Reclaiming the Throne

by GuiltyKingOumaShu

5 years has it been since Shu had fallen from his throne and lost his crown. But now, just as he is about to accept his crushing defeat and live with the bitter taste of loss, he makes the sudden realization that only death can end a king's reign. He may be a fallen one, but a king he still is nonetheless. He will reclaim his throne and reunite with his queen or die trying.

21. Confrontation

Just so you know, since I think I never mentioned it: The Undertakers have different ways of addressing Shu and Inori, in case you got confused by that. Genesis will refer to them as King/Queen, seeing as to how they had lived in a monarchy for at least 5 years or longer (Some Genesis had been stuck in the void realm since Lost Christmas, meaning they had been in there for 15 years). humans, however, will not do so, since they don't really view Shu and Inori as monarchs. They will stick to Sir/Ma'am.

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21. Confrontation

The sound of footsteps echoed through the empty streets as the new Adam ran through them, still carrying his weak Eve in his arms. It was fortunate that the streets were mostly empty for it made advancing so much easier, but at the same time, it had a somewhat eerie vibe to it. It almost made him feel like he was running through a ghost town, fleeing from no one else but death himself. Ironically enough, he did so by running into the direction of no one else but his biggest rivals and arch enemies, hoping that they would become allies instead to fight a more powerful, common enemy.

It was almost funny if you thought about it. Adam and Eve, running from the place they would have normally viewed as paradise since it had promised them to be the birthplace of their new world, now shunned, because they had dared to reach further than they had been allowed to. Now they were forced to flee like fallen angels, castaways of the holy realm, trying to seek help from the evil forces of hell who tried to overthrow heaven for utterly selfish reasons.

But wasn't something off? Gai wondered. In that example, was it truly Da'ath who was the angels? Or wasn't it rather Shu and Inori who tried to oppose the dark intentions of the shady organization with noble intentions?

No, in the first place, the world wasn't as black and white as the mythological stories of the Christian religion made it out to be. Shu and Inori, him and Mana…not even Da'ath itself was made up of evilness alone. Nor were they completely good, either. They were just all driven by their desires to attain their perfect future and possessed the will to do anything in their might to attain it in the end. There were no dark or noble intentions. Only selfishness. And that was good, for selfish people could, unlike noble or shady ones, always be tried to reason with.

Of course, reasoning can fail at times, like it did with Da'ath, but that didn't mean it would also do with Shu and Inori. He was positive that he at least held a genuine chance of success with these two.

As he headed around a corner into the next street with these thoughts in mind, he came to a sudden halt once he saw what awaited him. In front of him several layers of crystal spikes had been set up as some sort of barrier by sticking out of the ground diagonally with their pointy end facing him. They had been set up in such a way, that it would impale soldiers if they were to mindlessly charge at them head first. If an army were to charge forward in full speed, the people behind would press the people in front of them right into the spikes, effectively killing at least the first few rows of attackers. Luckily for Gai, he had no army to lose in such a way, yet it was still a very imposing view.

Not least because of the dozens of soldiers behind said barrier who held either their voids or firearms readily in their hands, directing the harmful end determinedly in Gai's direction with hateful expressions on their faces. In the middle of them, on top of a military Humvee, Shu and Inori proudly stood hair and scarfs blowing in the cold winter wind. Armed with the singer's sword and two crystal twin blades respectively they eyed Gai with nothing but suspicion in their eyes, ready to make use of their weapons the first second their former friend would give them a reason to.

"Going somewhere, Gai?" The blond man could hear Shu say. Simultaneously, he heard the sound of rifle and pistol safeties being unlocked and voids charged up. This was definitely bad. He had to make sure he wasn't turned into Swiss cheese before he would even get the chance to explain.

"Don't shot! We come in peace!"

"You should have stayed in the void realm, Gai. You are not welcome here." Inori replied coldly next to Shu. Gai understood what she meant.

Last time they had met, it was meant as a final goodbye between them. After his and Mana's defeat, they had been meant to stay in the void realm forever. It had been the only way for them all to remain together with whom they loved without being forced to fight against each other again. Well, Mana would have been separated from Shu, but she would have still had Gai at her side, so she wouldn't have been all alone. In Inori's eyes, it would have been the best possible outcome for all of them. He, however, had ignored that possibility and returned to the real world with Mana, thus effectively going against his own advice to remain separated from Inori and Shu like he had suggested himself. The coldness Inori showed him now was a reflection of her lack of sympathy for him and his actions. He shouldn't complain afterwards is what she was most likely trying to say. If he ended up dying today through her hands, it would be because of his own mistake.

But he had known that already, so it didn't bother him that much.

"Remaining in the void realm had been impossible after Yuu had shown up, offering Mana a way to follow Shu into the real world. It was simply unavoidable." He explained calmly.

"That doesn't magically mean you would be welcome here." Shu said with many Undertakers, Genesis and humans alike, silently nodding in agreement. Well, Gai sure had become rather unpopular with these folks, not that it really surprised him.

"If we are not welcomed here, there is nowhere else for us to go…" He replied quietly and shook his head slowly, causing both royals in front of him to raise a brow at him.

"What do you mean?" Inori wanted to know.

"Mana and I have attempted to betray Da'ath and failed. Now they want us dead. They have poisoned Mana, ensuring that she wouldn't be able to fight and had then attempted to kill me. We barely managed to escape with our lives…" He told them truthfully, yet Shu only narrowed his eyes on him in scorn. A mocking smirk appeared on his face.

"Really now. Betrayed you say. Did you hear that, Inori? He must think of us as idiots." Gai frowned at that reaction. He had not expected that. The smirk vanished from Shu's lips as his face transformed into a serious, no-bullshit expression.

"What's the long face for, Gai? What, did you honestly believe we would buy such ridiculous stories? You betraying Da'ath? Them poisoning Eve? Are you still treating me like a fool?" He clenched his free fist and ran it through the air angrily. Next to him, Inori resumed his talk with a clearly displeased look in her eyes.

"We know what you really came here for, Gai…"

"Please, by all means, enlighten me…" The blond man wondered, still frowning.

"Isn't it obvious?" Shu then answered a bit calmer than before. "We are aware that you lack the void genome. So, in an attempt to steal mine, you pretend to have betrayed Da'ath because you thought we would simply let you in. Then, waiting for the right moment to strike, you would then choose a moment in which my guard is down to take the genome off me. Or perhaps, you would even attempt to assassinate Inori as of Mana's orders. Either way, it won't work. We don't trust you and we won't let you in."

So that's it, Gai thought, as he finally understood. Shu and Inori knew of his missing genome and therefore assumed he would secretly attempt to steal Shu's sole remaining one. Not knowing that it would do him little good to take Shu's one since it had already become unsuitable to be used as an 'Adam crown' by him.

"I see. Certainly it would look like that." He admitted. "But you must believe me when I say we have no intentions of fighting you. In fact, we have no real reason to still stand on opposite sides."

"And why is that?" Inori asked, still suspecting him to be lying.

"Because Shu is no longer Mana's Adam. I am."

Inori continued eying Gai for a while before turning to Shu with narrowed eyes.

"He's lying, Shu. There is no way Mana would reconsider at such a convenient time. She didn't even change her Adam back when we were still trapped in the void realm for 5 years, even though she could have easily left if she had done it. Why would she do it now?"

Her king nodded at her words. She had a point. It sounded way too fishy.

"No, it's the truth. I was quite surprised myself, thinking I would get killed, but I took a risk and it paid off. I became Mana's Adam last night."

That, in return, made Shu's eyes widen in realization. Last night, he said? Wasn't it last night had he had felt a huge burden being lifted off his shoulders? Could that have been the cause? He wasn't exactly sure, though.

"I want Mana to confirm your claim…" Shu then demanded calmly. Gai was a smooth talker. He could claim the sky was green with a straight face and people would believe him at least long enough until they had looked up to confirm his lie. That's how good he was with words, but Mana? Mana was a straightforward individual. She always said what she thought and would sooner die than support anything that differed from her own opinion. If Gai was lying about the fact he became Adam, Mana would immediately call him out on it. When he saw an uncomfortable look appear on Gai's face, he had all the more reason to grow suspicious of him.

"She has been paralyzed, Shu. She can't speak right now."

"Now that just sucks for you, because unless I hear it from her, I won't believe a single word you say."

"Tch." Gai cursed mentally. This wasn't going well for them at all. He hadn't expected things to go exactly smoothly, but Shu and Inori were mistrusting them far more than he had initially thought they would. Had he and Mana been so harsh to them? Well, yeah, he then realized, they had. He, at one point, had been willing to sacrifice Inori to get Mana back and Mana had waged war on Inori mentally as much as physically ever since she had existed. It was only natural they would not trust them easily. He had to try harder. They couldn't afford not getting Shu and Inori on their side now that they had come here. It was pretty much all or nothing.

