Chapter 21

*BANG!*

I quickly jumped to the side before the blade struck me and then I dashed towards the cloaked man, quickly activating Level Two. Everything around me slowed down, but none of us that were fighting slowed. I engulfed both blades in 'red' power and rushed him. He quickly formed a black blade and defended my barrage.

*BANG!* *CRASH!* *BOOM!*

Whatever this blade was made out of, it was definitely strong if it couldn't be cut through with the 'red' power. The only good thing that was coming out of this however, was that I was slowly pushing him back. While he continued to block and dodge my blows, I gave Neptune and Nepgear a few eye signals to tell them to get ready.

*CLANG!* *SKRRR!*

I quickly stepped forward once he was close enough in position and slashed down at him, causing him to try to block it and make our blades grind against each other.

I stepped back. "Now!"

"…!"

As the man stood there trying to process what had happened, Neptune and Nepgear both flew up from behind and slashed at him.

*SHK!* *SK!*

The cloaked man quickly dodged out of the way, only receiving a cut and a tear on his cloak. I gritted my teeth. So, he activated "it", didn't he? Maybe we will lose, but I'm not about to cross that bridge yet.

I dashed towards him once again, entirely activating Level Two. Although everything slowed down further, the cloaked man still moved faster than me. I slashed at him.

*CLANG!* *SHWING!* *BANG!* *BAM!*

I relentlessly continued to barrage him with strike after strike, however he was actually pushing me back while he parried and swung at me. I swung both blades down at him, but he engulfed his blade in purple lightning and black flames then performed an uppercut, sending one blade into the air and leaving my arms in the air.

"…!" He stabbed at me.

*BANG!* *CRASH!*

Neptune and Nepgear suddenly came up from behind and above, blocking his strike and managing to knock him against a wall. "Are you alright, Tolise?" asked a concerned Nepgear.

I cracked my knuckles. "Oh I'm fine, excited even."

A more mature Neptune gave me a curious look. "Hm? Why would you be excited about this?"

"Because, I haven't fought like this in such a long time." But the best part, was that it was actually a challenge.

"But if he can take on two CPUs and some guy with—" I covered Neptune's mouth and whispered into her ear. "You're not supposed to mention that, remember?"

She pulled my hand off. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

I rubbed my temple. "Oh well. Let's just focus back onto the fight."

We all turned back to the cloaked man. His body was now emitting purple lightning. He's got to be at full power by now.

The man let out a laugh. "I honestly didn't think you would all push me this far!" He's consumed by "that" now, isn't he? "However, I think it's time we end this game."

"…!"

Before we had time to take a stance, the cloaked man was in our faces.

"Oomf!"

"Ah!"

"Gah!"

In a second, he knocked us all out and the last thing I saw, was a helpless Nepgear hit the ground...

"…?" My eyes slowly opened and I winced when I tried to move my body. It felt drained for whatever reason. But what? I tried moving my arms and realized I was chained up. But I couldn't see anything so I wasn't sure where I was or where Nepgear or Neptune were. I gritted my teeth and I felt tears begin to form in the corners of my eyelids. I had promised to protect the both of them, and now, I was chained up and didn't even know where they were. I felt so helpless.

"What are you going to do now, boy?"

"I...I don't know."

"Are you going to try to save them?"

"I can't...move and I don't even know where they are."

"Then you can use my power."

"But... what about the Darkness?"

"Yes, but do you remember what you were told?"

"That I wouldn't awaken the Darkness if I remained conscious and used up too much power?"

"Yes, and that's why I won't give you all my power this time."

"…" I paused to think. But if it meant I could protect Neptune and Nepgear, then I would allow this. "Alright."

As Nepgear's eyes fluttered open, she couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black and her arms were chained to the wall, slowly sapping her of her strength. She called out into the darkness. "S-sis?"

"…"

"…"

She waited for a response, but heard nothing. She let out a groan. "Ughh...I'm all alone again."

Nepgear thought about back when she had defeated Arfoire. How happy she was that she had been reunited with Neptune, even though she didn't pay much attention to her. She had felt happy. But when she met Tolise, she started to have conflicting feelings. Neptune would always play with him and not spend as much time with her. But when she became sad, Tolise would always come and help her out and he went as far as to promise to always protect her and be with her. She cared about them both so much. Tears trickled down her face. Now she was all alone again.

