AN: Ten Chapters... finally made it to the double digits. A lot of crazy shit has happened. And we're gonna keep going. :) LOTS more to go. I'm gonna look back one day and go "Oh shit, Chapter 100? Fuck." lol Let's go!

Also... no word yet from my assassin. He... seems to have gone missing. I'm getting worried.

Scramble

Domian watched helplessly as his god was taken down by a mere mortal. "My lord! No!"

Grey kicked the man writhing on the ground. "Shut up! You lost. Deal with it." Exerting extra energy on shutting up this guy when Grey himself was so messed up already seemed like a waste, but he felt like he had to do it anyway.

Halcen knelt down next to the laying beast and examined him carefully, to make sure that Kumajin really was out. He was bleeding pretty badly. And he seemed to be breathing very heavily. He was definitely unconscious. Kumajin had been taken care of.

So Halcen turned away and ran to the altar where Valentina was chained down. "Valentina, are you okay?" He unlatched the chains and pulled them off. They clanked against the ground.

Valentina could still barley move because of the toxins coursing through her body. "Halcen!" she shouted in glee. "I'm so glad you're here." Tears streamed from her eyes and down the sides of her cheeks.

"It's okay. We took care of these guys. We can go now. We'll get off this island and get out on the sea where you'll be safe. Everything's going to be okay."

"Thank you… so much." She choked on her words. Her face was red and hot from the trauma, but she was still so beautiful.

Halcen could feel himself getting choked up too, but he forced it back down.

The others began to drag themselves from their fights to the table Valentina was rested on. Bo, Kazuki, and Grey all came to meet them. Bo's right shoulder had a pretty bad wound, Kazuki has a minor cut on his chest, and Grey seemed to be barely able to walk straight. But they were all alive. That was all that mattered. Each of them had made it out of the fight in one piece.

Grey picked up the Devil Fruit that was still laying next to Valentina. "All this trouble over this little thing."

"These guys were on some pretty strong god juice," Bo stated.

"Yeah, I didn't get the sense that they were just screwing around." Kazuki responded.

"Let's not just sit around talking. We took take of them, now let' get the fuck out of here." Halcen started to pick up Valentina from the table.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Domian laughed maniacally from the ground. He looked up at them in cringing pain, not even able to stand.

"What the fuck is so funny?"

"You really think you're out of the woods? You think this is it? You think that's all we got?" While still on the ground, Domian took his one index finger and injected a serum into his own neck. "Now you can see what we're really capable of!" And then they watched the man as he slowly rose up on his legs, standing up straight.

"What the fuck?" Bo asked.

"This guy is crazy." Kazuki pointed out.

"What did he just do?" Halcen added.

"I don't want to find out," Grey sighed. I should have killed him.

Domian began to walk awkwardly towards the group. Each step was like a lion stalking towards its prey, eagerly awaiting that first delicious bite.

Halcen was in the back, holding Valentina, so Grey stepped in front. He himself was not so fine looking as it was. Each of the four was completely wiped out from their fights. None of them were ready to take this guy on in his hyped up 'roid rage. He was going to hurt them.

Kazuki lifted his pistol quickly, trying to squeeze off a few shots to hit Domian before he was able to do anything. But it was in vain. This man was all kinds of too fast. He dashed over the area in a second and smashed Kazuki's hand, knocking the gun out of his hand. Then Domian swung his right leg into Kazuki's stomach and he flew through the air, back toward their group. Kazuki dropped to the ground like a fly, groaning in pain.

"Stay down, you punk!" Domian stood back, looking around at his own crew that had been maliciously disposed of by Halcen's group. The bullet fire, beating, and stabbings they had sustained were quite severe. Domian grimaced. There were only handful actually still alive, but they would have to do. He raised his hands over them in the air. And suddenly needles flung about the area, coating his fallen comrades. Multiples hit each and every man that lay there.

"Rise up my army! Rise up and protect your Lord! Kumajin has fallen and he needs your assistance!"

Groans and hateful spews of the men they thought they had defeated echoed throughout the area, mimicking each other like a pack of ravenous beasts themselves.

"I will give no quarter to any who refuses to fight to the death! Take down the infidels!"

"Infidels?" Bo asked, surprised.

That's a bit harsh.

And the Devil's army rose, all except the dead. The cultists stood up from their places of rest. They had been defeated, each of them. And impossibly, they were standing, regardless of broken bones, blood loss, or other injuries. They stood up, an army, amassed in evil, ready to fight.

Grey and the others got ready.