His eyes then grew wide from surprise when he saw Mana trying to move her hand. She couldn't do more than shake it a tiny bit, but that was all he needed to see. In her right hand, a crystal still lied. If they used this, they could speak with her. He hadn't considered it, because he had assumed Mana was still unconscious, but her movements showed him that she, in fact, had heard them and was willing to participate in the talk. That could be helpful, unless Mana would decide to say something unnecessary. He just hoped she would behave.

"We could try a crystal connection to speak with her, if that's okay with you." He offered them.

Shu and Inori eyed each other briefly before the latter proceeded to destroy the crystal blade on her right hand to form a simple crystal clump in it. Shu put a hand on it from above while Inori held it from below, thus the connection was made. Gai then nodded and put a hand on the crystal in Mana's hand as well. From that point onward, the conversation would resume mentally.

"Foolish little brother…making your troubled big sister talk over crystals when her mind is already in disarray…" they could hear Mana's voice speak in their heads.

"After all the shit you and Gai had put us through, that much trouble should be a given…" Shu's voice answered.

"What WE have made you go through? If anything, it is you two that had made life hell for me…do you even know how much pain you caused me, Shu?"

"You have caused it yourself." Inori butted in, much to Mana's displeasure.

"Who was even talking to you, fake? Be a good puppet and shut up when real people are talking."

"Enough of this stupid bickering, all of you." Gai tried to calm them down. "We are trying to get along here, remember?"

"I don't know why you brought us here, Triton. They would never understand." The true Eve grumbled disapprovingly.

"So is it true? Did Gai really become your Adam?" Inori tried to get back to the point at hand.

"Yeah, he did. I was sick and tired of Shu's denial. Now that Triton is my Adam, I can't even see why I was so dead set on Shu in the first place. He has changed a lot from being the adorable little brother he once had been." Her voice sounded sad, almost regretting.

"Same goes for you, sis." Shu was quick to follow up with her.

"As you can see, Shu, Inori, What I have said just now is true. I have become Adam, and so further fighting will not be needed among us. Mana will be with me, so Shu can be with Inori. Everybody wins, right?"

"Hrmph, yeah. Turns out my little brother prefers to play with dolls, but I don't mind anymore. Let him do as he pleases…" They could hear Mana say in a slightly offended sounding voice. She may have been over Shu, but her pride was probably still hurt because she had lost to a fake.

Shu and Inori narrowed their eyes at that remark, but chose to remain silent regarding that matter to avoid further bickering.

"So, where does that leave us here?" Shu inquired. "If we assume you really cut ties with Da'ath, does that mean you have also given up on the apocalypse?"

"Given up? Of course not. The world is ours to claim. Such is the fate of Adam and Eve." Mana was quick to correct him, much to Gai's displeasure. Mana really was rather straightforward, wasn't she? He would have rather tried to either keep that a secret for now or try to put it into better words. With the way she had put it, naturally neither Shu nor Inori would really want to help. They had to rail them in, rather than shoo them away. Well, it didn't really matter. He had already expected things to go this way, which is why he had thought about possible arguments to convince the other couple of supporting them in advance.

"But that's not a problem now, is it? You two have already evolved, right? With your gained immunity to the virus, you will remain unaffected, and since Shu isn't Adam anymore, no one would tear you two apart anymore."

But Inori only shook her head, much to the confusion of every Undertaker and Genesis around them. Since they couldn't hear the conversation, all they could do is assume how it went by analyzing their facial expression as time went on.

"I object. Mana cannot be allowed to become queen. The void realm is a good example of what would eventually happen."

"Why you little…" Mana growled angrily before getting interrupted by Shu.

"I think so, too. Mana is not fit to be queen."

"The void realm was something different." Gai argued against them. "The war Mana waged on Inori was fueled by jealousy that no longer applies. With her chosen Adam having changed, the reason for her jealousy should have vanished, rendering further dispute among the queens unnecessary, no?"

"Besides, I was a queen who was adored by her subjects back before Inori showed up in the void realm. If she had never showed up, there would never even have been a war in the first place. However, with her suddenly popping up and trying to not only take Shu but also my kingdom away…unforgivable…" Mana added angrily, causing the fake Eve to eye her angrily as well.

"I had no such intentions from the very beginning. It was all your baseless paranoia that made you start the war. Because of the war, you started neglecting your citizens, treating them badly and eventually causing them to run over to me from whom they sought shelter and protection. It was you who forced me to become queen all along."

"Does it really matter anymore?" Gai sighed in frustration. "It's over. Rather than the past, shouldn't we focus on the future?"

"The future is not looking any better." Shu then piped up again. "After all, who guarantees that Mana won't try to kill Inori again after she has become queen of the world?"

Gai didn't hesitate to reply before Mana could get the chance. "I do. You keep forgetting that I will be king as well. And as her king, I naturally will only aim to make her happy. I saw how the war against Inori had gnawed on her for years. That's not what I wish for her, so I will put my utmost effort into keeping her mind far away from thoughts about war and the like. In fact, I was considering making you two king and queen of Europe or something. You would live far away and be second to none but us. Mana would not have to think about you as much and I will keep her preoccupied with other thoughts until she forgets about you while you two would have all the authority to do whatever you want on the other half of the globe, as long as it doesn't oppose Mana or me. How does that sound?" He offered them with a smug expression. It was as if his eyes were saying "I just made you an offer you can't possibly refuse."

"Europe?" The voices of Shu, Inori and Mana could be heard at the same time. All of them sounding rather shocked about the proposal.

Mana couldn't help but be rather infuriated by Gai's words. However, she was at least decent enough to say the following only to him alone, without letting Shu and Inori hear:

"Europe? Are you crazy, Triton? I wouldn't even give her Antarctica! What are you thinking offering titles and land to that fake without consulting me first?" Apparently, as far as Mana was concerned, Inori could live the life of a poor peasant for the rest of her life and eventually die and rot in a hole for all she cared. Considering all the hardships Mana had had to endure because of her, she was convinced Inori should feel grateful for Mana's willingness to even allow her to continue living in her world. To bestow titles and land to someone like her was simply outrageous. What was Gai thinking?

"Calm down, love. Think about it more like bestowing a title to Shu with Inori merely attaining it through him." He tried to calm her down slowly.

"That's still the same as if giving it to her directly!"

"Then would you seriously deny your own brother nobility just to deny it Inori as well?"

"But that's…"

"Listen, Mana. Shu loves Inori and that will never change. If you abandon one, you will inevitably abandon the other and if you choose to support one, you will also have to support the other. No one forces you to like her, it is not your job to like her. That's Shu's job. The job as a sister is to either be happy for him or to cut all ties with him. Now say, Mana. Do you hate Shu?"

If Mana could move, she would probably bite on her lower lip now. After a short while of silence, she answered:

"…I…I do not hate my brother. Even though he denied me…even though he chose a fake over me, he is still my little brother. My sole remaining family…" She admitted somewhat sadly.

Gai nodded at that understandingly. "Then it doesn't seem like discarding him will be an option for you. If you want to remain a family, you will have to accept whoever he wishes to be with. Even if you don't like her. I know you are strong enough to do that, Mana."

"But…but…Europe? What if we want to go to Europe as well?" Mana still tried to object, but he just gently shook his head while offering her a smile.

"Europe will still be ours. They will merely govern it for us so that we can focus on the rest of the world. Like governors, you see? If we wanted to go to Europe, we could always go there. You would just have to make sure not to pick a fight with them while we are there."

"Uuuu~…" Mana made a sound as if she was still somewhat against it, but eventually it looked like she gave in. "…fine. Have it your way. But they will owe us. And no more offerings without consulting me first, are we clear?" She said with a voice that sounded slightly bitter. Like a kid that had lost at a game. He imagined Mana would be pouting now if she could move. Cute. He considered patting her on the head, but couldn't really do it since he was still carrying her in both hands.

"Understood." He agreed with a smile, thankful that convincing her had gone well. Now they only had to wait and hear Shu and Inori's answer to their proposal.

Said couple had blocked out Gai and Mana as well as they had considered their options.

And to be honest, they weren't really sure if they should accept or not. On the bright side, helping them would mean they could fight Da'ath together with one more queen fighting on their side, opposed to having her as an enemy. That alone was already quite nice, but that wasn't even all. If Mana would ascend the throne as true queen, the whole mess with Adam and Eve would finally be over at long last. No more endless revivals, no more endless killing. Just like that. And they would have to lie if they were to say they wouldn't wish for an end to all the fighting. Plus, there was the whole Europe stuff as well. And while they didn't particularly care about titles and such, they would at least allow them to have the life they had always wanted. A life where they were free to do whatever the heck they wanted. After all, who were to tell them what to do after they had become direct subordinates of Adam and Eve aside from Adam and Eve themselves?

