A/N: First chapter for the Weekly Chapter update. I notice that I type way too fast and I update rather quickly, causing people to lose focus on my story. That's why I imposed myself to updating every Friday, as if I'm updating manga; give my readers time to absorb the story. Enough talk, let's go!

Chapter 24: The Undead Marauder

Unknown Location

"If you are truly against Al-Thamen, then I'm sure you'll be helping me with killing my mother," Hakuryuu said coldly,"What's my first task, Lady Leila?"

She smiled warmly and beckoned him to come with her. They walked toward the exit of the portal room and she guided him to another room. The room had a large glass window, showing another large room with blood splattered everywhere. Hakuryuu watched in horror as he saw a berserk young adult holding what looked like a golden sword cuddled with blood, killing massive forces of pigs, elephants, and dungeon monsters.

"I'm the best! I AM the King!" he howled to the ceiling. He then laughed madly, feeding his already large Pride.

"Hakuryuu, we're testing out new forms of Metal Vessels through magi-scientific methods. Currently, we have captured a Djinn and managed to modify its Magoi to suit our needs."

"That boy, he's gone berserk with that power," Hakuryuu commented, hints of fear in his tone.

"He's only a test..."

She looked at the teen with the burned scar.

"Hakuryuu, do you want to gain more power? This power is enough to destroy both Al-Thamen and your mother. I'm giving you a choice... and time."

Hakuryuu contemplated for a moment. His mother was completely insane and had massive power. When he tried to fight her with him being fully Djinn Equipped, he couldn't lay one crack on her Borg. Being with Judar didn't change anything; he just wanted to kill his mother and Judar hasn't done anything to severe yet. Will such power from a Magi hidden away from existence truly grant him unprecedented power?

"Hakuryuu, you may be allowed to stay in one of my dorms, but you're always free to stay at your home in the Kou Empire,"

Hakuryuu politely smiled and put up his left hand.

"It's okay, miss, I still have royal training to attend too," he walked toward the portal room and left the mysterious lab.

Zalam smiled to herself. She liked Hakuryuu. The hatred that he's completely consumed in enticed her. Add it with the spice of Djinn Mastery and strong pole arm mastery, he seemed more than capable of being her King Vessel. Too bad he has become Judar's. That Wrath, that rage.

The Magi of Darkness turned to watch her creation.

"You truly are capable of using my modified Djinn,"

The black haired man had dilated purple eyes and wore a black robe.

Franklin's View

"You know, I've always wanted to learn how to wield a battleaxe. Do you know anyone who can wield an axe?"

As I approached the armed guard, he immediately aimed at me with his rifle. I simply stared at his soulless helmet, and the eyes hidden underneath stared back. or most likely glared.

"You, you're Franklin Steinherz are you not?" the soldier said.

"What's it to ya? Why the heck did you invade this world? Who got you here?"

"I'll answer your questions after you're DEAD!"

He aimed at me and fired rapidly with his rifle. The muzzle flash barred his view and I think he barely saw me using Orobas's magnetism to halt the bullets's path. After his magazine was emptied, he was dumbfounded by the sight of me with 100 bullets floating in front of me. Black and green aura radiated the bullets and I still had a bored expression. Using my magnetic powers, I tossed it away from him and swung at him with the cheek of my axe. He was instantly knocked away from me and I continued to trespass this modern area.

"Hey, whoever is leading this joint, give me a ship that will take me to Aktia!" I demanded.

Welcomed by hundreds of armed men, I decided that backup was necessary. Who else but my Household Vessel?

"Amelia! I need some help!"

The snake girl leapt out from the hills and formed large amounts of lightning knives and rained it upon the armed men.

She landed beside me and through the year of Household Vessel training, has become more human by consecrating her body to the Vessel. Her human shape has returned, but her legs have become fully scaly. The scales are now black and green, with some of them being latched on to her shoulders, face, and torso. Her hair has now shifted from cyan to black with green tips. She now wears a white dress that starts from her shoulders and reaches up to her knee. She wears silver greaves, courtesy of Mira with sandals. Thanks to her sharing the schematics of the balisong with the weapon smiths of Artemyra, she got another knife(the secret is kept safe from the others).

