ornamental statue. He quickly ducked behind it, and moments later heard a large breaking sound. He held in puzzlement for a moment, but then leaned up and looked around. To his shock, the paper had embedded itself in the stone statue as if it was an iron pick and not just simple paper.

Immediately, the lieutenant called out. "Drop her!"

Moments later, the soldiers hefted their guns and began to spew out firepower. Bullets soon riddled the front of the library, and stone and debris flew everywhere. Screaming in panic, the girl ducked and desperately covered her head behind her flimsy shelter. The enemy didn't bother using their artillery, however. Doing so would risk destroying the entrance, and their men inside would be unable to move. Instead, while the firestorm went on, the lieutenant began to order more men to deploy on the sides, to move in and trap her.

Meanwhile, one of the laser-toting troopers didn't want to wait. Through the firefight, he quickly moved closer to the front lines. Once there, he dropped down and hefted his weapon. He pressed a button on his helmet, switching it to a heat-seeking mode. Moments later, the rest of the world became blue in his vision, save for the red streaks of light firing around the target, and the red outline of the target herself. He quickly aimed the target on her, and prepared to fire…

"Pardon me, but did you drop this?"

The soldier looked up at this and turned in surprise to the right at the sound of the female voice. Moments later, a massive piece of sidewalk was flung into his body, tearing him off his feet and carrying him across the ground for a good hundred yards. He bowled over any soldier that was in his way. A group of the soldiers turned in confusion at this. Soon, they saw a black-haired woman standing out just from the edge of the monstrous tank with a rather skimpy dress on. She had a gun out, and quickly began to fire on the enemy. Her first three shots bounced harmlessly off, but a fourth one actually hit one in a vulnerable spot, and he gave a yell as he fell to the ground. But that was all she could do before she had to duck for cover behind the tank, for soon part of the enemy turned on her and began to fire. Again, the enemy couldn't use their artillery for risk of damaging their own weapon.

Kei breathed hard from her temporary defense, and began to wonder what she was thinking by jumping in on this attack. Now, she was pinned behind the tank with armed units on either side of her, and she realized they were too well armored and trained to hope to get too many good shots on them. However, a new problem soon arose. She heard a rolling and clicking sound overhead as she stood there, and with a curious expression she looked up to see what had happened.

If she could have seen fully around the backside of the tank, she would have seen that some sort of racks had rolled out with three ship-shaped objects on them. The moment it had fully rolled out, it clicked and locked into place. Seconds later each of the man-sized ship objects sprung out a pair of bat wings and a tail made of ultralight metal. Hooks released, and one by one all three objects were dropped. It didn't seem to matter. Like swallows in flight, they free fell for a moment before righting themselves and shooting up into the air again. Soon, they were swooping around at incredible speeds, turning and circling in midair. The wings flapped just like a birds. Kei saw this…and she further saw that the ships were turning and focusing on her.

The spy didn't wait long, but soon raised her gun and emptied her shots at the craft. Normally, her puny gun couldn't have been expected to be that accurate at their range. But luckily, she had since learned to adjust the path of the bullets after she fired them using a little trick. Her last four shots all went straight to the lead craft. Unfortunately, the metal hull was too much for them, and they soon bounced harmlessly off. Swallowing, Kei quickly reached to her side to fumble for another clip…before she realized in fear that she had only had enough room on her outfit for one. Moments later, the lead ship opened gunfire, and to Kei's shock the bullets were remarkably accurate. In a flash, she waved her hand in front of herself and focused. Moments later, the bullets bounced off a translucent sphere that seemed to have formed right in front of the agent. However, the two wingmen soon fired as well, this time shooting miniature rockets at the woman. Having little choice, Kei panted and tore around the farther side of the tank. The missiles hit a moment later, and tore more of the pavement up, nearly enveloping her in the resulting explosion. The three bird ships swept down a moment later, but then readily swept back up as they reached the tank to come around for another pass.

As for Kei, she noticed that she was diving right in front of another squad of soldiers. With few options left, she waved her hand at them as she dove. The nearest four soldiers soon found themselves ripped off their feet by an invisible force and thrown violently to the ground. The force of the eruption itself forced Kei to fly to the ground as well. There, she lay for a moment, panting and sweating. A heavy headache was coming on, and she felt shaky from all of the power she had used. But she knew she had little time to waste. The other soldiers were a bit stunned on seeing her fall, but soon they'd realize she wasn't hurt and open fire again. Quickly, she turned to the other soldiers she had knocked over. They were already beginning to rise. She looked over their weapons for a moment, until her eyes rested on one in particular. He seemed to have a large cannon weapon…with a battery pack on the side.