But that's also where the tricky part started. See, who was to guarantee them that Gai and Mana would keep their word? Maybe things would work out initially but then Mana would snap later and kill them anyway? What if it was just a mere plot to make them help get rid of Da'ath and then dispose of them right away? What if it was a trap in the first place and they hadn't really betrayed Da'ath at all? Maybe they were only seeking to lead them headfirst into an ambush to get the void genome after all?

Leaving that aside, there was another problem as well. Let's say they were telling the truth and would keep their word…what about the fate of humanity? The Genesis were immune to the virus, but what about the rest? Billions of people would die during the evolution due to natural selection. They could possibly make Mana craft enough blessings for their friends and relatives, but the rest would be doomed. Would that be worth it?

Their options were either to accept their offer and become accomplices, or refuse it and fight Da'ath on their own. Both options had their risks and advantages, but which one was the right one to choose?

Shu was especially torn about this. There was nothing he wanted more than peace and Gai's offer would in theory not only ensure Da'ath's removal, but also save him the trouble of having to find a way to deal with Mana as well. He couldn't kill her, or she would simply come back, so what else was he supposed to do with her if not form an alliance? Keep her locked away in a dungeon for the rest of her life? Wasn't that too cruel a fate even for someone like her? Even if he had said he didn't really view her as his sister anymore, he still realized he couldn't just do that to her after all. Was there even a way to confine her safely for that long? Just what was he supposed to do…?

"I don't know what we should do, Inori." He admitted to her in his mind. Only she could hear him this time, for these thoughts were meant to be heard by her and no one else. "We need to decide, but I can't come to a conclusion…"

"It is a hard choice…" She agreed. "Back when I felt like this in the void realm, I used to ask myself what you or Gai would have done."

Her king smiled bitterly. That wasn't really an option now, was it? He didn't even know what he should do himself and while he knew what Gai would want him to do, that didn't necessarily mean it would be the best course of action for them as well. That's why she continuedwhile slowly shaking her head.

"If that wasn't an option, I tried instead to think what a queen would want to do."

A queen, huh? In his case, it would be king, but that didn't really make much of a difference. So, what would a king do in such a situation? Well, he thought, a king wasn't just a mere politician like the ones he had known from TV. Politicians were nothing but liars, pretending to serve the people when they almost exclusively served themselves. They tended to earn a lot of money in their positions which eventually corrupted them and caused them to make decisions not really based on the wellbeing of the people who had elected him, but rather on their own wellbeing. Even if they seemed to do something for the people, it was still only a pretense because they were actually only bribing them with seemingly good deeds, so that they would get elected again. It was a system of corruption. No, kingship was different, he realized.

Kings were no servants of the people. Rather than pretending to always act in their best interest, a king's responsibilities lied far, far deeper. Thinking about what was best for his citizens was part of it, but a king would also have to consider the wellbeing of himself, his family and the kingdom as a whole. Thinking only about his kingdom would ruin his family and himself, thinking only about his citizens would destroy the kingdom and thinking about only himself and his family would eventually cost him his crown and possibly his life as well.

It was a scale that was very hard to balance. But things were luckily a bit easier for Shu. He and Inori did not have a kingdom to call their own, so that part was none of their concern. The family aspect didn't look that great either. Shu's family was the sorriest excuse for a family he had ever seen. A dead mother he had never even known, a father who had died so early, that he barely even remembered his face anymore, a sister which was cursed with bringing the apocalypse and has only brought misfortune over him during the past few years...the only thing close to family he actually had was Haruka and she wasn't even related to him by blood.

Still, she was all he had. Blood relation or not, she was still his mother to him. And with that being the case, he supposed Keido as his step uncle was to be considered family as well. Inori for her part was even worse off than he was, with no family to call her own to begin with. So that meant that in terms of family, there wasn't a lot to consider as well. Though, hopefully, that would change in the future when he and Inori would start one of their own…

Which eventually left him with the citizens aspect…he slowly looked around him at the Undertakers who surrounded them. Genesis as well as humans stood at their sides, ready to fight for them. Half of them, namely the human part, would probably not really refer to Shu and Inori as king or queen, but still…these people could be considered their loyal followers. So, Shu asked himself, did he have to decide with them in mind as well? Probably. Well, let's look at this rationally then.

First, what was best for his mother and Keido? Since Keido had already evolved and said that he had given up on the apocalypse, Shu supposed he wouldn't mind things going either way. His mother, however, would benefit from Gai and Mana's proposal. He would probably be able to get one of these Eve's blessings for her from Mana, so her evolution would be guaranteed and if they were all able to make peace with each other, Haruka could also be reunited with Mana as well, though he wasn't sure if either of them would really care much about that. It wasn't as if he thought his step mother wouldn't care about Mana, but rather that she seemed to have found closure regarding her and their father's death the first time it had happened. Mana for her part did not seem to particularly care much for Haruka, which he supposed he could understand. She hadn't really known her all that long and unlike him, she had actually known their biological mother before she had died, so naturally, Mana wouldn't feel very close to Haruka. So, was a reunion really desirable? Probably not. Haruka's main concern would probably be with the elimination of Da'ath and nothing more. If it's just that, he and Inori could probably do so even without relying on Gai and Mana. At least that had been the original plan.

Then, what about the Undertakers? This included all his and Inori's friends as well. Ayase, Tsugumi, Yahiro, Souta, Argo, Hare, Jun, …Seriously, that were a lot of people to consider. And it wasn't just their friends. There were regular followers Shu and Inori probably didn't even know personally. What would they want? The humans would certainly not want him and Inori to agree with Gai and Mana's deal. It would mean the apocalypse would happen and they would likely die. Shu doubted he would be able to convince Mana to grant them all blessings. She simply wasn't the type to do charity. If he insisted, he would probably get enough for their friends, but the rest? They would definitely lose out. And the Genesis? They were immune, but apart from the ones who simply fought to survive or followed them out of loyalty towards their king and queen, many of them actually wished to prevent the apocalypse as well to save their non-evolved family members from dying. So, that was a clear no in their case.

But family and citizens aside, what was his own take on this whole thing? If he disregarded everything else, would he wish to accept the offer? Honestly speaking, it sounded awfully good. Da'ath would die, his mother and friends would evolve with the help of blessings and he could start a new life with Inori far, far away from Japan which, so far, hadn't exactly been a very nice home country for him. So yeah, if he were to consider his own selfish wishes, he would actually be in favor of accepting. Even if it was a trap, it would still be worth the risk considering the possible gain.

Lastly, that left him with yet the most important aspect to consider. What did Inori want? He could consider the feelings of everyone else all day and it wouldn't really matter to him if he wouldn't know what his beloved queen actually wished for. There really wasn't much sense in accepting the offer if Inori had no desire to do so in the first place. This whole line of thought up to now had been solely based on the assumption that she would actually want to accept the offer. Maybe he should have inquired about that sooner…

"Say, Inori. What do you think we should do?"

"Me?" Her voice sounded a bit surprised, which in return surprised him as well.

"Naturally, you are my queen, are you not? Isn't this a decision we should make together rather than me alone?"

"You are right, it's just…my opinion might be a bit biased." She admitted with a bit of hesitation.

"I don't care. It's still your opinion. Let's hear it."

"Well, to be honest, the offer sounds really good and all, but no matter how good it sounds, it's an offer from Mana in the end. Even if she claims she would be a good queen…I would still have a hard time seeing her as anything else but a bad one. It might be because of our past, but I would never want to choose a future in which Mana would become queen…" She admitted while averting her eyes. Shu understood what she meant with bias and honestly, it wasn't like he wouldn't see where she was coming from.

Inori was far away from being a cold and unforgiving person, but Mana was someone who had caused her pain for many, many years, even before the void realm. After such a long time, even a kind and understanding heart such as Inori's would grow wary of such a person. After all, if you had been tormented by someone for years and that someone would eventually come up to you and offer you a fresh start, would you honestly consider it? Naturally there would be distrust. It wasn't as if he didn't feel like that himself. He still didn't trust Gai and Mana completely, either. It was just the prospect of the possible gain that made him so willingly overlook the risks.

"A reasonable argument." He told her calmly. "I would actually be quite uneasy knowing Mana would constantly stand above me as well. All would be fine as long as she were to keep her word, but if she weren't? Who would even be able to stop her after she would become the absolute queen of the world?"

"Exactly. I know it's rather selfish of me to still deny her wishes, even though she apparently tries to meet us halfway, but it can't be helped. My wariness of her I have developed over all these years can't be so easily overcome just like that. And it's not only me, I am sure that many Genesis would see it the same way."