"…*hic*...Tolise...Neptune..."

"Please...help...me..." She pleaded before the last of her strength left her body and she blacked out.

*Crash!*

The door to Tolise's room hit the floor and an alarm tripped. *WHRRRRR!*

Hundreds of men wearing combat gear and carrying AK-47s rushed to Tolise's room.

"…" Everybody held their breath as they waited to see what came out of the darkness. Suddenly, a red flash rushed past all of them as they sprayed their bullets at the flash.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!* *Click!*

Eventually, their bullets stopped, bodies were scattered everywhere leaving only a hundred or so men left, and in the center, stood Tolise. The only thing that was different about him, was he now had a fiery crimson aura emitting from him. The soldiers dropped their weapons, cowering in fear. "W-who...are...you? You...can't be the prisoner...Y-you're something else!"

The "something else" looked at the one who spoke with his gleaming, bloodlust-red eyes. He laughed, "Ahahahahaha!" he grinned sinisterly. "You're right, I'm not what was in that room earlier, not at all. I'm the one that brings fear and death to people's lives."

In a flash, the man who had questioned Tolise, was now lying dead at his feet, blood oozing everywhere. "I'm a demon!"

"GAHH!"

*SHK!* *CRACK!* *CRUNCH!* *SHK!* SLASH!*

"…" The demon now sat on top of a pile of dismembered, dead bodies, licking the blood from his cheek. "Heh, maybe I got a bit carried away."

The demon hopped off the pile and looked down a hallway. He had to find those two girls before anything bad happened to either him or them. He knew he was on a time limit before the entire demon consumed him and cause him to lose consciousness, so he began to jog down the long hallway.

When he reached the end, he found that there was a door on his left and right. The left one was heavily guarded while the right one only had one guard at the door. Deciding that the left door was where Neptune and Nepgear were being held, he engulfed himself in the aura again. The guards noticed him once the red flames fully covered him and they all turned pale. "D-d-d-demon!" They all pulled out futuristic weapons, some had blue laser blades while other carried ray guns. "ATTACK!"

*PANG!* *SHK!* *BWONG!* *SHWING!* *BANG!*

The guards with swords rushed at him while the ones with guns fired from a distance. All of the hot lasers hit his body, knocking him back, while the many blades pierced through his head and chest. He fell to the ground and the guards pulled their blade out and put their weapons away, letting out sighs of relief.

"You guys really are gullible, aren't you?"

"NO WAY!"

*SHK!* *SLASH!* *CRASH!* *SHWK!*

The demon sighed as his injuries healed almost instantly. "Man, at least provide some challenge."

"Maybe, I'm killing too many of them." he looked down at the many bodies scattered on the floor. But he couldn't help his lust. It brought him pleasure and satisfied him, but he knew his vessel wouldn't like it. He looked over at the right door only to see another dead guard. Maybe he did kill too many. "Well, I'll leave the rest up to you."

I inhaled a breath of air, it had a tinge of blood to it. "Not again!"

I looked around me. I was right in front of a futuristic chrome door and was surrounded by a lot of dead bodies. Yeah, maybe I should've stayed in my room until I came up with a plan. I opened the door and looked inside to see one of the two lilac-haired girls. "Nepgear!"

I ran up to her and broke her chains off, catching her before she hit the ground. She was back in her normal form.I lightly smacked her cheek. "Hey, Nepgear."

"…" She didn't respond.

"Oh you better not do this to me after I promised!"

I quickly dashed back outside and looked through the guard uniforms for any type of medical supplies.

Nothing.

I ran back up to her and sat her up against the wall, her breaths were ragged and she was slowly turning pale. I slammed my fist against the wall. I wasn't going to let her die after coming so far and because of my stupidity. I was going to save her. I formed 'red' energy into my hands and slowly sank it into her chest. She wasn't going to die, not if I had anything to say about it. I was going to save her, no matter what.

A/N:

This chapter is actually really important to the story in the future. Also, this chapter reveals more about Tolise's backstory and what "it" is and Tolise's name. Trust me, it's not that hard to figure out. But there will be yet another chapter tomorrow because of the schedule, also I hope you guys have been enjoying the three chapter uploads because I really do enjoy writing these chapters and I want to brighten your days. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!