No way… It can't be… Oh well, I'm not complaining.

Immediately, Kei braced one of her arms and pointed it at the man. Moments later, the soldier was shocked as his weapon quivered, and then shot right out of his hands and straight for the fallen woman. It dragged the battery pack behind it, and soon the laser cannon was in Kei's arms. Despite being shaky and sore, Kei sprung to her feet and fired, not bothering to take aim. A red hot laser soon erupted from the machine, and she proceeded to sweep it at the enemy before her. Most of them had good reflexes, it seemed, and they dove to the ground quickly. But some were unfortunate enough to get in its way, and the beam cut through them like they were made of butter. Pieces of the soldiers soon fell to the ground.

Seeing this group incapacitated for the moment, Kei quickly turned and looked to the sky instead. The three ships were making for another pass. Huffing, she quickly brought the heavy laser cannon up and aimed it straight for the central one. The weapon had a scope on it, and soon she had the plane firmly in her sights. She immediately squeezed the trigger, expecting the plane to be easily shot down by the cannon. Much to her surprise, the plane slipped out of the way, and the shot missed it. Gritting her teeth, Kei held the trigger down and swept it up again, but once more the plane turned and avoided it. It began to open fire on Kei again, but luckily it wasn't so accurate this time. Nevertheless, Kei, angry at how long this was taking, swept the laser around a bit in the air. Finally, it was too much for the craft to handle…although the pilot looked like he could have kept avoiding it. The shot tore into the craft as the two wingmen parted. Moments later, one of the wings exploded in a ball of fire. The plane took a nosedive, and soon crashed into the street and erupted.

Kei panted again, but then turned and quickly dove back for the guarded side of the tank. She couldn't risk trying to run for it now. The artillery would pick her down in a second. Now, she was caught in a deadly game of survival…


The young woman behind the column wasn't doing much better. She seemed to be rather timid, and helpless in her pinned down location. Unfortunately, that gave ample opportunity for more enemy units to move in. While she cringed and cowered, her opponents had moved in on either side of the building, and were sneaking forward along the wall. She continued to clutch her head in terror a moment, before there was a lull in the gunfire. Quickly, the woman opened her eyes, and then gasped as she saw what was happening. She immediately shot to her feet and brandished her sheets of paper, but she quickly realized it was hopeless. They were closing in on both sides, and now that she noticed them they had their guns up. She couldn't fight both off at once…unless…

The woman swallowed, but then decided to risk it. She held a moment longer, but then dove for the ground. As she did, she flung the deck of paper in her hand at one of her enemies. They sailed out like deadly darts, cutting into the first two soldiers on one side and slicing right through them. The enemy on the other side immediately prepared to fire, but there was a split second delay. In that time, she managed to reach her remaining hand down into an open suitcase at her side…which appeared to be filled with nothing but reams and reams of office paper. In a flash, she pulled it back up, seeming to pull a continuous stream of paper held together into one massive sheet as she did so, and brought it over herself. The enemy opened fire anyway…and was soon shocked to realize that the paper acted as a bullet-proof shield, and guarded the woman from every shot.

Meanwhile, the survivors on the other side, stunned a bit but now recovered, opened fire as well. Yet the woman seemed ready. She reached down into her case and pulled out two more decks of paper cards and unfolded them into fans. She quickly spread them in front of her head, and moments later twenty bullets from the enemy were stopped cold as they fired at her. Her opponents were shocked, wondering how this was possible. But she didn't give them a moment. Once they were finished, she quickly lowered her arms and flung out her paper decks at the enemy one after another, cutting through the rest of the troops in a second. As this wing of the enemy was wiped out, the woman began to feel relieved. Perhaps she could win after all…

Those hopes were soon dashed. Abruptly, she heard a burning sound behind her, and felt heat on the back of her neck. Her face paled, and she immediately gulped. She turned weakly around, and soon found her paper barrier burning. Apparently, the enemy had flamethrowers in their weapons as well. Gasping in fear, the woman quickly rushed down and attempted to put out the flames. But unfortunately they spread quickly, and soon she only managed to burn herself as the flame spread to her. The young woman was forced to rise to her feet to avoid getting singed…but in her scatterbrainedness she had neglected to pick up so much as a scrap of paper…and had exposed herself perfectly to the enemy. She looked up at them, and soon saw several gun barrels aimed at her. The young woman began to sweat. Her eyeglasses began to slide down her nose. She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender…but the soldiers didn't react. They merely took aim for her head, ready to deal with the nuisance once and for all.