That much was probably true. For Genesis, having Mana put in charge again would probably be the same as how putting GHQ back in charge would feel for Japan as a whole. Even the best of promises would not be able to mend an image that had already been soiled by fear and distrust to such an extreme extent. Shu sighed.

"Speaking of which…wouldn't we pretty much betray the Undertakers as a whole if we were to side with Gai and Mana now? They had joined us because they had thought we would stop the apocalypse. For us to suddenly support it now, I wonder if it wouldn't be too selfish a move."

He saw Inori giving him a strong nod in response. Naturally, she must have already realized and taken that into consideration as well. For someone who hated betrayal very much, the pink haired queen would need a very good reason to actually go along with it. Of course, he himself hadn't been very fond of betrayals as well for…obvious reasons regarding his past. The more he thought about it, the more he actually felt bad about even considering taking that offer. After all, how could he, who never wanted to be betrayed again, expect that to be the case if he himself had almost considered betraying others?

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That was what he should aim to abide by.

"However…regardless of my worries, if you say you really want to accept, I won't oppose it." Inori eventually told him.

"Even though we would be betraying everyone?" The king couldn't help but ask in surprise.

"If I had to betray someone either way, that someone would never be you. I will always support you, Shu, no matter what." As he looked at her in awe, a small smile appeared on her lips. She had also taken his hand in such a way that their fingers could interlace, letting the crystal they had used for communications perish between their palms. That, in return, caused him to smile at her as well. It must have probably looked awkward to everyone around them, since no one could hear the conversation, but neither of those two really cared about such minor details.

Shu then offered her a strong nod as if telling her "I understand, leave it to me.". Once he saw her return it calmly, he turned around to eye their Undertakers, who so far had waited an explanation patiently. That was something Shu would no longer deny them.

"Listen well, everyone. Gai and Mana came to us to make us an offer. That offer consists of them joining forces with us to destroy Da'ath together, followed by us helping them bringing the apocalypse afterwards, promising me and Inori titles and authority in their future kingdom if we were to agree." He told them.

The faces of the Undertakers showed various emotions. Surprise was the most common one, followed by anger or hatred. Many started yelling in a displeased fashion while only few of them remained indifferent.

"Voicing your opinion regarding this matter will not be necessary, since my queen and I have already come to a conclusion." He told them with a loud and serious voice, silencing them immediately. Ignoring their nervous stares among each other, he turned around to Gai, who was eying him with high expectations. Shu could almost see the satisfied grin that only waited to emerge on his lips, yet the blond man held on to his poker face for the moment.

"So, Gai, are you ready to hear our answer?"

The ex-leader of the Undertakers nodded slowly and respectfully. "Yes, please share it with us."

With eyes narrowing down slowly as he looked down on Gai from his higher position, he eventually said coldly:

"We refuse." Relieved sighs and cheers could be heard from the Undertakers behind him soon after.

Gai, however, almost lost his composure. His eyes were open wide from surprise over these words, until the shock got gradually replaced by disappointment now that their meaning slowly started to sink in. Refusal…but…why? It shouldn't have been a bad offer. He didn't pick up any bad vibes during their negotiations, either. Did he miss something? Perhaps he could still fix this?

Clearing his throat, slowly he asked: "Can I ask why? Was the offer not to your liking? Perhaps we can still come to an understanding?"

But Shu only shook his head in response. "The offer was good. Great in fact, but tell me Gai…do you have enough blessings from your queen to save all these people and their families?" He said as he raised his arms to both his sides, clearly referring to the people standing around him. The moment Gai eyed these people, he was quick to realize that they had all returned to their previous tasks of aiming their weapons back at him with suspecting looks. It became horribly clear that all they were waiting for at this point was one little order from either Shu or Inori to gun him down. Either that or him making any sudden moves. This was getting bad quickly.

"That many? No, Shu, but I can assure you that there would be enough for your frien-" The blond man still tried, now with sweat running down the back of his neck, which was thankfully hidden by his long hair.

"That's not good enough…" Inori interrupted him harshly with Shu nodding at her words.

"Exactly. It's either all or no one. Now, Gai, what will it be?" The brown haired king asked with piercing eyes. Gai was slowly getting irritated by this, stepping forward energetically, he yelled:

"Listen, Shu,…!" The moment he had done that, Inori had stepped forward as well, pointing her hand at him. The crystal spike barrier in front of him made dangerous sounding rattling noises as they grew slowly into his direction. The soldiers were also tensing up and reading themselves to fire at him. This immediately made him stop right at his tracks, reconsidering his words carefully.

"…are you really throwing away the possibility of a better future just for the sake of some random people you barely even know? Who are they to you? Do you even know their names? Are their lives worth more than becoming friends with me and your sister again? Granted, we would not get back to our old childhood days immediately, but with time, we could definitely improve. We could get back the relationship we once shared with each other with no one having to lose anything of importance at all. We are literally offering you all you ever wanted and more. You as well, Inori." He calmly said, shifting focus to Inori at the last moment.

"You just want to be with Shu, don't you? Help us and you get just that. It's not even like the people you knew from the void realm would come to harm, if that's your concern. You can still have them around you in the new world if you so wish. They have already evolved, so it's fine. Or are you meaning to tell me these random Undertakers you barely even interacted with in the past mean more to you than Shu does?" He was happy to see her shaking her head immediately.

"Nothing is more important to me than Shu is." She told him defiantly. "But helping you is not the only way for me to remain at Shu's side. If I have to discard someone, I would rather do so with a former enemy who claims to be an ally than with people who had chosen to fight with me of their own, free will all along…"

Gai cursed mentally and frowned at that response. So that's what it was all about. They were still not trusted. No wonder the negotiations had failed, then. Even the best of offers were no use if you didn't have the other party's trust. He looked down at Mana regrettably, only to see her clenched fists tremble slightly. There was no doubt she was angry right now. No, furious was probably a more suitable word. But wait, she couldn't move, yet her fists trembled? It wasn't much, but it was an improvement nonetheless. She was getting better even without help.

It was very regrettable that he hadn't been able to persuade Shu and Inori into helping, but if Mana would recover even without the help of voids, their aid wasn't all that necessary. Sure, it would have been helpful and very welcome but Gai and Mana could still fight Da'ath on their own as long as the effects of the poison would eventually wear off. If that's the case, he would just have to get out of here alive with her and wait it out somewhere warm and hidden. It wouldn't exactly be easy for them to find such a place, but he would simply have to deal with t. There was no other way now that negotiation had failed.

"I see…you have a point. Perhaps it was insolent of us to simply come here, expecting you to help. After all, you have no reason to trust us in the first place…" Gai admitted eventually as he offered them a small, apologetic bow. "Please excuse us, then. We will no longer waste any of your time by overstaying our welcome…" He made a few steps backwards, followed by turning around and attempting to leave, only to see an Endlave coming forth from around the corner, cutting off his escape route. It was a simple, basic model, yet also enclosed in what looked like a thick crystal layer resembling armor. In fact, if it weren't for the still visible mechanical joints that had had to be left alone for the machine to still remain operational, one would have actually been able to believe it was a crystal golem come to life.

"Sorry, Gai, but you are going nowhere…" Ayase's voice found its way into his ears through the machine's speakers, followed by footsteps of many people all around him. The soldiers behind him had come forth and surrounded him with Shu and Inori stepping in front of them confidently.

"What's this now, Shu?" He wanted to know, not letting his uneasiness be heard in his voice.

"You think we would let you go? You hold the key to the apocalypse in your arms, Gai. We can't just let you walk away from this."

"Do you think that's fair? We didn't come here with ill intentions and have shown no signs of attacking you from the start. Courtesy provides one should do the same to the other party after negotiations are over. Even if they fail." Gai argued, looking awfully annoyed, yet also slightly nervous.

"Yeah, but you see, that's the thing." Shu told him with a shrug. "Terrorists don't have to play by the rules."

"Please don't show any resistance and we promise to not kill you." Inori added to that. Naturally, they wouldn't seek to kill Mana, given her immortality. If they were to kill her, she would simply come back again, so the plan was to capture her alive. Gai, on the other hand…well, while they didn't necessarily want to kill him, he wasn't required to stay alive, either, so it was best to warn him now before he considered doing something rash out of desperation.

The blond man threw a quick glance around him and could easily tell that he did not stand a chance at getting out of this somehow unharmed. He was hopelessly outnumbered and there were no openings. And even if there were, he knew better than to try getting away from Ayase, who was nothing short of an ace when operating an Endlave. Was this the end? Had he gambled everything and lost? Mana had been right, he really shouldn't have come after all.

That was the moment when every one of them started to hear a strange melody echoing through the streets. They soon realized that the sound had come from someone whistling to the melody of an old British folk song with the name of A-hunting we will go, but as they were looking at each other in confusion, trying to identify the source of it, they also learned that it hadn't been someone among their ranks.

