Awakening and Origins

The ruins of Ikaruga; a tainted, damaged and scarred nation that had felt the full consequences of their actions during the Ikaruga Civil War. The NOL, who control what's left of the Dark War, were opposed by the Ikaruga Federation, a united nation of hierarchical cities that wish to be independent from the one earth government.

But when they made their intentions clear, the NOL viciously attacked Ikaruga and slaughtered thousands of people all because they desire independence from their rule. The wasteland was the result of the large Nox Nyctores, Takemikazuchi which ravaged the landscape and left many of its cities and people's homes destroyed.

Ibukido was one of the places that took the most damage as it took a direct hit from Takemikazuchi's attack and was nothing but a pile of rubble, overgrowth and remnants of a dead civilisation. But like all places of war, there are secrets held everywhere.

"The signal is getting closer, just a few miles ahead of us."

On this day, a group of 5 soldiers were heading in to investigate a strange signal coming from the ruins of Ibukido. These men were field agents of Sector Seven; an organization of scientists whose power rivals the NOL's and are tasked with obtaining power and creating change through science and collecting the different grimoires. The agents all wore black gear reminiscent of black ops soldiers and all had the Sector Seven insignia.

"You know, when Professor Kokonoe tasked us with finding whatever the hell's causing this signal, I was picturing finding a weapon or energy source." Said one of the Sector Seven agents as he surveyed the area.

"Who knows what will find." Said a female agent. "But knowing the Professor, I wouldn't be surprised if she sent us to retrieve some super weapon."

The agents reached a large crevasse which was covered in shrapnel and broken machinery. As they approached the area, the squad leader's radar began to spiked out of control; to which he reached for it and looked at the screen. The leader's eyes widen in shock and looked back at his squad.

"The signal's coming from here!"

The agents then began to spread out and search the area for any signs or anomalies as they held out their radars to get a signal.

"Sir, over here!"

The female agent called out to her comrades and the other agents went to the direction of the voice. The agents of Sector Seven marched towards their female companion who pointed to a spot in front of her; and the agents all looked in front of them and their eyes widen in surprise and horror.

There in front of them was a large white stasis pod with various cables and yellow techno-based lines running down the pod. The pod also had black magatamas on the top and the kanji for 'heaven' on the bottom. There was also a large glass case over the front which obscured something inside.

"What is it, sir?" Asked one of the agents to his superior.

"I don't know, it looks like some kind of stasis pod meaning something's inside."

One of the agents then approached the mysterious pod and touched it with their hand. Suddenly, a loud noise coming from the pod in which started to fume smoke out of the sides. The agents then walked back nervously as they became startled by the glass base beginning to slide open and through the smoke, they could see a figure with yellow glowing eyes emerge from the pod.

"What the hell is that?" the leader said nervously.

The figure, who was slightly hunched over, turn to look at the squad and began to climb out of the pod and slowly walked towards them. The agent then anxiously pointed their assault rifles at the figure.

"Stop or will shoot!" The leader yelled at the figure but it did not pay attention as it walked closer and closer.

The agents then opened fire on the figure and unloaded a volley of bullets at the entity. However through the smoke they could see that the figure dodged every bullet with blinding speed so fast that all they could see was black and yellow blur; seeing a trail of light coming from its eyes. The figure moved extremely and headed towards the agents as it appear in front of the leader and quickly sliced opened his neck with its hand which caused him to drop to the ground dead.

The agents then tried to attack the figure with their guns and hand-to hand combat but it swiftly dodged all of the attacks and processed to kill off the agents. The figure first broke both of one agent's arms and smash their face in making them drop dead. Next the figure approached the female agent and grabbed them by the neck and simply snapped it by twisting its hand. The figures then dropped the dead soldier and killed the two last remaining soldiers by clotheslining their torsos so hard they were bisected. The figure then stopped in its track and held its head hunched over facing the ground.

The smoke then cleared from the crevasse in which it revealed a bloody pile of broken and mutilated bodies and in the centre was the figure who was revealed to be a boy. The boy had slightly tanned skin with skinny but slightly muscular build and had black messy hair that reached down to his neck. However his two most interesting features were his gold eyes looking similar to a bird of prey; and the markings all over his body.

He had black magatamas around his torso, with two on each side of his collarbone, three on each hand resembling the symbol on the thunder god Raijin's drums and on his back he has a large black glyph which had the heaven kanji in the middle, various magatamas circling it and six seraphic wings protruding out of the sides; the top wings extend up to his shoulder, the middle wings his mid back which reached all the way to the sides of his abdomen and the bottom wings pointed downwards.