Many of the men were downed, but some survived and opened fire on me. I quickly holstered my axe on my sash and equipped my scissors. The two large blades created a magnetic aura that caused the bullets to halt. Amelia closed the distance to the ones aiming at me and quickly disarmed them and injured them to the point of helplessness. As if I was in a certain game where crazier actions would lead to crazier enforcement, AZRAEL sent in their vehicles: jeeps with mounted gunners at the top of the car. The gunmen aimed at Amelia and started to fire their guns at her. Thanks to consecrating her body to the Vessel, she has gained superhuman durability, strength, and conditioning, making her faster than an triathlete. She managed to dodge the bullets by running to her right. I amalgamated the bullets into a large snake and used it to knock off the mounted gunmen. I pointed my two scissor blades into the air, forming black electricity. The blades both stuck to each other, forming a scissor. I closed the blades together and stabbed the air in front of me, blasting a concussive wave of electricity that knocked aside anyone who dared stood against me.

And then, they came in. The more highly trained members of AZRAEL. They were women and men in very tight armor and carried what looked like stun batons. They're small in numbers; only around 8. I have a bad feeling about these people. The remaining footmen saw them and looked at both of us.

"It's the Seraphs! They can handle this,"

Seraphs. Named after the six winged angels. I really hope that they're not an Anti-Metal Vessel Unit. AMVU?

One of them acrobatically flipped toward me gracefully. I grabbed my axe and got into fighting position. The man did an overhead swing with his baton, which I clashed with the handle of my axe. I quickly spun around and swung at him, but he managed to dodge it with a high leap in split position. He quickly landed on his hand and started doing windmill kicks on me continuously as if he was a raging tornado. His legs seemed to have sharp edges, judging by the slicing noises heard from it clashing with my axe blade. He leapt up high into the air and threw a snapping axe kick over my head, which I managed to dodge through a short leap backward. His foot landed on the ground, but he wasn't done yet. He leaned forward and kicked me with his other foot. Damn, that kick hurt. I skidded on the ground grinding the floor as I was pushed a slight distance.

"Household Vessel: Kahraba Khanjar!" her balisong emitted a black electric blade as she joined in the fight. She was soon intercepted by two Seraphs.

One threw a spearhand at the arm that held the knife, causing her lightning blade to dissipate. One watched over the snake girl with stern eyes.

"If you be so kind not to interfere," one of the agents said,"This is clearly an honorable match between our leader and yours, so be a lamb, and be gentle."

I was distracted by the scene of her getting apprehended. I was kind of expecting my opponent to do a preemptive strike on me whilst distracted, but I didn't feel that. When I looked back, I saw him standing with a noble aura, putting his arms behind his back. It was as if he was indirectly mocking me with poise.

"Well, I'm waiting for you to be in battle position," the man said.

"I guess so," I held my axe high into the air and gathered black energy.

"Spirit of Tyranny and Fury, lend me the axe that executes those who are unworthy of your powerful aura and strength. Come, Belial!"

My axe has now transformed into Belial's weapon: a battle axe with fleshy aesthetics that are metallic. The "fleshy" parts were dark red and my handle now has a guard. The axe blade has now turned into a much more sinister looking one, but with the back blade being flipped upside down. The blade and the handle were all pitch black. My arms started to gain red spikes and have a black tone from merely touching Belial's Axe.

"So, you've got yourself another Djinn?" he unequipped his baton and protruded half-a-meter long wrist blades, infused with electricity.

We both clashed steels. While my strikes were more precise and strong, my opponent's strikes were quick. Soon, our exchanges started to get more one sided as speed bested strength. He quickly leapt over me as I was about to throw a quick swing. He put his hand on my head, as he was about to block out my Magoi. I grinned as he was going to use Magoi Manipulation in an attempt to cut my Magoi flow connection to my head. His arm limped as I drained his Magoi, then I did a back flip kick, kicking him to the other side. He did a short breakdance before getting up. He held his limp arm as he panted in panic.

"Heh, so you're like Serket huh? I completely forgot."

"Look dude, do you have a boat I can loan? I need it to get to Aktia,"

"Then why did you have to fight us?" he asked.

"Well, maybe you should ask your guard. It seems I'm pretty wanted," I shrugged,"besides..."

I walked up to the leader and touched his limp arm, giving him enough Magoi to make his arm functioning. I did a back flip a few meters away from him and prepared for Round 2.

"I still have to beat you, right? Also, since you know my name, how about I learn yours?"

I could tell that he was smiling from underneath that helmet.

"My name Shen'Rey, that's the only thing you need to know.