Domian took the moment to rush to Kumajin, who was laid on the ground still, unconscious. "My Lord! Arise! These heathens are trying to escape with your bride!" When the beast did not stir, Domian began to get frustrated. "Surely, you are still alive. Don't tell me this mere man actually got the better of you! GET UP!" Domian again blasted multiple needles, this time into Kumajin's resting body. Whatever it was, worked fast, because the creature began to move.

"Halcen, get Valentina out of here!" Bo shouted as he raised up a knife to fight off the demons. "We'll hold them off!"

"You can't fight! You're the most injured!"

"I'll be fine! Shut up and get out of here!"

Halcen looked to Grey, and then to Kazuki. They both gave him a nod.

Fuck.

He looked down to Valentina, who was lying in his arms. She was scared. She was trying to hold on with all her might, but she had very little strength. She didn't say anything; she was putting her trust in him. That made Halcen uneasy.

Fuck. "Alright, let's go." He gripped her tighter and then turned to run out of the area into the woods.

But Domian was on him in a second. "Oh, no you don't! We searched for her for years! I will not let you take Lord Kumajin's bride from us! SHE WILL BE OURS!" Then he struck Halcen in the legs with his own leg, knocking Halcen to his knees.

"Halcen!" Valentina cried as Domian wrestled her out of Halcen's grip.

Domian then kicked Halcen in the face, knocking him down to the ground.

Kumajin was up, and he was roaring for blood. The great beastly lord stood staring Halcen down. His one eye was in a bloodied clot, but he was still menacing.

Halcen's body clenched in fear. He knew he wasn't going to be able to fight this creature again, but he was going to die trying.

"My Lord! The woman!" Domian shouted as he ran towards him.

Kumajin came to claim his prize from his underling.

"Take her and the God Fruit, and we'll head to my lab!"

Kumajin slung Valentina over his shoulder and grabbed the strawberry from the altar, and then dashed back into the forest, Domian with him.

"HALCEN!" She cried, reaching out for him as they disappeared into the dark of the brush.

"VALENTINA!" Halcen stood back up and began running towards the forest after them. But he was caught by one of the cultists who were pumped up by Domian's needles.

"Not so fast!" the man chuckled. "We're not letting you guys get away!"

Halcen was exhausted. And his Armament Haki had faded. He tried his best to make his body shield up again, but he was losing it quickly. He was barely even able to coat only his hand as he smashed it into the man's face. "Get out of my way!"

The punch didn't do nearly enough. These cultists were physically and mentally apt in the first place. But now that Doctor Domian had given them their vitamins, they were going to be a nightmare. Halcen couldn't hit hard enough to take them down in one shot. And there were at least a dozen of them. This is going to take forever. "VALENTINA!" he shouted in desperation. "I'LL COME FOR YOU!"

He could hear her screaming from the distance. They were already too far gone. He wasn't going to catch up. He was going to have to find them the hard way. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Halcen charged at the man in front of him and knocked him to the ground. Halcen began to beat the shit out of him. One punch, two punch. Only his hands were coated in Haki and it wasn't doing enough. He kept pounding on the man until blood sprayed across his clothes. "You fucking piece of garbage!"

Grey was so exhausted he could barely move. He had already had two fights. His hope was that this would all be over. I just want to get out of here. He was familiar with Domian's powers and his ability to amp up his allies. He had created a monstrosity out of the townspeople that Grey, Bo, and Kazuki had been forced to kill. They hadn't had the ability to speak though. They were mindless powered up drones. But these new enemies, the cultists, were already capable. Now, they were just stronger and faster, and they were willing to die for their Bear God. And whatever Domian did to himself made it look like I never touched him.

One of the men rushed at Grey. Grey was so sore from both fights already, that he was going to try to use as little of his own energy as he could. He grabbed the man by the collar, and using his own momentum, continued to swing him past Grey and threw him into the ground.

Another of the men came at Grey from behind, trying to get his arms around him. Grey swung around quickly, swiping his arms outward, breaking the man's grip, and then kicked him in the chest, knocking him back into the man who was trying to get up that Grey had just thrown down.

This never ends.

Bo and Kazuki had to fight side by side. Bo had a severely injured shoulder so he could barely even use any weapons. But Kazuki was more or less okay. He was hurt across the chest, but it was only minor. It was still bleeding, so he had to take it easy to make sure he wasn't going to open it any more. The two of them together made up for their individual lapses.

A guy came running towards them, holding two knives. He swung first his right at Bo, who threw up his left arm to block the man at his wrist.