The boy then lifted his head upwards and stood up straight. The boy's eyes were faded as if he was in some type of catatonic or blank state; and after a few seconds, the fade from the boy's eyes disappeared revealing more detailed gold eyes with small black beady pupils and black rings around his irises.

The boy became aware of his surroundings and looked around confused and startled by the corpses around him.

"What the hell happened here?" The boy said in confusion.

The boy then looked his hands which were soaked in blood and his eyes widened in horror and fear.

"Did…I do this?"

The boy then sadly sighed as he walked towards a stream nearby. He then began to washed the blood from his arms and washed his face in frustration.

'Figures they would put a program like that in me.' He thought as looked into his reflection in the water.

Then suddenly, the boy looked at his reflection and realised something: he was naked.

"WHAT? I'M NAKED?!"

The boy then looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Thankfully, no one was and he then stood up straight and closed his eyes.

'Alright, focus.' The boy thought as he started to emit a yellow aura.

After a few seconds, the aura then began to materialise clothing on his body. He wore a dark grey gi top and pants with a red sash around his waist, a moss green sleeveless haori with a large black heaven kanji on the back of it and black eastern boots with red thread. He also wore a necklace with three magatama beads attached to it.

The boy then took a deep breath and then began to remember flashes of his past.

"Orion Izanagi, find your opposite, your identical, the Imperator who represents darkness and death, and destroy her as you were created to do by your masters."

The boy, now known as Orion Izanagi, the sighed as he began to walk out of the stream and towards the further ruins of Ibukido.

"Goddamn it! Why the hell does this always happened to me?"

Yabiko

A cell phone began to ring in the office of a certain sleeping feline scientist. She was a small skinny girl with long pink hair tied into a ponytail by a yellow ribbon and two cat ear-shaped buns, yellow cat-like eyes and wore a white lab coat with paw-shaped sleeves, gold bracelets on her wrists, red Capri pants with a large black belt with cat-themed buckles and a pair of white slip-on shoes with paw designs. Her most notable features however were her small pink cat ears with white tips and two large pink tails with similar white tips.

This was Kokonoe, the chief scientist at Sector Seven who recently defected from the organization with her loyal agent Tager and aligned herself with the Praetorian Guard Colonel Kagura Mutsuki who has a plan to overthrow the current Imperator using an ancient weapon called Kushinada's Lynchpin. After defecting, Kokonoe moved herself to Kagura's headquarters in Yabiko, a hierarchical city in the Ikaruga Federation.

The phone kept on buzzing loudly as Kokonoe then finally woke up with wrinkles under her eyes from exhaustion. She then reached for the cell and then flipped it open and pressed the green button to answer.

"This is Professor Kokonoe." She said with irritation in her voice.

"What? All of them? Are you freaking kidding me?!" Kokonoe yelled in surprise and anger.

"No, do not pursue the signal any further. I will take this matter into my own hands."

Kokonoe hung up and closed the cell phone. She then took out one of her silvervine lollipops and began to suck on it angrily.

'Shit! First I'm almost found by Azrael, now the squad I hired to investigate that signal in Ibukido has all been wasted!' She thought as she slammed her fist down on her desk.

Kokonoe then turned on her computer and started to contact Tager.

"Tager, you read me?"

In the outskirts of Yabiko, a large red skinned humanoid with devilish features and black spiky hair with a white streak and glasses was surveying the city when he received a transmission from his boss. This was Tager, Kokonoe's field agent known by many as the Red Devil. As soon as he heard the half-beast-kin's voice, he replied.

"I read you, Kokonoe." Tager said in calm tone. "Any updates with the agents in Ibukido?"

"Yeah, they were all wiped out a few hours ago according to the informant." Kokonoe replied.

"Wiped out you say, by what?"

Kokonoe, who was back at the office, spat out the empty lollipop and replaced it with another from her pocket.

"Not sure." Kokonoe said as she examined the data from the signal. "Possibly the very thing that emits the energy signature or someone that doesn't want anyone to find out its origins."

"I see." Said Tager who was surprised by his boss' ignorance. "How long do you think it will take you to figure out what the readings mean?"

Kokonoe then sighed as she looked at the now moving energy signature.

"Well….here's the thing, Tager. 1. The signal is now moving which doesn't make my job any easier."

"Okay then." Tager said. "And what is the other problem?"

Kokonoe then blushed in embarrassment as she said the following words.

"I'm….not exactly qualified to identify an energy signature of this degree."

Tager's eyes widened (or at least his eyebrow muscle widened) in disbelief.