Again, however, they were stopped as a rather long sword blade suddenly ripped itself through the back one's chest. He gave out a death gurgle loud enough for all to hear, and they all turned in surprise, temporarily forgetting about the young woman. Rather than use the moment to attack, the young woman herself looked in puzzlement, and even shock, at what had happened. Moments later, however, the soldier fell…revealing a tall, dark man with a wide-brimmed hat, a black trench coat, and a long silver nodachi. He wasted little time, but cut through two more at once, and then, before they could even raise their guns to fight back, impaled the last two on his sword.

The young woman blinked in shock. However, D didn't want to waste any time waiting for her to snap out of it. Immediately, he dashed forward and seized the woman roughly, then with one yank snapped her around so that she twirled against his body. After that, he held her tight against himself.

"Hey!" The young woman protested. "What are you-"

"If you want to live, be quiet and hang on." D simply responded. He turned back around, and sure enough saw more soldiers running in. Brandishing his sword in one hand and holding the young woman tightly to himself in the other, he soon took off and dashed right at them. They leveled their guns and opened fire, but in a flash D crouched and leapt into the air, sailing high above their intended targets. They seemed to be above average gunmen, for they were not shocked by D's move, and they quickly cut off their first chain of fire and looked into the sky instead, not seeming to care that D had leapt fifty feet into the air. As the young woman screamed in panic, D turned himself down and made his body dive faster to the ground. Still, the enemy fired back so quickly that he had to use two of his sword hand fingers to quickly pull out a pair of wooden needles and fling them down. Moments later, the projectiles ripped through the two nearest one's heads, and D landed in their midst.

They began to fire, but D was too fast. Quickly, he swiped out his blade twice and cut through four of them, two on either side. That left two more at the extremities and out of his immediate range. Yet as he did so, he suddenly felt a hot pain rip through his arm. He didn't have to look to see the cause. He knew that one of the bullets still managed to hit him. In all honesty, he was surprised. One of the remaining gunmen had to have shot him. But for them to have adjusted and opened fire so quickly after their four accomplices had been put down…it was superhuman.

D didn't bother debating it. Instead, he quickly reached down one of the arms holding the young lady and turned on a switch on his belt. A piercing UV light soon went out, and he turned and aimed it straight in the eyes of one of the soldiers. In the meantime, he swept his arm around and flung his nodachi at the other one like a huge dart. That soldier could only gape a moment before the blade connected. As for the other, he gave out a cry of agony and shot back, raising his hands to his helmeted eyes. D used this diversion to quickly close the distance between himself and the soldier, and soon he was on him and driving his fist forward with killing force. With one smash, he pounded his hand into the man's skull, and the power killed him immediately. Not wasting anymore time, D turned on a dime and shot back to the other fallen soldier. He reached down just long enough to tear his nodachi out of the other, and then dashed for the side of the library. Moments later, he quickly plunged behind the edge of a small enclave and took cover.

Only then was the young woman released. Now quite frazzled and stunned, she nearly collapsed the moment she was dropped to the ground. Bullets tore apart the edge of the building where D hid, but he merely leaned up against the back and planned his next move. The woman sighed loudly and rubbed her sweaty brow, for despite all that had happened she was alive and out of a deathtrap. But then, she turned around, and immediately turned a shade white. The scariest looking man ever was gazing down on her underneath a blood-red hat through yellow lenses. He grinned…and revealed a monstrous set of vampiric teeth.

The woman swallowed. Without turning away from him, she reached her arm behind herself and tugged on D's coat. "Uh…I think you missed one!" She yelped in fear.

D, in response, calmly turned an eye behind himself. He took one look at Alucard, but stayed perfectly controlled and calm. "…Are you going to help?"