If it wasn't anyone of them whistling the song, someone else naturally had to be. However, this part of the city should have been pretty desolate and the possibility of some random guy taking a late afternoon stroll should have thus been rather slim. The Undertakers looked around vigilantly while Shu and Inori readied themselves for an ambush, expecting the newcomer to be Gai's trump card he had probably meant to play all along. Naturally they hadn't assumed Gai had come here alone.

And while they hadn't necessarily been wrong, they hadn't been completely right either. Yes, Gai and Mana had not come here alone, but neither had they brought allies. No, who had followed them here had been far worse than that.

Gai had realized this as well. He turned around into the direction he had come from with wide eyes, just in time to see a void arrow fly into his direction. And while his instincts had proved to be right, even though he had been in time to see the projectile darting straight at him, he had unfortunately also been too late to still dodge it.

The black arrow hit him in the upper torso, knocking him back a bit. But despite the fact that he had been knocked off his feet, he had still held on to Mana until the moment his back had hit the ground. Only then was he quick to release Mana and push her away from him slightly, because he had used the very same void once himself and was thus very familiar with its abilities. He wanted Mana nowhere near him as the arrow in his chest transformed into countless crystal vines which wrapped themselves around him immediately, completely immobilizing him in an instant.

Yet, despite his dire situation, not only had he remained conscious; he also hadn't hesitated to check Mana's wellbeing. Said queen was lying an arm length away from him and he could see her desperately trying to move, as was indicated by the frantic, little movements with her hands and fingers. However, it was obviously still impossible for her. And while he had luckily managed to save her from getting trapped together with him, they were still in a pretty bad situation. He had hoped the envoy would not follow them this quickly, but he supposed he had underestimated that bastard once again. Damnit all!

"Now, would you look at that." They could hear Yuu say casually as he stopped whistling his song and spotted the crowd. "If it isn't the former Adam and his queen. Good afternoon to you two. How fancy meeting each other here, huh? Were you going on a hunt as well?" He asked them with a carefree smile, holding his bow at his side as he slowly approached them. However, once he saw Ayase's Endlave aiming her gun at him, he decided he had come close enough. It didn't make him stop smiling, though.

Simultaneously, as soon as they had seen the envoy, the Undertakers had quickly taken the immobilized Gai and still paralyzed Mana and brought them back behind their crystal barrier. As they slowly retreated into safety, they took cover behind the crystals, aiming their weapons at the new enemy. They formed two rows, the first kneeling in front while the second one aimed while standing. Everyone with close range weapons retreated behind them and waited for further orders.

So now, Ayase was standing in front , with Shu and Inori taking their stances to each of her sides and their army providing backup from behind them. Everyone was on high alert.

"Hunt, you say?" The brunette king replied as he threw a look behind his shoulder where he knew Gai and Mana lied safely guarded by the Undertakers. His gaze then returned to the envoy. "Why would Da'ath hunt their Eve?"

Said man shrugged nonchalantly and sighed. "It's a long story. Anyway, I regret to inform you, but according to the hunting rules, I have caught the prey first, so unfortunately for you, this one's mine."

"I hardly think so." Shu said with a frown. "I don't know what this is all about, but there is just no way in hell we would hand over Mana to you."

Yuu couldn't help but laugh at that. "For you to finally realize the worth of Eve. I am happy, but it's too late now, I guess." He told him the last bit with another sigh.

"Because I am no longer Adam?"

"That, too, but don't worry about such little details. You will be Adam again in no time. It is Da'ath's wish after all."

"They want me to be Adam? Why? I thought they focused on Eve alone?"

They envoy scratched the back of his head slowly, as if trying to think how he could explain this to him in the best possible way.

"They had to in the past, yes. But lately they have thought focusing on Ouma Mana had been a mistake. After all, she had proven to be quite incompetent when it comes down to fulfilling her role. Even after four attempts, she has yet to succeed even once. That's why Da'ath has decided to shift their focus slightly."

"Why me, though?" Shu wanted to know angrily, having absolutely no desire to get tied with Da'ath even more than he already had been forced to.

"You?" He shook his head slowly and grinned, as if slightly amused. "You are mistaken. While you had been a great factor in making the decision of Da'ath changing plans, it will not be you who will become our new center of attention."

"Well, who else will it be, then?" The former Adam candidate asked the envoy slightly irritated. This didn't make much sense to him. Unlike the title of Adam, the possessor of Eve's title couldn't be simply changed. If neither Mana, nor him were the new focus, who else could it be? Gai? But that would have been even more ridiculous. If it had been Gai, there would not have been a reason to shift their backing in the first place now that Mana had chosen him anyway. Something was definitely fishy here. Why was it always so hard to understand what was going on in the heads of Da'ath?

When they saw the blond envoy looking at Inori with a meaningful expression, words were not even necessary to throw them all into a state of confusion.

"Me?" The pink haired vocalist asked in a surprised manner as she pointed at herself, followed by shaking her head slowly. "But I am not Eve…"

"True enough." Yuu replied with closed eyes, still smiling. "Not yet anyway."

"Ridiculous." Shu then said after recovering from his initial shock over such revelations. This must have been another one of the envoy's many schemes. He wouldn't allow himself to get caught in it. "Keido himself told me…"

He got interrupted by Yuu in an excited manner. "Keido? I was wondering where the man has ended up to be. I see now. He has chosen to abandon Da'ath and joined your side. Hmmm, no…perhaps it was the right choice all along. He must have seen what Da'ath has failed to notice until now. Yuzuriha Inori is the better Eve, so he went to her side even when it meant that he would have to risk getting punished by Da'ath. Such dedication. Impressive. And here I had thought of Shuichiro Keido to be another mere fool before. I was wrong." He rambled on while holding his forehead and shaking his head as if to say "My, my. I have done something foolish."

"How am I the better Eve?" Inori asked with hostility in her words. This didn't make any sense to her at all. Besides, she had no wish to become Eve in the first place. The mere thought of that sent goose bumps down her spine. "I have done nothing to warrant such thoughts."

"There were multiple factors that came together and caused us to reconsider the bearer of the title of Eve." Yuu chose to explain. "For one, you can hold your ground against the true Eve, despite lacking the actual title and the understanding of your powers that come along with it. This means you must have taught yourself how to use your powers, contrary to Eve who gained the knowledge simply by being Eve. That alone is already a huge indication of your talent. After all, if you are this powerful already, how much more could you improve if you were to become the true Eve, instead of remaining a mere fake?" He told them, but especially Inori, with a huge grin.

The queen only frowned at the words she had just heard. She wanted to deny them, but it had all been true. No one had ever told her how any of her powers really worked. The only one who really could have done so, had also been the one person who had wished for her death as long as she could remember. She had had no other choice but to learn it all herself during her time in the void realm. It was the only way for her to keep up and survive there. She had assumed Mana had done the same before, but according to Yuu, that hadn't been the case. Had she been different from Mana in terms of how they had acquired their powers?

"But that's not all. You, as well as Eve had both chosen Ouma Shu to be your respective Adam first. You may not know this, but being Eve's first choice is actually a huge privilege and shows the person's value. For him to have been chosen as a first candidate not only once, but twice, already speaks volumes of his potential. Naturally, he had already proven said potential by his outstanding talent to always prevail against all odds. So naturally, Da'ath has also realized that Ouma Shu is holding an important role in all of this. To respect this, it was decided that his wishes had to also be taken into consideration to a certain extent. Thus it became clear that if he really objected becoming his sister's Adam despite being her primary choice, that something must be fundamentally wrong with her, not him as Da'ath had previously assumed."

Shu didn't like where this was going. He casually put his left hand into the pocket of his coat, seemingly as if to protect it from the cold. However, in his pocket lied a crystal stone Inori had created earlier. As soon as he had touched it, Mana's angry voiced stormed his mind mercilessly, but that much had already been expected by him. He blocked out her voice immediately, having no time nor nerves to deal with it right now, and chose to speak with a certain brown haired friend of his instead.

"Jun, you there?"

"Of course. Is something the matter?" Yahiro's little brother immediately replied with almost no delay at all. He, Yahiro, Hare and Tsugumi were back at the base, observing the situations through Ayase's field of vision. He also held on to a crystal at all time to remain in touch.

"There were Genesis among the people we hid in the office building, right?"

"That's correct."

"Do they have an RPG with them?"

There was a moment of silence, probably due to Jun having to ask his brother to make sure he wasn't relaying false information. Eventually, though, he confirmed Shu's assumption.

"Contact them and tell them to shoot it at the enemy while he is still distracted with talking." The king ordered him. The younger man appeared to be troubled about this, however.

"An RPG against that guy? Shu, isn't that going a bit overboard?"