"What do you mean by that, Kokonoe?"

Kokonoe just sighed as she sucked on her lollipop.

"Look, I can recognise the signal coming from something like Seithr or Magic or even more basic energies like EMF, Fusion or Kinetic but this….something like this would take a science major like me years to identify without the proper training. It also doesn't help that because the signal is moving means I can't even examine it."

"So you mean you can't identify it at all?" Tager asked.

Kokonoe scratch her head in frustration and scoffed down her lollipop with ease like some wild animal. In the reflection of her screen, she saw something that made her eyes widen and an idea popped in her head.

'I know I said I wouldn't let you out yet.' Kokonoe thought. 'But I don't have many options.'

"Tager, report back to HQ ASAP."

"Hmm, what is it, Kokonoe? Have you found a solution?" Tager asked confused as he began to walk back to Yabiko.

"Yes I believe so. I may not be able to identify the origins of the signature." Kokonoe said as she rotated her head to face behind her desk and smiled pridefully. "But I know someone who can."

The Route towards Naobi

Izanagi had been on the road towards the 4th Hierarchical City of Naobi for hours now. He had to climb a mountain and fend off a few wild animals on the way there but due to his body's 'abnormalities', he was able to manage it. The boy was then startled by a loud noise behind him in which he turned around to see a monstrosity with the features of a dog, a spider and a lizard in one with a dark menacing aura over it. Izanagi then widened his eyes in fear as his face became blue.

"Oh shit! Uh…..I don't suppose you're here to kill me right?" He said nervously.

The beast just roared at Izanagi with rage as it charged head first towards him.

"OH SON OF A BITCH!"

Izanagi turned tail and ran extremely fast from the creature towards the route that leads to Naobi. He turned his head to see if the monster followed him and to his horror, it pursued him further.

"Why? Why does bad shit happen to me? First those people I killed who awakened me now this thing wants to make me his personal chew toy!"

Izanagi was not a man of conflict or violence. He resented it despite his creators making him for the purpose of ending the current Imperator's reign. Despite being made a killing machine, Izanagi was an emotional man who didn't take killing lightly and wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible. The monster then began to shoot large strands of poisonous silk at Izanagi who with his superhuman speed, was able to dodge every hit. The monster attack using his spider-like legs which Izanagi effortlessly evaded and even parried one of the blows and sent it back to the creature.

Izanagi had enough and was getting angry. He stopped running and stood his ground against the monster and stared at it with boiling rage.

"Okay now I'm started to get annoyed!" He yelled at the creature.

The monster then lunged at Izanagi with a vicious roar and as it was about to take his head with its long jaws, Izanagi, as fast as lightning, hit the beast with a point-blank punch which caused its head and upper torso to shatter into pieces and spat dark blood out of its body. Izanagi then looked at the beast's corpse in horror and began to sprint away towards Naobi.

"GODDAMN IT! I DID IT AGAIN!" Izanagi screamed as he ran as fast as his feet could take him.

Izanagi then stopped running as he reached the start of a forest which was covered in a cloud of Seithr. The emotional weapon looked at the terrain in horror as he realised the way to the 4th Hierarchical City of Naobi. He then sighed in disbelief as he then sat on a rock nearby.

"Great, a forest covered in Seithr." He said in frustration.

'I know that Seithr isn't deadly towards me, but it does affect my abilities.' Izanagi thought as he placed his hand on his chin.

"Hey, you need some help, kid?" a gruff male voice said behind him.

Now there's something you should know about Izanagi. Izanagi hates being called a kid. Despite his youthful and childish way he expresses his emotions, Izanagi was created during the first time loop in which he is very old by chronological standards as there is no way to tell how many times the loop happened.

Izanagi then turned around with an enraged look in his eyes.

"OH SO I'M A KID NOW, AM I? DO YOU HAVE DEATH WISH OR SOEMTHING, ASSHOLE?!"

Izanagi's face turned from a furious look to a confused and dumbfounded look on his face. There, standing in front of him was black and white cat with red eyes and two black tails with white tips. The cat wore a yellow Chinese-styled hoodie with large paw-shaped sleeves and two cream coloured pouches where his ears must go on top of the hood, a black belt with a buckle that serves as a eyepatch and had a red curved sheath attached with a black sling with two white hilts poking out each end.

"Woah, settle down there, fella." Said the cat in the same gruff male voice. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Izanagi stared at the cat with amazement and shock. He then pointed at the cat nervously.

"W-w-who the hell are you?" Izanagi said nervously.