Alucard merely shrugged. "Why?"


"What annoying creatures…"

The commander of this particular division of the LDV Army remarked this aloud as he gazed down on the battle below. This was supposed to be a simple operation, from what his master had told him. Simply pilot their tank down the streets of Tokyo to the Metropolitan Library, and recover the book. Other than that, the only purpose was to show the world what the forces of the LDV Army could do. Now, it appeared, they had run into some meddling difficulties. Three…no, two groups now, were causing them trouble. One was hiding under his very tank, unable to be shot at. She should have been dealt with a while ago. But somehow…and the commander had noticed this through what appeared to be special powers on her part…she was staying alive and had actually shot down one of their planes. As for the others, that damned Special Ops agent seemed to have found other superhuman friends as well. And now, they were held out against the side of the very library he had to make sure not to turn to rubble. Yes…this was an annoying day indeed.

The commander was far different from the rest of the soldiers. He was covered in a single piece long black cape, covering his entire body including the back of his head. However, given the dark manner of the man and his cold demeanor…it looked as if he was a piece of living shadow. He betrayed no form or detail about him until one looked to his head. There, as a headdress, he wore a bizarre assortment of what had to be dark bird feathers, giving him an unusual, almost native…or witch doctor…appearance. As for his face, it showed nothing either. A stoic white mask covered it, shaped into the old Kabuki style with only a slight grin where the mouth should be. But it was black underneath, showing no mouth. The only thing it did show of the man was in its eye opening. On one side of the head, a normal human eye shone out. But on the other…there was only blackness.

He calmly stood on the platform overhead, unmoving as the rest of the soldiers surveyed the area around him. Three lesser commanders were up on his upper platform, each one specially colored compared to the other silver soldiers. But they all obeyed him. He was unmiffed by any of the attacks or movement. He stayed calm and cold. In fact…one felt a bit icy just staring at him. One could almost feel the passion and darkness dripping off from him, as if he wasn't wearing a cloak of fabric but one of blackness. One mere look from him was enough to strike fear into the hearts of most mortal men. And he showed nothing as he looked over the field.

At last, one of the lieutenants, wielding a pair of binoculars, looked over far below to the bottom of the tank. He was focused on the front of the library. Suddenly, a troop of soldiers emerged from within, rushing out to the tank. As they did, one held up a small light and flashed it, sending a signal to the soldier on top. He turned to the black-cloaked individual immediately.

"My lord, we have it. They're bringing it aboard right now."

"Good." The man flatly said…his voice as cold and hard as a gravestone. "Kill the intruders."


The soldiers, who had been furiously firing until now, suddenly ceased. Abruptly they fell back, covering a new group of soldiers that had just run from the inside of the library. These ones quickly fell back together into the open tank. However, as D looked around the corner, he saw that the enemy wasn't leaving them alone just yet. The artillery that they had spent so much time getting out was now being trained on them. D realized that if they had what they came for, then there was nothing left to stop them from blasting through the library to get to them. Their shelter wouldn't last long.

The young woman peeked her head out over the side, staying behind D as she did. On doing so, she swallowed immediately. "We're in trouble…"

D had to admit that she was right. Somehow, one of those gunners had managed to put another bullet in his leg when he took shelter. That meant he wasn't going to be going anywhere fast anytime soon. He couldn't run back out fast enough to clear the enemy units before they fired. No doubt, they were holding for the moment so that they could get enough armaments to tear apart the barrier that shielded them. As for Alucard, who was calmly standing behind him with his arms crossed, even if for some reason he could get him to help, in daylight he couldn't transform or teleport. They were indeed in trouble. Finally, D realized there was only one thing he could do.

The dhampire immediately turned down to the young woman. "Can you make a shield strong enough to stop that cannon fire?"

The young woman turned back and paused a moment. She seemed a bit shocked and confused at all this. But then, she snapped out of it and spoke. "I…I need paper."

A moment later, the young woman yelped in terror as what sounded like cannon fire erupted. She nearly leapt into D's arms as she heard the massive, ear-splitting eruptions behind her. However, the enemy hadn't fired yet. Instead, as she turned around, shaking with nervousness, she saw that Alucard had pulled out two rather large handguns, taken aim at the wall of the enclave they were in, and had opened fire. His fat bullets tore through the concrete wall as if they were rice paper, acting like small cannons in and of themselves as they ripped it down. After he had blasted a man-sized hole in the building, he quickly replaced the guns and stepped inside calmly.