The man countered by slicing towards them with his left arm next.

Kazuki responded, blocking him with his own arms. They had him wide open. Kazuki thrusted his left arm into the man's face. And Bo kneed him as hard as he could manage in the stomach with his right leg. The man flew back with a broken face and a loud yelp. His attempt to hurt them had been foiled.

They had more incoming too.

Halcen jumped up to meet another two men who came at him. One had a heavy two-handed sword, and the other had a pistol. Halcen knew immediately he had to take out the pistol man. But they were working as a team to take him down, so the man with the sword came at him up front and the man with the gun was way in the back, aiming and ready to fire.

Halcen couldn't keep up his Haki to be bulletproof, so he was in real trouble. The man with the pistol fired one off before Halcen moved, clearly overeager and trying to end things quickly. Halcen jumped to the man with the sword, who was slow to swing. That was good. It gave Halcen a small edge. Larger blades were harder to control, which was why he mainly used a knife himself.

Halcen clashed with the man, his knife parrying off the man's long blade and was able to deflect himself from the blow, turning around to the man's back. He was slow to come back with a swing. So Halcen took the extra moment to line up his left arm, ready to fire at the other guy. He didn't see it coming. Halcen still had the gun Kazuki had lent him. He wasn't ready for it.

The man took a bullet to the stomach and fell to his knees in pain. He surely wasn't going to stay down, but he was down for enough time for it to matter.

Halcen swung around and slashed along the swordsman's back with his blade.

The man turned across with a hard slash where Halcen's head had just been. Luckily for Halcen, he wasn't there anymore. Halcen ducked down and swung across the man's thighs, cutting deep into them, cutting off his balance and making him fall to the ground on his knees too. He couldn't lift the sword to fight from down there. So Halcen took his knife and jammed it into the side of the man's neck. Blood spurted everywhere. It was another messy kill under Halcen's belt. And he knew there would be plenty more to come.

I'm not done yet!

He stood behind the body as the man with the pistol tried to aim at him. A bullet dug itself into the meatshield and Halcen took off running as hard as he could on his battered legs. He made contact with the shooter before he was able to get sights on him again. The knife jammed into the guy's stomach and Halcen twisted it, bleeding out the pig.

He cried out in agony. And as his life faded, he whispered to Halcen "Long live Kumajin." And then he feel to the ground, bleeding all over the dirt and grass.

"No. Your god is next on my list."

After the battle had wound down, and their foes were nil in might, Halcen scanned the field. Not all of their enemies had died in the fight. Some had been beaten down badly enough that they didn't need killing. They roiled on the ground in agony, praying for Kumajin to save them, or for their own deaths.

Halcen took the moment to confer with his cohorts. "Grey, can you sense Kumajin?" Halcen knew Grey was better with Sensory Haki than he was. One of the many great things about the old man.

Grey took a few moments to try to feel out the presence of the Bear God that had run rampant. "No, I can't tell where they are. I'm too tired. I can barely feel out the immediate area."

"If we can find him, we should be able to take him."

"Why do you say that?"

"He's bleeding. He's weak."

"So are we." Kazuki pointed out. "We can't just go off chasing after them."

"We don't have a plan. And not having a plan is what got us into this mess in the first place," Grey pointed out.

Halcen felt his arm hand throb. He looked down. This is the price I paid for being careless. Halcen nodded slowly. "You're right. I'm sorry. I got us all in this mess by being impatient. The only thing I got by leaving early was captured. They didn't start to try anything until you were already almost here. How did you find me anyway?"

"Same way you found her."

"So what do you think they're going to do with her?" Kazuki asked, still unsure.

"I heard him say something about a bride?" Bo mentioned.

"Yeah… they were going to make her Kumajin's bride," Halcen answered.

"Bride? To a God?"

"He's not a god," Kazuki pointed out.

"No, he's a Zoan," Halcen spat.

"So that's what that shit was," Bo sighed. "Devil Fruits. Fucking hell, man. The craziness never stops."

"Yeah, but they think these fruits make them gods. Domian had one too. Must have been a paramecia," Halcen said.

"Yeah… he's got some weird powers," Grey confirmed.

"So, what are we going to do about them? They escaped with Valentina."

"And the fruit," Grey said.

"We're gonna find out where they went," Halcen said. "And then we're going to kill them."

"How?"

"This place has all kinds of weapons and shit. We can put something together to kill them. Maybe we can force them into the ocean. I don't know for sure yet. First, we have to figure out where they are and stake the place out. They'll likely go somewhere to lick their wounds."