"Oh sorry if I upset you there, kid-"

"Don't called me kid, cat-man!" Izanagi said angrily.

"Okay sorry about that, mister…?"

"Izanagi, Orion Izanagi." Said Izanagi as he tried to control his temper.

"Izanagi, eh? That's a peculiar name." The cat said. "My name is Mitsuyoshi but most folks call me Jubei."

Izanagi's eyes widen in surprise.

"Jubei? As in Jubei of the Six Heroes?" Izanagi asked.

"Six Heroes." Jubei said as he chuckled nervously. "You know I never really liked how people worshiped us as saviours in the Dark War. There were many friends I knew who deserved that title more than us."

"I guess history is won by the winners." Izanagi added.

"I suppose your right." Jubei replied. "So, Izanagi, you lost or something?"

"Well, I'm trying to get to Naobi but there's a forest filled with Seithr in my way."

Jubei walked in front of Izanagi and placed his paw-sleeved hand on his chin.

"There's a route not far from here." Jubei said as he pointed to a path around the forest. "It doesn't have as much Seithr as the forest but it's much safer but has a few mutated animals on the path."

'Great, now I have to kill another animal.' Izanagi thought angrily.

"If you wish, I can accompany you if you'd like. I'm heading Naobi way myself." Jubei said as he smiled at Izanagi.

Izanagi thought for a second. 'Should I get this beast-kin involved in my stupid mission. But I don't want to take my chances finding another monster again.'

"Sure, why not?" Izanagi said with a smile. "Thanks."

"Great, this is the way here, Izanagi." Jubei said as he began to walk towards the route.

Izanagi then followed Jubei and looked back at the route behind and then started to think.

'Why do I have to this, Takamagahara? I just want to be left alone. Don't make me kill her.'

NOL Headquarters

The NOL headquarters, the crown jewel of the powerful empire. This where the Imperator operates from and gives out orders to the different branches of the NOL. Right now, the Imperator Izanami was in a meeting with her high-ranking officials.

The first person was Relius Clover, a Colonel from the Engineering Branch who visited the goddess a few nights ago over a nightmare she had. He was simply standing there listening with a strange doll-like android with large clawed hands and wore a pink dress, hat and had blonde hair and blue glowing eyes. This was Ignis, an Anti-Nox Nyctores weapon created by Relius using the soul of his deceased wife who was also named Ignis.

The second was a tall, skinny man with green messy hair who always had his eyes closed and a big smile on his face. He wore a black tail coat, tie, vest and slacks, brown fingerless gloves, two brown belts wrapped around his waist and brown shoes with steel caps. The most interesting feature of him was the black fedora on top of his head. This man was Captain Hazama of the Intelligence Department, a man who most people believed to be a pacifist but was actually hiding an ancient evil within him.

Standing next to the Imperator was a feminine figure with a purple straitjacket-esque dress with large cracks on it and white ribbons running across it that fade into red and wore a large purple witch hat. This was Phantom, a powerful Magic user who was Izanami's right-hand woman whose job was to protect her. Unlike the rest of the group, she lacked all forms of emotions or visible sentience.

The next person was a girl with long red hair tied in a ponytail and had red eyes. She wore a black Asian-styled combat suit with baggy pants, gloves, boots and a cape and wore a black cape with a single red eye and black angel wings on top of it. She was Tsubaki Yayoi, a member of the Zeroth Squadron who was just recently promoted to Major. Despite appearing to be loyal to only the Imperator, she is actually under Izanami's Mind Eater spell which is controlling her emotions and actions.

The final person was a tall beautiful woman of Asian heritage who had long black hair reaching down to her legs and had a small panda in her hair and had purple eyes with glasses. She wore a red and black Chinese dress which was too tight to put in properly so she wears it with the buttons undone revealing her black bra covered breasts and wears white and black shoes. This woman was Litchi Faye-Ling, a former scientist of Sector Seven who left and became a doctor in Kagutsuchi to find and save a former co-worker. She was forced to work under Relius through a deal to save her friend the now mutated monster Arakune however unlike every person in the room; she had no real respect or devotion to the Imperator.

Hazama then began to speak.

"According to my branch's database, the rebel group led the man known to many as The Tinkerer has attacked 15 of our outposts in the past two and a half months."

"Impossible! How could a bunch of terrorists strike out that many outposts on such little time?" Tsubaki asked in disbelief.

"From the pieces and scraps of technology I have found at each destroyed outposts shows a simplistic yet highly advanced weaponry that was crafted from salvaged pieces of equipment." Relius added as he showed a hologram of the data that was collected from the site.