The young woman continued to hold against D and blinked in astonishment. The dhampire himself remained perfectly calm. Moments later, however, Alucard emerged. In one hand, he easily hefted an entire encyclopedia set in one stack. He dropped the books to the ground right in front of the young woman, not caring that they were heavy and that he dropped one right on her foot, making her recoil and yelp a bit more in pain.

"Will this do?" He calmly asked.


Kei took careful aim again and fired. It was still hard as ever to shoot down a plane. All three pilots seemed to be incredibly skilled. It was only with great difficulty that she was shooting this other one down. However, the laser once again moved through it, and the bird-like ship erupted into a fireball soon after. It was sent crashing to the ground like its predecessor. After this, the other plane seemed to realize it was at a disadvantage. It made a sharp turn to one side, and made back for where it was.

However, Kei realized she was still in deep trouble. She was stuck against this tank, and she could be overwhelmed at any time. The laser cannon was running out of power quickly. If that wasn't enough, she heard the enemy units loading up. Soon, the huge tank would be in motion again, and if she was still where she was she'd probably be crushed. But she couldn't risk running for it. If she did, she could be pegged down by cannon fire. She began to sweat. What was she going to do?

"Kei? Kei!"

The spy suddenly perked up her head at this. A familiar voice had called out to her. Immediately, she turned and looked to the source, and found that it was on the side of the tank facing away from the library. She couldn't see who, though. She swallowed a moment, trying to make a decision. At last, she decided that enough of the enemy had reentered the tank at this point, and she began to dash around the edge of the tank and make for the opposite side.

However, no sooner had she run to the other side then her face went white. Lupin had recovered, and now the fool was out again. He was still hiding over at the now-abandoned restaurant, but he was looking up and actively searching for the spy. He was calling out to her as well. Kei slipped up and didn't even check for extra guards in the area. Instead, she merely looked up and looked to him. Her own face went into a panic, and her heart began to race.

No, you idiot… Keep quiet!

But it was already too late. Kei heard a great whirring above her. She looked up, and was able to see only a little over the hanging rim of the tank. But what she did see was her worst fear. The enemy was turning every gun it had on this side to Lupin. Soon, they'd open fire on him and turn him and the restaurant into a blackened crater. The rogue only seemed to realize this too late. In the middle of calling out for Kei, his eyes suddenly caught the side of the tank. Immediately he went white as a sheet himself and swallowed nervously. He ducked back down behind the railing of the exterior restaurant, but Kei already knew that wouldn't save him.

The spy grit her teeth in frustration. Lewd and childish as he was, Lupin was a good man deep down inside. He had come through for her before, although it might have taken a while. She couldn't just let him die. But she couldn't call out to him. If she did, it wouldn't have mattered. And she couldn't run out and drag him to safety. She'd never make it. And so, she realized there was only one alternative left. It already hurt so much…but she had to do it. She hadn't tried something like this before, but there was a first time for everything she guessed…

Moments later, the cannons opened fire. At the same time, Kei extended her hand out to Lupin and focused as hard as she could. She bit down and glared forward, not letting up for a moment. The cannons soon hit and erupted. But instead of tearing Lupin to pieces, they blew up each and every bit of area around him. But as for himself, he was guarded under a translucent sphere that Kei projected on him. Immediately, the strain became great. And every cannon shot that landed felt like a stab in the brain. If that wasn't enough, the enemy had some sort of rapid fire cannon that could shoot almost continuously. And they were using them en masse. Grunting, straining, and barely able to hold on, Kei continued to generate the shield. But the force became stronger and stronger. Her headache grew worse and worse. Her fingers trembled. Her nerves began to burn. Still the cannon fire continued, only getting stronger. Soon…her shield began to wave and buckle.

Biting down again, Kei braced her arm and kept focusing. Her eyes began to glaze over. Her vision blackened. Her head felt like fire, and blood began to ooze from her nose. She felt dizzy and sick. She wanted to roll over and throw up. But still she kept focusing. And still, the cannon fire kept coming.