"A lab," Bo said quietly.

"What's that?" Halcen asked not quite hearing him.

"Domian… said to go to his lab."

"A lab?"

"It makes sense," Grey said. "They'd likely have a place where they can easily work with his powers. He said he creates the mixtures he uses himself."

"So he's gotta have a safe place to experiment in." Halcen said. "So we'll find this lab."

"How?"

Halcen looked around once more at the grizzly scene. "We extract the info from these guys." He nodded his head towards the bodies. Dead pieces of fallen foes were scattered all over the place. Halcen picked out two of the living cultists from the bloody mess; the most well preserved two that seemed the most alive. "We'll kill the rest."

They dragged the two cultists away from the scene, and in their view, as they were being handled, they watched the brutal slaughter of the rest of their fellow worshipers. Kazuki and Bo put a bullet in the head of each of the survivors. They were dead instantly.

When their captives began to struggle, Halcen and Grey knocked them out.

One man woke up with his body tightly bound. What was holding him, he could not be sure. He looked around after finally being able to open his eyes to find himself chained to the same cross that he had helped Domian chain the man who had intruded on their party earlier that night. He looked up to see that same man, sitting across from him on the same altar where they were going to sacrifice the woman to Kumajin. The man was coated with blood, but not his own. "What's going on?" he roared. "What are you doing?"

"I need to know where Domian's lab is."

The man looked panicked. He hesitated. "What lab?"

"You're a bad liar." He stood up and cracked his knuckles. "We know Domian has a lab where he experimented with his powers. Where is it?"

"Why would I know something like that?"

"Because you're all a bunch of freaks that have a sick and twisted bond, serving the same tyrannical monstrous master."

"Like you're one to talk!" he shouted angrily. "You have all left waves of blood in your wake. Just look at you! How many did you kill for the blood all over you? Hm? Who's really the monster here?"

"You took my friend. We didn't have a choice. You did."

"Do you really think any of us had a choice? On this island, we serve or we die."

"Why not just leave? If it's really so horrific?"

"We don't get to leave. Those that try, die. They know everything. Everything. They'll find out I'm alive. And if they find out I talked, everyone I care about will die too. That's how it works here. We don't get a choice. We're slaves."

"Hmmmm… well that's not what you're friend seemed to think."

"Friend?"

"The man chained to your other side. He screamed all kinds of things… like how devoted you all are to each other, how repulsive people like us are to you, how much you care about Kumajin… He told me to go to hell, so I killed him… very slowly."

He tried to glance around the side of the pedestal, but he couldn't get his neck craned all the way around like that. He assumed Halcen was telling the truth. He had been taken along with another. It would only make sense that they would be chained together. "Yeah, well… some of them really buy into it. And why wouldn't they? The way Kumajin runs things, the devoted are rewarded. But many serve out of fear. I never bought into it. And all the women they made us kill cause they didn't fit his perfect desires? They're all insane!"

"So if you hate them so much, why don't you just tell me where they are? I could let you go."

"I can't. Because even if you do find them, you'll still die."

"I was able to beat him once."

"I saw. That was barely what I'd call a win. You haven't seen him go all out. Nor Domian. Their power is… godly."

"You're serious?"

"They don't stop after one small defeat. How many men like you do you think have come and gone before you? They all tried and died."

"So others have beaten him before?"

"If that's what you call 'beat,' sure. And then he comes back stronger, and murders everyone left. You're all still alive. I'd leave if I were you."

"I can't. I promised to keep her safe."

"A lot of promises are made that are broken. You'll be alive. If you fight him, you die. And then they come for me and everyone I care about. If I'm the only one of us left alive, they'll know. I can't risk that."

"I didn't want to do this again, but I guess you give me no choice…" Halcen picked up the knife that was sitting on the altar next to him. It was drenched in blood as well.

"What are you going to do with that?" The man asked.

"The same thing I did to your friend. I just hope that you do your part."

"And what would that be?"

"Break."

The man gulped.

Halcen stepped forward. "I never enjoyed doing this. But living the life of a pirate, sometimes you have to do some horrible things to get by. I've gotten pretty good over the years… at making people cooperate."

"Please don't."

"Then tell me what I need. Tell me where the lab is," he said, coldly.

"I can't."

"What is it you people don't understand? It's not them you should be scared of anymore. It's me. I'm the one here to kill you." And then Halcen began. "It's too bad… you were a good looking guy. I can't say the same for your friend. He was an ugly fucker. Maybe that's why he didn't talk."