Hazama looked at the data intrigued with it.

"To think that weapons this basic are capable of rivalling our own. Even without Seithr."

"It is quite fascinating that they could make such weaponry with such little resources." Litchi added as she adjusted her glasses.

"The Tinkerer himself is responsible for the creation of these weapons." Relius said as he shut down the hologram. "I have seen him build machines before and it is quite a sight indeed. What is your opinion on this matter, Imperator?"

Izanami, who was sitting on her throne, then nodded and stood up to address her subjects properly.

"We cannot allow these insurgents to cripple our forces." The Imperator said. "Major Yayoi, take a squadron and head to the 11th Hierarchical City of Shinatsu, the last known location of the terrorist group."

"As you wish, your Highness." Tsubaki said as she bowed to the goddess.

"Relius Clover, you and Litchi Faye-Ling examine more of this data. I want a full report by tomorrow."

"It shall be done, Imperator." Relius replied.

Izanami then looked at Hazama with a slight bit of annoyance.

"As for you, Terumi." Izanami said. "Collect more intel on this Tinkerer. I want to know exactly what we're dealing with."

Hazama then bowed to the goddess while taking off his hat and then looked straight at her while opening his eyelids, revealing yellow snake-like eyes.

"As you command, Imperator." Hazama said cheerfully as he closed his eyes and placed his hat back on his head.

Izanami turned to Phantom as if she was speaking to her and then nodded.

"This meeting is adjourned." Izanami stated coldly. "You are dism-"

Before Izanami could finish her sentence, something unexpected happened. The goddess felt a strange sensation around her body which caused her eyes to widen.

"Your Highness, are you okay?" Tsubaki asked.

Hazama looked at Izanami the confusion, Relius stood there intrigued.

"I…Don't-" Izanami stopped her speech as a sharp pain entered her body which caused her to grunt in pain.

"Um, Relius?" Hazama said nervously. "I don't think that supposed to be normal for her."

"Yes, she shouldn't be able to feel pain or stress." Relius replied as he stroked his chin.

Izanami's signs of pain changed from simple grunt to flinching, causing her to sit back down on her throne in which she then started to breath heavily. Tsubaki and Litchi look shocked and confused.

"What's happening?" Litchi said with a shocked expression on her face.

"I don't know, Doctor Faye-Ling." Tsubaki answered with genuine fear on her face.

Tsubaki then pulled out a cell phone from her pocket, dialled in some buttons and placed it against her ear.

"This is Major Tsubaki Yayoi of the Zeroth Squadron. I need an medical unit in the throne room ASAP."

"Copy that, Major." A female operator said through the phone. "What is the emergency?"

'It's the Imperator, she's appears to be under some pain-"

Just before Tsubaki could finish her statement. Izanami then did something that no one in their entire life would ever expect.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The goddess began to scream in pain and agony as Phantom, who teleported in front of her, tried to hold her down with a magic barrier to keep her power in check.

"Now she starting to scream hurry and get a medical unit here now!" Tsubaki shouted as she hung up and placed her phone back in her pocket.

Meanwhile on the route towards Naobi, Izanagi also started to experience the same symptoms as Izanami. He felt a strange sensation then began to feel agonizing pain and drop to the ground, screaming in pain. Jubei noticed this and rushed to his side to try and calm him down.

"Hey, come on, Izanagi." Jubei said nervously. "Ya need to calm down or else the pain is only going to get worse."

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Izanagi screamed in pain as he rolled around in the ground.

As these two individuals began withering and screaming with pain, they each began to see visions of one another.

Izanami saw a male figure of light and immense creative energy that had gold eyes like a bird of prey.

Izanagi saw a female figure that emitted a dark and deathly power that had large red soulless eyes.

The two both opened their eyes at the same time and then the pain finally stopped.

Izanagi then shot his head up as he started to breath heavily. Jubei then walked closer to the boy and placed his paw-sleeved hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay, Izanagi?" Jubei asked with a concerned look.

"I'm fine." Izanagi said while trying to breath. "The pain's gone now."

'That girl in my vision.' Izanagi thought. 'It's that the Imperator?'

Meanwhile back at the NOL Headquarters, Izanami was being check out by a medical unit who were also asking questions to Tsubaki and Litchi. Phantom just stood beside the goddess, but two certain men were not present right now. Hazama and Relius had left the room and gone into the corridor.

Relius was simply thinking what just happened, but Hazama was a different. He was freaking out, both scared and angry at the same time. And plus his appearance has slightly different.