"Just do it, Jun." Inori suddenly butted in on their conversation, using the crystal blades in her hands as a crystal connection, having recreated the one on her right hand. That, ultimately convinced the brunette man. He had no reason to doubt his orders if both, his king as well as his queen approved of it.

"…Understood."

While that happened, Shu had kept the conversation going.

"If you were going to consider my wishes, then you would just leave us the fuck alone. I have no intentions of becoming Adam again, nor do I wish for Inori to become Eve." He told the envoy. Inori nodded strongly to support his statement.

But the blond envoy just made a slow, soothing movement with his free hand, as if trying to calm him down. "Now there, is there really a reason to be so opposed to the idea? Shouldn't this be in your interest as well? Your sister gets freed from the harsh fate she just cannot seem to fulfill while you get to be the Adam of the queen you have chosen yourself. Isn't this what you rea-" His sentence got cut off halfway by the loud and sudden sound of something getting launched from one of the windows of the building to their left (Yuu's right).

The rocket quickly made its way towards the bowman, who just didn't seem to be worried at all after the initial surprise had left his face. Lifting his free, right hand simply, the speedy projectile gradually slowed down until it came to a halt right in front of him, suspended in midair. Everyone just looked at him in disbelief.

"Wow, what's this? Fireworks to celebrate the birth of a new Eve? So soon? You guys must really be looking forward to this, aren't you?" Yuu merely said to them with a smirk, followed by lifting his index finger lazily. "The course appears to be slightly off, though. Let me correct it for you." He drew a small and quick circle into the air and the floating rocket spun around by 180 degrees so that it was now facing into the direction of its former origin. As soon as that was done, he gave his hand a quick jolt and the suspended projectile immediately accelerated forward again.

The object flew right through the window it had been fired from and inevitably made contact with a wall inside the room, tearing it and a huge portion of the building apart with the help of the resulting explosion. Naturally, every person who had been near said explosion, namely the Undertakers that had hidden there, had stood little chance of surviving. There must have also been some sort of gas leak or something, since the explosion had also caused the building to burn hotter than thousand hells.

Everyone put down their arms they had raised to protect themselves from the blast and just looked at the now burning building in horror before returning their gazes to the envoy, who just kept admiring the flames with a satisfied expression.

"What magnificent firework." He said, almost mockingly. "It may have lacked beautiful effects, but instead lit the way for a glorious and bright future. The symbolism is truly heartwarming." Stroking his chin thoughtfully as he continued observing the flames, he didn't even seem to mind as one of the guys in the building jumped out of the window, yelling as loudly as he could while being engulfed in flames. The cries of pain subsided immediately once he reached the ground, apparently not having survived the fall.

"What ridiculous power…" Ayase mumbled in awe and looked at her Endlave's gun, wondering of the bullets from that thing would even be able to be of use if that cursed envoy could even redirect rockets…and all that without even using a void. This guy was definitely dangerous.

"Be careful, Ayase. Don't engage him recklessly." She could hear Shu warn her as he took the singer's sword in both hands, knowing that he would need all his strength against his opponent.

"Yeah, got it."

Meanwhile, the envoy continued to talk. "Anyway, as I was saying. Da'ath realized that Ouma Mana was an inferior Eve, despite the fact that only the most suitable individual should have become Eve in the first place. I came up with the theory that Mana once used to be the most suitable Eva candidate, until we created Yuzuriha Inori, who eventually ended up surpassing her. For that reason, Da'ath now tries to readjust things a bit. That's why I will take her back now."

"And you think we would simply let you?" Shu asked rather threateningly.

The envoy sighed again. "If only you had shown this much interest in Eve sooner…well, whatever. It appears we will have to perform the coronation ceremony here with you being so persistent. In that case, I suppose we should get this party started." He lifted his right hand and clicked with his fingers. Immediately, two girls next to him unveiled themselves by putting aside their stealth camouflage cloaks which had rendered them completely invisible until now.

They were pretty young, Shu thought, probably around 12 and 14 years old, sharing the same height, hair and eye color and had pretty much identical facial features, which led him to believe he was dealing with twins here. Once they proceeded to put their hands up to their chests to unleash their voids, it also became pretty obvious that they were Genesis, which should have made them Mananites. Or rather, now that they seemed to aid Yuu who was out to get rid of Mana, it was probably more accurate to call them rogue Mananites. Unfortunately for Shu and Inori, that didn't necessarily mean that they were allies.

Their voids turned out to be rather similar as well, with both of them revealing gloves once they pulled their hands back out of the glowing holes in their chests. The main difference had been that the girl to Yuu's right only wore one glove on her right hand and the other one did the same with her left hand. There didn't seem to be a matching one for both their other hands. It was actually the only way to really tell them apart since even their clothes were pretty much the same, with both of them wearing the same kind of dark blue winter jacket made of nylon with a hood adorned with fur. Since they were both wearing the hood, most of their hair remained hidden, but from the few strands of hair that still managed to be visible, one could at least tell that its color had been dirty blond. Their crystal blue eyes were narrowed down halfway as if bored or disinterested about what was actually going on around them. However, they seemed to at least be pretty cold, since they both had their faces buried as deeply into a thick, black scarf, as possible so maybe their expression could have been a result of their displeasure regarding their weather situation. As if to mock them, a harsh wind picked up and blew past them, further freezing them. And soon thereafter first snowflakes started to slowly descend from the sky. How unfortunate.

The two girls therefore only held out their gloved hands to their side and buried their ungloved one deep into their jacket's pocket. With their fur coated boots, they stepped forward and stretched out their hands to each of their respective sides. The right girl to the right side, with the left girl doing the same to the left. While Shu was wondering where these guys had even managed to get these matching and not exactly cheap looking clothes from in the first place, their grey gloves with bluish lines going along the sides of the fingers, started to have exactly these blue lines glow faintly, followed by creating a huge flash at the space directly in front of where their fingertips were pointing.

What appeared from the flash was some strange whirling mass of energy and silver threads which quickly continued to grow in size and shape until the vague outlines of a huge formation could be made out. Meanwhile it had never ceased to create noises which sounded like cracking of electricity and power surges. Once the object had reached what seemed to be its desired shape, the whirling mass stabilized and flashed up again. The eyes of the Undertakers needed a while but when the light eventually faded, two towering crystals had appeared to the girls' sides. And before they could even realize what this meant, more and more people started to emerge out of these giant crystals. Dozens of Genesis rallied up next and around Yuu.

Once Inori saw that, she quickly raised both her hands, each directed at one crystal, and started clenching them to fists as if smashing tomatoes. It looked like it needed a bit of effort from the way her hands tensed up during the act of crushing something invisible inside them, but the crystals still crumbled and fell apart eventually, killing everyone who had still lied in wait inside it and had not yet come out. However, by the time that had happened, most of them had probably already left the structure and joined up with the envoy.

"Of course, what would a party be without guests…" Yuu then said as he gestured with his hands at the newcomers around him.

Shu gritted his teeth angrily. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but he guessed the tall crystals had been prepared by Mana beforehand, during a time before she and Da'ath had decided to betray each other. Yuu must then have filled them with Mananites and used the twins' void to teleport them here somehow. Very troublesome. A rough estimation revealed that the enemy forces were slightly smaller than their own one was, but it was also made up entirely by Genesis. This was bad.

However, it was still within their expectations. After all, they had come here prepared to get ambushed by Gai and Mana. Only that it turned out to be Yuu who did the ambushing instead of the blond ex-king. It didn't change much in terms of their strategy, though.

"Ok guys, looks like it's time for Plan B." He told Ayase and Inori quietly.

He earned a "Got it." from Ayase in response. Inori, however, remained silent which slightly worried him. Looking over at her, he realized that she kept staring at the Mananites with eyes open wide from shock. She even took a step back from them, confusing her king even further.

"What's wrong, Inori?"

"Shu, these guys are…" She didn't get further than that. It was as if she was afraid of speaking it out aloud, or perhaps she was just too dumbfounded to see these people. Shu didn't really know. As he took a closer look at the Mananites, he could see some of them staring down at his queen evilly, but he couldn't make out anything strange about them other than that.

"Ah, I see. You seem to recognize these unfortunate people." Yuu spoke to Inori with a confident smirk on his lips. "When I ventured into the void realm to get Eve, I found various people like them being held prisoner by Eve's soldiers, getting tortured and treated rather badly. When I offered to take Eve and her followers back into civilization, I had also showed mercy on them and brought them along, despite the soldiers' objections. They turned out to be quite thankful about that and were also rather eager to come along once I told them I might have to face you and Ouma Shu again in battle. Are you happy to be reunited with them again?" He asked her nonchalantly, but got no reply from her as she appeared to be still speechless.