He entered his fighting pose again and suddenly disappeared. I looked around in case he appeared somewhere. No where in sight. I turned my axe so it was pointing to the Earth and contemplated. Belial's magic is Strength, and his main affinity with Strength is Gravity. Mira tells me of one of her close friends's Djinn, Darius Leoxses as an example of a Strength Metal Vessel. She told me about his Extreme Magic, where he instantly compacts enemies into a ball the size of a pea. While in this posture, I could sense the Magoi around me. What I found strange was that his Magoi was constantly warping around erratically, yet in some sort of pattern. As soon as he started to inch in, I opened my eyes and touched the tip of my axe on the ground.

"Iblis Madquq," the gravity around me started to get heavier, and soon I saw the leader suddenly latched on the ground. He tried his best to get up, but it was already too late.

"Swing batter!" I swatted him with the cheek of the axe, launching him into the air.

I reeled my axe back and swung at him, tossing the back axe blade at the airborne Shen'Rey. He quickly gained momentum and did a quick helix, using his blades to deflect my axe blade. I joined him in the air and recovered my axe blade as it flew back at me. We both exchanged a few clashes with me ending it with a quick force pulse that shot him toward the ground.

When his back hit the floor, he recovered from when he bounced off, leaning backward and planting his hand on the ground. He leapt off with a quick spin and got on his feet again. Man this guy sure is flexible. He reeled in his left wrist blade and summoned some sort of barrel. He aimed it at me and fired what looked like a dart. Knowing this spelt trouble, I quickly dodged the dart, then dodged the 20 others that followed as I descended. I managed to grab one of the darts, and I put it in my pants pocket. When I landed on the ground, Shen took a few steps back as he waited for me to get into position. He reeled in his blades and entered a martial arts stance, inviting me to a hand-to-hand fight.

"So, you want to do it the men's way?" I asked.

"If you so wish, my limbs can withstand any weapon,"

I tossed my axe up high into the air, spinning in place through gravity magic. I closed the distance with a quick dashing jab, which he blocked with both arms. I took some hand-to-hand training with Mira and I was already deemed advanced, but not mastered. My strikes matched his speed, but his strength was below mine, as seen by his arms being slightly pushed back by my fists. I threw a quick sweeping low kick that he managed to block, but I followed up with an overhead hook, which hit his head. His body was knocked into the ground and he quickly sprung up into the air and threw a quick diving kick that hit my chest. He turned his body as he stepped back and he pointed his palms at the ground, launching my body with what looked like a burst of Magoi. My body was launched slightly and did a short leap while doing a splits upside down and quickly closed his legs in like scissors, launching me high into the air. While in the air, I saw my hovering axe and outstretched my hand to it, pulling it in through gravity manipulation. I quickly did a spin as if I was a pinwheel. After four full rotations, I swung the air with my axe, shooting a black and red cutter at Shen.

The projectile had gravity properties, causing Shen to float helplessly as he got hit from fast moving cutter. I unequipped my axe and Djinn Weapon Equipped Orobas. I extended the blade into blade whip and latched it on to his body before he could recover from gravity. I did a quick spin, dragging him with me and tossed him to the ground.

He seemed to be quite damaged and stood with rugged effort. When I landed on the ground, I reverted my swords back into scissors. This man, though part of a possible terrorist group, he was quite honorable. He was panting through that helmet, but still managed to give me a thumbs up.

"You know, I've faced various Metal Vessel users, but never have I been able to actually fight one," he panted heavilly,"I even fought with guys in Full Djinn Equip and most of them mostly relied on their magic, but you seem to have such a unique weapon compared to most of the Metal Vessel users we fought."

He sat down cross-legged and took off his helmet. Shen'Rey's face is slightly thin and his nose is round. His face resembled a man in his early 20s and his hair is crumpled in messy spikes.

"Well, I'm going to rest. Seraphs, take care of him,"

The other 7 joined in the fight and entered fighting positions. Amelia appeared beside me and entered in her fighting position. Amelia seemed to be in fighting condition. She summoned her Household Vessel and fromed the black electric blade from her knife. Her other knife was used as a parrying dagger as it had no Household Vessel properties.

"Amelia, we're going to have to stick together. If they gang up on you, they'll seal your Magoi flow again."