His tie was undone and his hat was off revealing green spiky hair and his yellow snake-like eyes were open. His skin was also slightly paler. This meant that Hazama was not in control of his body and was possessed by Yuki Terumi, an evil and insane ghost who wants nothing more than to cause despair and hatred.

"What the fuck was that all about, Relius?!" Terumi yelled furiously.

"I'm still trying to think of an explanation." Relius replied as he began to pace.

"An explanation? AN EXPLANATION?! You do realise who was in pain right now, don't you?" Terumi said with actual fear in his face.

"Yes I am quite aware of the situation." Relius said. "Maybe this has something to do with that nightmare she had."

"A nightmare?" Terumi said in horror. "A fucking nightmare?! Your telling me that the goddess of death, the embodiment of life's end, a literal grim reaper, had a nightmare?!"

"Yes, it seems that she did. When she told me about the dream, she had a tear running down her eye." Relius stated as he took out a notepad to write with.

"She was crying? Death incarnate doesn't cry! I thought you said that doll you made for her was the perfect vessel!"

Terumi was losing his cool. He was a very powerful man but in he was no match for the Imperator's godly power and the fact that there was a possibility of her losing control and destroying everything in her path was a scary and exciting thought.

"The girl is the prefect vessel." Relius stated. "The girl is currently the only physical body that can contain a power as great as her. However, that doesn't mean it won't have other side-effects on the user."

"And what are these side-effects?" Terumi asked.

"The vessel, if they developed separately, can create psychological effects including inheriting the vessel's emotions and memories, becoming conflicted with identity if the vessel chooses to fight for its body or the user may be affected biologically."

"So you're basically saying that the Imperator is being changed by that doll?"

"More or less." Relius said. "But there something off about this."

Terumi then looked at Relius confused.

"And what is that?" Terumi said in an annoyed tone.

"When my scanners pick up the Imperator's energy spiking, there was for some reason another signal being emitted near Naobi." Relius answered as he showed Terumi an identical energy signature. Terumi's eyes widened as he looked at the scanner.

"That looks like…"

"Yes, it looks like the same energy she emits. But I've done I little investigating and though I can't identify it, there appears to be a difference in pattern but from what I can see, the two energies resonated with each other."

"So you think that this identical energy is causing this shit-show to happen?" Terumi asked.

"It is most certainly a possibility." Relius answered as he put away the scanner. "However, I am not qualified to analyse energy of this calibre at this stage. According to my scanner, the energy is heading towards Naobi. If we wait for the energy to get there, then we could possibly capture it and examine whatever the source of the energy is."

"Right." Terumi said as his hair began to fall down and his eyes closed, signifying Hazama returning back to his body.

"But tell me one thing." Hazama said as he put his hat back on. "If you're not qualified to do such a job, then who is?"

Relius turned around and smiled at Hazama.

"Oh, he's no longer around." Relius said. "Well, he's not dead but they put him away. Hell, if he could be killed, I would like to see them try."

"Sounds like a strange fellow." Hazama added. "Well, we better go back in there and answer the medical unit's questions."

"Yes indeed." Relius said as the two men began to walk back into the throne room.

Yabiko, a few hours earlier

Tager arrived in Yabiko after a few minutes thanks to the new upgrades Kokonoe installed into him. Tager eventually found his way back the NOL headquarters there which was run by their ally Kagura. He then began to walk inside the long corridor to reach Kagura's office. The office was the only way to reach Kokonoe's lab under the building as she built an entrance in Kagura's room.

Tager then finally reached the door to Kagura's office and entered.

"Oh, Tager your back."

The source of the voice was none other Kagura Mutsuki himself. He was a tall, handsome man with black spiky hair and purple eyes. He wears a white Japanese Oriental shirt, white bandages around arms serving like gloves with grey cuffs, black slacks and brown shoes with steel capes. The most notable parts of his clothing however was his black cape with yellow accent and two brown belts around his waist, one small and another large hanging from the other belt. Kagura was sitting on his desk dealing with paperwork.

There was young man standing next to him. He had black hair cut into a bowl hair-cut, black eyes and wore a black and blue NOL uniform consisting of a blue trench coat, a white shirt and red tie, white gloves and a black unitard. He was Kagura's secretary and bodyguard, Hibiki Kohaku who was more serious and strict than his fun-loving and flirtatious boss.

"Kagura." Tager replied. "Where is Kokonoe?"

"Where else do you think?" Kagura said as he pointed behind him. "Downstairs."

Tager then walked towards Kagura's room, found the entrance and eventually made it down to the lab where Kokonoe was sitting there waiting while sucking on one of her lollipops.