Halcen brought the knife up to the man's arm. It was held tightly in place, horizontally across from his head. Halcen dug the knife down and then slowly cut across the underside of his skin.

The man screamed out in pain. "OH MY GOD! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"

"I'm gonna skin you piece by piece. Either you'll die from shock, or get an infection. Or… you could talk."

"Please stop!"

"No." Halcen continued. His knife flayed under the small strip of skin. It went a few inches before he tore the entire piece off.

The man grunted in pain.

"That was just a small one. The first one was just a warning. Then next one will be much worse. And then it will continue to get worse." Halcen's eyes were wild, like a rogue animal, lost its sanity long ago.

"Don't, please," he begged.

"You know what you need to do." Halcen tore apart the man's shirt to get a bigger, better patch of skin. He was well built, so it was going to be much easier to get nice, even cuts. "Yes, this will work very well."

He started with the side, just under the armpit. Halcen sliced slowly. The blade and his hands were wet with blood. Each small inch drew more. He was afraid of fucking it up. But then, would that have been so bad? After all, this man was protecting the monsters that took Valentina. Why not hurt him in unimaginable ways?

He had gotten used to the screaming. Feeling how much pain this man was in… intense.

Halcen continued until the patch came clean off. It was much larger. It covered the entire left side of his ribs, almost a foot long and a few inches wide. The meat covering the bones was completely exposed. "I can keep going as long as you need."

"You don't understand these people," he cried out.

Halcen grabbed the cultists face and stared him in the eyes. "No. You don't understand me!"

And then the man began to cry.

"Halcen," Grey called him.

Halcen turned to see Grey. He was standing off to the side.

"Over here." He nodded his head in the opposite direction. He needed to talk, apparently.

"Fine. We'll take a break," Halcen told the man, and then set the knife back down on the altar. He walked over to Grey, and they strolled out of earshot. "What's going on?" he whispered.

"I think this has gone far enough. It needs to end."

"I agree. This whole cabal has been nothing but trouble. They're all defending each other to the death. They run this island with fear and hurt whoever gets in the way."

"What… no. That's not what I meant. I meant, you're torturing this man, and he hasn't told you a single thing."

"Yet." Halcen corrected him. "He hasn't told me anything, yet. Doesn't mean he's not going to."

"And how far are you willing to go? Look at you. How far down the wrong path do you need to go before you can be satisfied that you're not going to get anything? The other one didn't tell you anything, and you cut him apart, piece by piece. Now he's dead, hanging there, rotting away, just like Lenny."

"Are you comparing me to the monsters that killed Lenny?"

"No. I'm just saying… have you seen yourself? You're unraveling."

"And you would rather I do nothing?"

"No. I just… I don't want to see you cross a line that you can't come back from."

"Well somebody has to be willing to cross that line, Grey. And you can't do it, can you?"

Grey looked uncomfortable.

"That's what I thought. We don't have any other plays right now. We don't know shit about this island, we can't sense him, the blood trail went cold, and we have no other ideas. What else do you propose we try? Cause I'm all ears."

Grey stood there, unsure of what to do.

"Then I'm gonna get back to it." And Halcen turned back to the man who he had strung up on the opposite side of the gory mess that used to be his friend. He picked the knife back up and began to toy with it. "Alright. I'm done wasting my time warming up. I'm gonna start on your face now. That's a tricky area, though. So, I can't promise the cuts will be as smooth, with all those curves and important pieces and whatnot. Who knows what could happen."

"Okay," the man gasped.

"Okay? As in….?"

"I'll tell you." He was tired and needed it to stop.

"Good. Tell me, where is the lab?"

"He likes to hide out… on the other side of the island, past the town. Way up the hill, there's a building there. It's kept hidden from the townspeople. Nobody but us knows it's there."

"You're not lying to me are you?"

"What would be the point?"

Halcen nodded. "Fair." Halcen turned around to set down the knife. "Thank you," he said.

And then, as Halcen was about to unbind the chains, the man stopped him. "Don't."

"Why?"

"I need you to kill me."

Halcen froze.

"They'll find out. And I don't want anybody else to get hurt. So please, kill me."

Halcen gulped. He picked up the knife again. "Thank you."

"Just… make them pay."

Halcen nodded. And then he plunged the knife into the man's heart. Halcen could hear his gurgling as he died quickly. Blood spilled down his tattered chest. And then his eyes went dark and his head went limp. He was gone.

Halcen turned from the gory scene, cleaned off the knife, sheathed it, and went to talk to the others. "I know where they're going to be. Let's go take care of this, once and for all."