Somehow, despite all the pain and agony that it took to control this, despite the fact that she was breaking, Kei saw something in the corner of her eye. She turned her peripheral vision slightly to the right…and cursed herself. One of the enemy soldiers was still out. And on seeing her, he had pulled out a grenade and thrown it at her. Kei was torn. The tremendous amount of focus on Lupin was tearing her mind apart. But now, she had another target. Finally, she managed to remove one arm that was bracing her focusing arm, and turned it to the grenade. Struggling with all her might to do two things at once, she focused her power on the incoming grenade.

Unfortunately, she didn't realize that it was a proximity grenade. The moment her force touched it, the explosive erupted. It wasn't that far from Kei at that point, and the violent force of the explosion ripped into her and rattled her brain. Unable to deal with this new force as well as her other pain, Kei could no longer take it. Her mind was torn too much. Abruptly, it shut down, and the woman passed out. Moments later, her body was flung violently backward through the air from the force of the eruption, and was forced out into the middle of the street. As she did, the cannons, now free, proceeded to tear apart the restaurant at long last. But as Kei's consciousness and power faded, she merely fell to the ground in a heap, now bruised and a bit burnt, and began to ooze blood from her nose.

The previous retreat was cancelled. Now, the grenade thrower began to run forward along with a group of other soldiers running out from the opening on this side of the tank. They rushed straight over to the fallen Kei with guns out and wary looks, expecting her to fight back or spring to life. But nothing happened. Kei was out for the count. And soon, the group had reached her motionless body.

Overhead, more soldiers flooded the platform. Many of them were minor troops, and they aimed their guns down on Kei's fallen body. Two of them had lasers and aimed for her head. Two commanders came out as well. Then, at long last, calmly strolling along, was the man in black. He too came out and stopped on the edge of the tank. There, he looked down and gazed at the fallen girl far below. He did not move, but halted for a few brief moments. The other soldiers paused and did nothing, ready to end her life, but none of them making a move without their commander approving. The man in black stared long and hard at the fallen body. He seemed to be making some sort of internal decision. However, at long last, he issued his verdict.

"…Take her."


At the same time, the guns opened fire. At once, another chain of cannon blasts shot out and proceeded to decimate the entire side of the building. Huge eruptions blasted pieces of cement and ground into ashes. As on the other side, the cannons barely paused in between. They seemed to be able to fire continuously without stop, not halting for more than a second as they fired again and again on the area below. The entire shelter was obliterated. A huge crater was blasted into the ground. Everything in the zone vanished into an eruption of fire and ashes as the cannon continued to go off.

Finally, the shots ceased. By now, the last of the troops had exhausted their ground ammo supplies, and began to pull them back. As they did, the guns on the main tank prepared to fire again, but paused long enough to let the smoke clear and see what had happened. A few soldiers and officers remained on the platform far above, looking down to see what happened.

They were soon in for a surprise. As they watched the smoke clear, one thing was left intact on the field where everything else was ash…a giant paper sphere. It alone stood in the midst of a scorched crater. It was a little scored and smoldering, but other than that still stood. The cannon crews were overwhelmed. They couldn't believe it.

They were soon in for another surprise, however. A small hole was suddenly ripped into the side of the sphere. Moments later, a large gun barrel pointed out and fired a shot. A massive streak tore through the air before it hit the main cannon, which immediately exploded into a ball of fire. Two more shots rang out, obliterating two more cannons with each eruption. Another shot went off after that, blowing away a large section of the platform on the tank. Soldiers went flying everywhere before falling off the edge to their deaths.

But that was all that got off. The panels soon slid into place after that. The platforms sank back into the main craft, and metal plating covered them as well. Soon, the entire tank was a giant cone once more. Then, with a hiss of steam and power, the treads on the tank went in reverse, and it began to roll back the way it came, back down the street and away from the library, leaving only destruction and carnage in its wake.

As it pulled away, a small hand suddenly reached out of the hole and grabbed a piece of the paper, giving it a simple tug. As if it had barely been holding itself together, the entire paper dome collapsed immediately. It revealed the three people that were hiding within it…D, Alucard, and the young woman, still astonished at all that had happened.

While D coldly stared at the tank and the young woman gaped at it, Alucard calmly popped open his gun and began to reach for spare bullets.

"Waste of expensive ammunition…" He murmured, but nothing else.


To be continued...