"Good, you're back." Kokonoe said as she stood from her chair and approached the giant cyborg. "Status report."

"The borders of Yabiko are all clear for the barrier to be put in place. As for any resistance, I doubt that we will encounter any during this time." Tager said in a serious tone.

"Good, we need to prepare for the next phenomena intervention before the Imperator or the Master Unit get any ideas." Kokonoe stated.

"Right." Tager responded.

Tager then looked around with a confused expression.

"Is there something you wanted for? Because I could have given you the report."

"Yes, there was. I need you to keep watch here." Kokonoe asked.

"What for? Those it have something to do with that person you said could identify the energy signature?" Tager replied.

Kokonoe threw out her empty lollipop stick and drank out of a coffee mug.

"God this is terrible coffee." Kokonoe said as she threw the mug away. "Yes, this does concern that certain individual."

"Well, who is it?" Tager asked in confusion.

"He's over there." Kokonoe said as she pointed to a large stasis pod which was hooked up with various cables and had various monitor over it.

Tager then looked over to the pod and as soon as he saw it, he began to become nervous.

"Um, Kokonoe?" Tager said. "I know that you take your work to the extreme, but do you really think is wise to wake HIM up?"

"Why not? It's not he's going to go ape-shit again." Kokonoe said as she took out another lollipop and walked over to the pod.

"I know he's the best physicist on the planet, but didn't he specifically say not to wake him up?"

"Aw come on Tager, you know that he's our only shot."

Tager then looked at the pod and back at Kokonoe and sighed.

"You want be to protect you from him if he wakes up right?"

Kokonoe then strangely laughed at Tager's question which caught the cyborg by surprise.

"Oh please." Kokonoe said with a smile. "He would never hurt me. I'm talking about protecting you and the rest of the lab."

"Right." Tager said displeased.

The two approached the stasis pod and Kokonoe started to punch in a code into the monitor. The monitor went green and then played an audio track.

"Code phrase please."

Kokonoe sighed in frustration as she then started to roll her eyes.

'Can't believe I have to say this.' She thought as she took a deep breath.

"It's not a tumour!" Kokonoe said in her best Austrian accent.

"What?" Tager said completely confused and caught off guard by this sudden quote.

Kokonoe then face-palmed herself in frustration.

"Why the hell did he have to make the code word a Schwarzenegger quote?" Kokonoe said. "I swear I'm gonna kill him when he wakes up."

After a few seconds the pod then began to activate and the pod's cables popped out, spraying steam around the place making it hard for Kokonoe and Tager to see. The pod's glass lid then slowly opened and filled the room with more smoke.

"Seriously what's with all this smoke?" Tager said as he covered his eyes.

"Beats me." Kokonoe added. "Now, did it work?"

After a few seconds, a figure stood up from the pod and began to walk slowly towards the two. All that could make out of him was red glowing eyes giving off a menacing glare. Tager placed his arms forward ready to defend. The smoke finally started to clear and now there was a clear look at the figure. It was a tall muscular man around 6 feet with tan skin and had long brown messy hair running down to the top of his spine.

He had a large scar across his torso similar to a crescent running down from his left shoulder to his right hip but that was not his most interesting features. He had two brown wolf ears that stood on end, curved nails resembling claws and behind was swing not one, not two but three brown cat tails with light brown tips. He also had red snake-like eyes which then reverted into blue as the smoke cleared. All that he was wearing when he came out was black torn jeans, two silver chains wrapped around his waist and black boots with steel caps.

"Well, looks like your awake, Lucius." Kokonoe said smirking as she crossed her arms.

Lucius, the man from the stasis pod, yawned and scratched the back of his head before looking around and uttered a few words.

"Fucking shit-dicks, that was one hell of a power nap." Lucius said in a gruff but young male voice.

The man then looked and saw Kokonoe in front of him.

"Kokonoe is that you?" Lucius asked. "If I'm here then you unlock my pod."

"This means you said it!" Lucius said smiling as he began to break into hysterical laughter. "Hahahahaha! You actually said a quote from a Schwarzenegger movie!"

"Well it's your fault for making such a stupid code word in the first place!" Kokonoe said blushing.

Lucius then stopped laughing and his smile changed into a serious face.

"How long was I out?"

"Two and a half years." Kokonoe answered.

"Two and a half….I said to wake me up in 50 years." Lucius said surprised by his premature awakening.

"Yeah, about that, I kinda need your help." Kokonoe said in serious tone.

"And by kinda you mean definitely." Lucius bluntly said.

"S-shut up!" Kokonoe said as her face turned red.