"What's wrong, my 'queen'?" One of the hostile Genesis suddenly said with an extremely rude sounding voice. "Not happy to see your old allies again after you left them in hell?"

"Hah, she looks as if she saw a ghost. Bet she thought she would never have to see us again." Another one added with spite.

"Turns out queens are all the same. Call them Mana, or Inori. In the end, they are all nothing but selfish monsters."

"Hear, hear! We are all better off without queens!"

"Death to the queen!" "Death to the queen!" They now all yelled in unison, all summoning their void weapons and raising them in rhythm as they demanded their queen's execution. Inori herself had a troubled expression as they kept roaring death threats at her.

That's when Shu finally understood what this was all about. The Genesis Yuu had brought here had not been Mananites, but people who had originally been affiliated with Inori in the void realm. They must have been the unlucky ones that had been stuck in the process of reviving and got left behind when he and Inori had made their escape, not being able to await their rebirth. However, they did either not know about the circumstances in which they were left behind or simply didn't care. What was certain, though, was that they felt betrayed by their queen. Well, it wasn't as if Shu didn't get their anger.

According to Yuu they had been tortured by Mananites upon their rebirth. Well, that much had probably been to be expected. With their queen and all their friends up and gone, they naturally couldn't hold their old camp anymore. When Mana had then revived, they had probably been overrun quickly by enemy forces and captured as prisoners of war. It wasn't all that hard to imagine how they must have been treated afterwards, really. At first, they had probably been beaten senseless as the Mananites attempted to squeeze out any information about Inori's whereabouts who had suddenly vanished off the realm in a miraculous way. Of course, none of them could have known where their queen had gone to since they had been dead during the time it had happened. They had probably wanted to know the very same thing the Mananites where torturing them for, which had made the matter even more ironical.

Afterwards, once it had become clear that the left behind soldiers didn't know anything, they were probably handled even worse than that, knowing the Mananites weren't exactly acting reserved when it came to things such as rape, torture, humiliation and killing. Their lives had probably been hell until Yuu had come around to stop the madness. Unfortunately, about that time that had happened, the damage had already been done and every single one among them must have wished for revenge against their former queen for doing that to them.

Not that Shu would let them, though. While their fate had been unfortunate indeed, it had simply been unavoidable. You couldn't always win in life. Sometimes you had to lose. There was probably no one else in the world who understood that more than him and Inori did. And if you asked him, he was under the impression that they had already done their fair share of losing. He wouldn't allow anyone to take any more from them from now on.

However, even though he had been ready to intervene, it wasn't him who eventually did, but instead one of the Genesis among the Undertakers. The woman in question had already aimed her crossbow void at one of the guys wishing for the queen's death and shot him with a laser arrow. Hitting its target right between the eyes, the unfortunate man simply fell down lifelessly in the middle of his chant.

"Traitorous scum! We won't forgive anyone who dares showing disrespect against the queen or the king!" She yelled, earning loud, agreeing cheers from her Genesis-comrades near her as they, too, raised their voids vigorously.

"Protect the queen's honor!"

"Kill the traitors!"

"For Inori!"

And soon after, the first shots were fired. Much to the confusion and displeasure of the humans among them.

"Hey, you can't just open fire on-" Some started to object but were interrupted by the enemy returning the fire at them. Suddenly the battle had started and they were forced to shoot back.

"Damnit!" They yelled as they took cover behind the crystal barricade and looked over at Shu, Inori and Ayase, who were in the middle of the line of fire. Ayase shielded them as they tried to run back into cover with Shu swinging his sword a couple of times into the direction of the enemy as he retreated into safety. The blade emitted long, sharp silver threads whenever Shu swung it which were even able to travel in wide arcs. Acting as an extension of his blade, they flew towards the enemies and cut the first unfortunate bunch unlucky enough to stand in their way.

"Everyone, proceed with plan B! Do as you were previously instructed!" He yelled into the Undertakers' direction.

As soon as they had heard that, their faces started to show off confidence and determination. The human veterans entered a state of calmness despite the hectic situation they found themselves in and the Genesis as well started to calm down and act as one instead of blindly shooting at the enemy in rage like they had done until just now.

"You heard the man! Provide cover fire until he and Inori are back and safe!"

"Hostile melee fighters are advancing towards our position, take them out!"

"Close range fighters, get ready to switch with long range fighters!"

Orders were shouted around and while it looked like chaos had broken out among their ranks, every one of them did their job fluently and efficiently. Despite having differences, the Genesis and humans showed good discipline and performed excellently together. The Undertaker veterans and Genesis who had been in combat or war for so long had learned to put aside everything not related to the battle a long time ago, knowing that not fully concentrating at times like these would only get them killed. Some of the newbies tended to screw up every once in a while, but whenever that happened, a veteran or Genesis was nearby to make up for the mistake. It was the sort of teamwork one would only see with experienced soldiers.

However, the enemy wasn't just dumb Mananites this time, either, but former allies instead. The difference became quite clear when the Undertakers saw the enemy advance while sending in people with big shields, body armors and similar defensive voids in the first row and then the lesser defended melee types in the second row. All while the long range fighters kept supporting them from behind. It had been a tactic Inori's soldiers had used many times in the past and would end up causing a lot of trouble to them if they wouldn't find a way to counter it.

For that reason, the first two rows of long range fighters kept providing Shu and Inori with cover fire while also preparing to switch places with the close range soldiers behind them. As soon as the enemy would advance too closely to their position, they would switch around and have the melee-oriented soldiers combat the approaching enemies, while the rest would fall back and continue supporting them from further back.

Meanwhile, Inori had launched herself back behind the barrier by using the momentum of a crystal she had made shoot out of the ground rapidly. Shu followed her soon afterwards by using the singer's sword ability to create stepping stones in midair to swiftly appear at her side. Now back behind cover, they finally turned around to Ayase, who had kept protecting them from enemy projectiles with her big and sturdy crystal-reinforced Endlave.

"We made it, Ayase! Fall back!" Inori informed her the moment she had confirmed Shu was with her.

"Roger that! See you later!" They heard the brunette woman confirm over her speakers, followed by her jumping over the fence surrounding the still burning office building and driving off into the opposite direction of the enemy with high speed.

"They are retreating! Don't let them escape! Push harder!" They could hear one of their enemies yell, followed by the armored first line of enemies picking up speed. Their shields and armors absorbed most of the projectiles the Undertaker firing squad shot at them, which is why Shu told them to cease fire and fall back, while the melee-types took their place.

"Now, Inori!" The brunette king yelled into his queen's direction over the noise of battle while sending off more silver thread blades at the still approaching enemy.

Said queen looked at her former vassals first, followed by looking down on her own hands. Somehow, this was all her fault. It was understandable that they would feel betrayed. After all, they had fought for her, protected her and believed in her for many years only for her to leave the void without them in the end. But it's not like she had wanted things to end this way. She had wished they would all leave that place and return home together happily. Now, they were all back, but not in the way she had envisioned. This was all wrong. It shouldn't have come to this.

If only she could explain it to them. Neither she nor Shu had desired this outcome, but she knew they would not listen to her anymore at this point. She had seen this happen many times already in the past. Their hearts were filled with hatred and rage for her which blinded them, preventing them to see things with reason…how they really were. There was no way to save them without someone getting hurt.

And if someone had to get hurt, it was better to not be the ones who still believed in her. Shu and the Undertakers...she would protect them all.

"I am sorry…" She whispered quietly as she stood up, ignoring that she left the cover of the crystal spikes in front of her. While doing so, the last fragments of sadness left her face and got replaced by determination. Lifting her right hand to the leftmost crystal of the barricade, she proceeded to draw a straight line from the first crystal on the left to the very last crystal on the right. It was a swift, clean motion and her hand had only pointed at each crystal for a mere split second, yet that had been all it took.

As soon as the crystals had registered the movement of the queen, they began launching themselves forward into the direction they had been pointed at, namely the enemy. One after another, starting from the one Inori had been pointing at first, the trunk sized spikes were shot forward in quick succession and with little delay between each other. Traveling in a small arc, they were fast like rockets, but behaved more like spears as they crashed headfirst into the enemy formations and pierced even the sturdy shields of the defensive first row.

Cries of agony filled the streets as more and more soldiers got impaled and crushed brutally. However, it was not enough to stop their advance. After the last crystal had fallen, the hostile forces reassumed their formation and continued to advance. Impressive determination.

Meanwhile, Da'ath's envoy had retreated to the back rows where he aimed his bow high into the air. Multiple arrows appeared in his right hand which were all shot in a high arc at the same time soon after. The projectiles started glowing in a purple light and appeared to turn into energy midflight, but that wasn't even the main problem. No, what really made this whole ordeal troublesome was how the energy-arrows each continued to split into two new ones, which then split again…and again. Three, six, twelve, twenty-four,…the sky was filled with glowing arrows in no time and they all started to rain down on the Undertakers.