"Got it,"

I sure hope they can recover from this. I grabbed my axe from my torso sash and transformed it into Belial's Axe. 3 charged in at us while the others followed. I set up a zero gravity field when the 3 pursuers came close. Amelia attacked a floating opponent, but the agent fought back by kicking her to one of the other floating agents. As she was helplessly floating toward the other agent, I quickly cleaved his back with my axe and tossed him down, leaving him temporarily immobile as I damaged his spine. I am unaffected by my own gravity field, but I can choose to be affected by it if I wished. I grabbed Amelia's hand and tossed her toward the one that kicked her to me. I modified the gravity field to make Amelia charge toward her opponent faster. When she got close, she quickly slashed her limbs, leaving her helpless. The darts were being shot at us, but I realized that they were unaffected by my gravity field. I deactivated it, but I was kicked from behind by the other agent who was floating helplessly. I was about to fall face first into the ground, Amelia managed to grab my body while doing an aileron roll and halted her dash by braking her feet into the ground. She leapt high into the air with me in her arms and she let me go. I grabbed my scissors and pointed at the ground as I discharged electricity into each of them. They didn't seem to be affected by my electricity, possibly hinting the armor is resistant to electricity, fire, or probably water. Are they truly anti-magic? Since they were electricity proof, my Magoi Conductive properties failed to absorb their Magoi. I squinted my eyes and gritted my teeth in frustration.

"Amelia, their armor is resistant to magic, we're going to have to fight raw,"

She nodded and deactivated her Vessel.

It seems that Strength Magic is effective. Or is it most likely that they can only block attack magic? The bladed guard of my right hand sword folded out, forming a hook. I flipped the blade upside down and grabbed it by the blade as it separated into segments. I tossed the hook at one of the guards. When I snagged him, I kicked the segmented rope of blades, forcefully pulling him toward me. I used my other blade as a hook and tossed it to Amelia for her to grab on. I swung upward with the chain that had Amelia, and she sliced upward with her knife at the helpless guard's armor away and kicked the open armor spot with a dropping axe kick, knocking him into the ground. While I did a series of clockwise rotations into the air before I landed, Amelia did rolling front flips before landing. The other Seraphs groaned in pain from the damages received. I only debilitated them, as I find bearing the responsibility of killing a human too hard to handle. Even when Amelia was a killer in the past, she later grew to only strike fear by hospitalizing them.

"Urgh!" I started to feel my Magoi getting drained by some sort of radiating energy.

"Franklin!"

I crouched down, holding myself up with my scissor blades. I looked behind me and saw a Seraph with some sort of medallion that was sucking away my Magoi. Suddenly, I started to see my blades slowly transforming back into smaller blades. It's as if these people suck out the Djinns?!

"Stay away!"

Amelia tossed a knife at the Seraph with a medallion, but was blocked by another Seraph. She ran forward and hopped over the guarding Seraph's head and tossed a salvo of knives at the medallion holder, halting the channel. I quickly turn to the medallion holder, pushing aside the guarding Seraph and held the medallion. I instantly shattered it and saw a blue mist returning to my scissors. I looked behind me and realized that my axe was missing. I looked to my left and saw Shen'Rey, holding my axe with a medallion by his side. The black energy of Belial was drained fully before I could intervene and all that was left was an axe. Amelia was about to intervene too, but she was incapacitated by a stun dart. Shen'Rey smiled mischievously.

"Thank you for the Djinn. Headmaster will be pleased." Freaking douche. So much for honor.

"Who do you even work for? Why do you want Djinns?"

Shen'Rey shook his head with a troll-like smile.

"It's a secret, Franky boy,"

I twitched from hearing that nickname. I'd make him say it again after I cut his left eye out. I pointed my scissor at him, gripping it with fury-fueled strength.

"Do you have any common ideals with your headmaster? If not, why do you work for AZRAEL?"

He put an index finger on his chiseled chin and looked up as if he was mocking me by pretending to be stupid.

"Well... that's a secret too,"

I tried to attack him, but he simply dissipated into a black ooze, leaving my axe behind. The rest of the Seraphs disappeared, leaving the fazed soldiers of AZRAEL. I sighed angrily and grabbed the axe that was left behind. The star wasn't there, so it was just a normal axe, much to my anger. I outraged for a whole 2 minutes and finally calmed down, thanks to Amelia consoling with me. As a memento to my Djinn friend, I kept the axe with me. Maybe I might get him back some other time.

"I-I'm sorry, Franklin," Amelia said weakly.

Not wanting to wallow in defeat for a long time, I decided to smile nonetheless. While Belial is gone, my friend is still alive, and you can't take back a person's life. It was possible to get Belial back, as shown when Amelia disrupted the Medallion's channel.

"We'll get Belial back, you being alive is what's important right now,"

She smiled warmly as her face turned crimson.

"Thanks," she said softly.

I looked at the docks and saw a lone boat. It was colored Jet Black and was quite large. It looked like a futuristic battleship, but slightly smaller. The armaments of the ship consisted of one large cannon with 4 turrets on each side. The first 6 were on the front and the last two were behind the bridge. It's a bit smaller than a BC Ferry, but it's quite heavily armed. The bridge rested on top of a tower that is as tall as a 10-story building.