Tager just stood there and watch the reunion of old friends. Of all the people Kokonoe has known, Lucius was the one person that she 100 percent trusted with anything.

'It seems when Kokonoe and Lucius are together, she shows more of her true feelings.' Tager thought.

Lucius then turned to face Tager and looked up at him with a smile.

"Iron Tager, really that's the best name you could come up with? Not Devil Tager or Robo-Tager or Super Tager Satan EX?"

"Um…what?" Tager asked in confusion.

"I'm just fucking with you, Tager!" Lucius said. "It's good to see you again, pal. I hope you've kept an eye on Kokonoe for me while I was gone."

"Yes I have tried my best." Tager replied.

Just then, a large growling noise came from Lucius' stomach which caused him to blush in embarrassment.

"But before I do anything else, where the hell can I get something to eat? Being in a pod for years works up an appetite." Lucius said while scratching his head in embarrassment.

A few moments later, Lucius was brought up to the cafeteria where he was cooked a large meal consisting of meat, rice and other foods. He viciously scoffed down many of the delicious goods like a wild animal as Kokonoe and Tager watched him in both irritation but no real qualm. Lucius looked at his feline friend then just took a bite out of a slice of meat and swallowed it.

"So, what's been going on since I was out? Cause this place doesn't look like a Sector Seven building." Lucius asked as he took another bite from his meat.

"We're no longer working with Sector Seven. Right now were at the Yabiko NOL Headquarters." Kokonoe answered bluntly.

Lucius then spat out the met he just put in his mouth and looked at Kokonoe with a shocked expression.

"NOL? You didn't join those Nazis did you?" He said with concerned look.

"No, I didn't." Kokonoe said with a sigh. "I formed an alliance with the leader of this branch who wants to start a rebellion."

"A rebellion, huh?" Lucius said intrigued. "I didn't think there was anyone left out of those commos who thought for themselves."

"When were done here, I will take you to the man who runs this place." Kokonoe added.

"Anything else I should know?" Lucius asked as he scoffed down his food.

Kokonoe and Tager explained to Lucius what had happened a year ago. They told him about Ragna going to Kagutsuchi, fighting the 13th Prime Field Device and having the time loop being broken by Noel Vermillion who became the Azure Successor. They told him about Terumi's scheme to turn her into a Murakumo Unit to destroy the Master Unit which almost worked until Ragna stopped him with help from Lambda, an imitation Prime Field Device, who sacrificed herself and gave Ragna her Idea Engine to stop Terumi and used it to free Noel from Terumi's control. They also told him about the Imperator and the situation with Kagura and how Azrael was hunting them down.

"So that mutt is out of his cage again? God those motherfuckers on the Committee are dumb pieces of shit!" Lucius said as he face palmed himself.

"Well what do you expect from a bunch of greedy old men who want nothing but power?" Kokonoe said as she took out another lollipop and placed it in her mouth.

"Those things will kill ya you know." Lucius said sarcastically.

"Shut up." Kokonoe replied coldly.

"So what now? What do you want me to do exactly?"

"I'll explain later, but first…" Kokonoe said as she looked at Lucius' bare chest blushing. "Put some clothes on."

Lucius blushed at this comment and turned his head away.

"Pull your pants up then." He bluntly said as he face went red.

"Why should I?"

"Because no one wants to see your thong!" Lucius blurted out as he face completely became red.

The two glared at each other their faces both became red from embarrassment.

A few minutes later, Lucius went back downstairs and found various cases and crates containing his stuff including clothes. Per instruction, he discarded the black jeans, chains and boots and went for more new look.

Lucius now wore a white hooded long twin-tailed coat with black interior and hood, a black undershirt with yellow buttons, blue jeans with a black leather belt around the waist and a chain hanging from the side and wore black fingerless gloves and black slimmer boots with white accent and steel caps on the front that resemble paws.

Lucius stepped out of the entrance and saw that no one was in the office. Lucius then frowned in disappointment.

"She finally makes some other friends and doesn't even give me a heads up of where the gang's at?"

Lucius' ears began to twitch as he heard the music coming from the speakers. It was dull, grimy and military-esque music that was boring and flat to him.

'Great, now I have to listen to this shitty music."

Lucius then looked into his pocket and pulled out a wireless Walkman that he modified years ago to not only be self-sustaining but can hack into radio frequencies and broadcast his music through other speakers. Lucius, realising what he had in his hand, then suddenly had an idea and smiled.

"Or do I?" He said laughing as he pulled out a pair of black shades from his coat and put them over his eyes.