"Do not falter! I can protect us!" Shu yelled to prevent panic. In his void arm, the Singer's sword he had held until now slightly transformed after getting combined with the voids of Yahiro, Ayase, Tsugumi and Argo which had also rested in his own void arm. The blade part of the sword vanished and instead started to change its shape into something new. The void grew bulkier as a whole and its tip started to look like the end of a turbine.

Shu grimaced as he now had to support the heavy construct with his other arm as if holding a minigun in order to aim it at the incoming danger. As soon as the strange weapon was in position, the turbine part started spinning and various lines on the outer hull of the void started glowing, seemingly transmitting energy to the void's spinning end. Small light particles appeared all around it, getting slowly sucked up into the turbine the faster it started to spin. And while it did so, it also started to emit a loud noise which reminded everyone of a starting jet.

Then, only a few seconds before the envoy's attack was about to hit them, the king unleashed a powerful beam out of the strange photon cannon of his with so much force, that the recoil nearly let him lose his balance. The beam itself was the strangest thing to behold. It looked like light, but was pitch black. This abnormal black light spread out all around them and absorbed all light sources in the vicinity. First the energy arrows started to fade into the dark beam, then the fire of the burning building next to them got completely sucked up by it. One by one, every light vanished into it, until even the light rays emitted by the sun failed to reach them anymore. Everyone just stood in complete darkness, unable to see anything anymore.

If one were to look at the area from far away, they would see a huge, dark blob where the fight was taking place right now. One would first assume a big, black object had appeared out of nowhere, but that was not the case. It was just that every light that traveled through the area was completely absorbed by the abnormal 'anti-light' Shu had unleashed, as impossible as that actually sounded.

But that was only the case for a few seconds. Their vision returned when the dark light started to gather into a small sphere above them. Shrinking and shrinking until it became as small as a mere basketball, the pitch black sphere continued to float in the air, getting admired by everyone present. Enemies as well as allies alike. But could you blame them? Anyone would just stand and stare at something so bizarre. It wasn't something you would see every day, even for Genesis standards who were plenty familiar with voids at this point.

"Avert your eyes! Quickly!" The king's warning however, threw them back into reality. He released the heavy void, ran up to Inori and made her shield her eyes while turning away from the strange phenomenon himself. The Undertakers followed his example. Most of the enemies chose to trust their gut instinct and turned away as well, after they saw the sphere starting to emit a couple sparks as if growing unstable. The few who didn't were in for a painful surprise as the strange, black thing exploded in midair, shining brightly in the intensity of all the light it had absorbed at once. It was so bright, that it completely destroyed their eyesight through over stimulation, dooming them to never see any light again. Having experienced the pain of becoming blind firsthand, the king almost felt bad for the fools who were now yelling and attempting to cover their eyes in vain.

"It's not over! Brace for impact!" He continued to instruct his allies and knelt on the ground, holding Inori tightly. The Undertaker, still shielding their eyes, confusedly tried to hold on to something. Moments after, the blast of the explosion reached them and knocked a few of them over, but luckily, most of them were able to handle the pressure. Most Genesis also helped securing their human allies by using their additional strength to keep them from being blown away.

When things had at long last settled down, they finally allowed themselves to open their eyes again. Confirming their surroundings, the Undertakers were filled with relief once they saw that they were mostly alright. A couple of them had been hit by the blast and were now injured, but the majority of them had remained unharmed. The first cheers were heard with more and more of them joining in.

Shu also checked up on Inori who was still shielded in his arms.

"Are you okay, Inori?" He asked with worry in his voice, which ended up being unnecessary as she immediately blessed him with the sight of a small smile and a nod.

"I am fine, Shu."

He embraced her in relief and let out a sigh. "Thank goodness."

On the enemy side, Yuu put down his arm he had used to shield his eyes with. Looking around, he saw a few people yelling in pain and walking or crawling around blindly. A considerable amount of them were also lying on the floor dead, either killed by the crystal attack earlier or by getting blast away by the explosion and hitting something hard unfavorably. He saw all that, but contrary to the horrifying image, he chose to smile in amazement.

"Impressive." He admitted while getting up and cleaning his coat from dust by gently hitting it a few times. "Showing usage of voids like a true king. As expected of the primary Adam candidate." He praised Shu proudly.

"Praising the enemy like that…just whose side are you on anyway?" One of his soldiers said after coughing and getting up as well.

"Why, Da'ath's side of course. And Da'ath always sides with progress." He answered him patiently.

"That's not really an answer, you know…?" The soldier grumbled disapprovingly.

"Well, then answer me this. Are you intending to continue the fight or are you giving up on your revenge?"

The man in front of him growled at him angrily. "We will not rest until we are free of queens and their kings. Human life should not stand at the mercy of such monsters."

The envoy merely shrugged at that. "I disagree, but that is of no importance. So go on, then. Show me your determination. Perhaps you will succeed in convincing me that kings and queens are indeed obsolete in the new world."

"Pah. Watch us. We will free ourselves or die trying." The man said as he headed back into the fray.

Yuu couldn't help but chuckle at the soldier's foolishness. Wanting to free himself of queens and kings? What idiocy it truly was. Nothing but nonsense spewed by ignorant people. There was no such thing as a world without kings and queens in the future. That's not how the system worked. Ever since the day the meteorite containing the apocalypse virus fell onto the earth, the destiny of the human race had already been decided. There would always be an Eve, no matter how often you decided to kill her. And as long as there would be Eve, there would always be an Adam. Sooner or later, the apocalypse was bound to happen. It was only a matter of time.

The foolish struggle of these men and women around him was nothing but a futile attempt to change things which couldn't be changed. Nothing but wasted effort. And thus, it didn't matter to him if they lived or died this day. Let nature give them their deserved fate. Anyone who was unable to adapt themselves to the world would be selected out. That was how it had always been and always would be. A just system which no one could ever change.

It's not like he hadn't tried to educate them. To teach them how they were wrong. But they had refused to listen. They had claimed it was him who was actually wrong. And while he knew better, he still chose to watch them try convincing him. After all, who was he to deny them their freedom of choice? If they so choose to throw their lives away meaninglessly, he would let them. For even though their struggle was the embodiment of vanity, their actions could still serve as an example for future generations. For that reason, he would watch them closely and remember everything to his best ability. Eventually, when the new world would finally come, he would write stories about this day. Stories that would tell the children of tomorrow about the foolishness of their predecessors.

As if to proof their stupidity, he saw them charging at Shu's and Inori's forces with voids at hand. Everyone still capable of fighting had apparently chosen to strike while the enemies were still trying to rearrange their formations. An action Yuu could only meet with a disappointed sigh and a slow shake of his head. Looking to his left at the shipyard, he already knew what would be coming next.

It was all too obvious that the Undertakers in front of them were acting vulnerable on purpose to draw them in. If they would have remained calm for a second to think, they would have realized it was all a feint to begin with. After all, there had already been enemies hidden in the building to their right, so why in all heavens would they assume the terrorists wouldn't have done the same to their other flank?

True enough, as soon as the Undertaker's forces and the traitors clashed, a new squad of enemies revealed themselves coming from the countless manufacturing halls they had hid themselves in quietly. Led by a man with a strange mix of blond dyed hair in the center and brown hair on each of his head's sides, they rushed out quickly and proceeded to mow down their enemies with heavy gunfire on their unprotected flank. Yuu recognized the man as one of Shu's vassals he had met briefly 5 years ago when the king had attempted to rescue Inori Yuzuriha, but never really got around to catch his name. Not that it really mattered anyway.

With this, the fight was probably already decided. Getting attacked from the front and one side at the same time should eventually wear down the rebel forces in the end. Especially since they were up against a queen and a king simultaneously. Even if he were to help them now, they would still not stand a chance, but he had to still get his hands on Ouma Mana somehow, so he gathered the voids of the injured soldiers around him who had still not died yet. Perhaps he could get something useful out of them if he were to combine them. Anything would do as long as it would prolong the battle for just a while longer.

That's when he heard the sound of something loud approach him from behind. Turning around in curiosity, he saw the Endlave from before coming at him with high speed. At that point, he couldn't suppress a laugh. So that's how it was. The Endlave had retreated temporarily to go and find a way to sneak around them, probably by making a quick detour. It was meant to ambush them from behind to open even a third front against the enemy. If that Endlave was to get past him, the rebel Genesis behind him would meet their demise in no time.

"We can't have you do that now, can we?" The blond man said amusedly as he finished gathering the voids. He couldn't allow the fools behind him to die too quickly, since he was still in need of the distraction they were currently providing. At least for a little while, he needed to share the Endlave pilot's company.

"It can't be helped. I will be your opponent this time."