My Household and I entered the bridge and saw a plethora of buttons and controls. I assume that a full crew is needed, and I only have one person to help me. I saw the steering wheel and saw a note on it. I grabbed it and read it.

Dear Franklin,

You were quite the challenge, but you're still too unaware of your surroundings, causing you to lose Belial. You're synergy with your Household Vessel is superb. If you weren't being such a goody two-shoes, I could have allowed you in the Seraphs and spared you your two Djinns... er Belial. I really hope we will meet again, but this time, let's make a deal. If we were to meet again and you're the victor of our rematch, I shall give you Belial back. If you were to be unaware again, consider yourself Metal Vessel-less.

As for the ship, you really don't need a full crew as the crew is actually an AI. Just press the green button by the steering wheel and have fun! No tricks, I promise you.

Shen'Rey

P.S This is more than a boat.

Shen'Rey. This guy seems like a troll, but he's quite honorable in battle. He only stole my Djinn because of my unawareness, or he might have been a troll. That smile though, makes him look trolly. I clicked the green button and the engines activated. I put my hand on the steering wheel. Amelia pushed me aside, having a confidence smile on her slightly scaly face.

"Hey, Franky, unlike you, I actually aspire to drive cars," she said with a playful smile.

"Can you steer a boat?"

"Beep Boop, this isn't a boat. It's a Ship!"

Both of us looked around in panic as we heard the robotic voice. It was probably the AI. The weird thing was that it had some human tone.

"What's your name, robotic voice?"

"I am Braxton, Nila Braxton, I am a cyborg programmed to be a caretaker of the battleship, Invidia. Specify your location master."

A holographic map appeared in front of me, showing the full map of the Old World. I was on the middle Eastern area of Sasan, and I wanted to go to Aktia. I clicked the dot where the Aktia harbor was on.

"Affirmative, setting course for Aktia port."

The ship set sail and started to build up speed slowly. After a minute, it built up a massive amount of speed as if it was a plane.

"Entering Flight Mode. Hold on tight, master."

Is this what Shen'Rey meant about it being more than a boat? I looked at the front window and discovered that there was a larger part underneath the ship. Near the bow of the ship, two wings with turbines boosted the ship. A hologram showing the 3D schematics of the ship showed up, showing the rest of the airship. The front hull of the ship extended into a blade, resembling a large fighter jet. By the bridge, four large wings, two on each side were held by large engines that emitted purple flames. The ship actually had much more turrets in the lower hull. The water was soon whisped away by the extreme winds that Invidia cut through.

Best. Ship. EVER!

I was so ecstatic from gaining an airship. I've always wanted to ride an airship, but I never expected myself to man one... let alone be a Captain of one.

I left the bridge, but before I touched door, Nila spoke again.

"Aerial Barrier activated. You can freely step outside."

I'm aware of the high speed of flying machinations like this. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that a generic Boeing 747 or something can go at extremely high speeds over 200 km/h or something like that. Maybe more? I don't know. I ain't no pilot. Smiling at her assistance, I stared at the ceiling.

"Thank you, Nila," I said to the voice,"If only I can see you right now, I'd pet you playfully."

No response. I opened the door and walked to the bow. The aerial barrier didn't block out all the wind. I could still feel some strong wind, making my scarf and loose sash flutter in the wind. Amelia followed me too, letting her long black and green hair flow in the wind. I put my axe on the ground and put both hands on the butt of the handle.

"So, now that we know this isn't a boat, maybe you should order it to go to Magnostadt," Amelia suggested.

I smiled and talked to the floor.

"Nila, set course for Magnostadt, please?"

"Affirmative, setting course for Magnostadt."

The flight was still going normally and I looked at the skies the Invidia is slicing through. You don't have to wait any longer, Emiline. The Undead Marauder is planning a plunder and a reunion.

A/N: Here it is. Our hero, Franklin is now a Captain of a Battleship, and his self given nickname now makes more sense. Sorry for not telling you more about why Zalam decided to invade a year later. Can you guess who the Test Subject was?

How do the others fare? Just wait for next Friday. The next chapter will have 0% Franklin appearances.

Please leave a review if you wish.

A/N 2: Yes, I watch the anime and as you may have noticed, it's almost coming to a close. I can't wait to see how the action scenes will play out. I can barely contain my excitement. Also, SSA King Vessels look badass, even if it's just showing them turning their heads.

"This student is amazing, she's strong in her main elements and can cast other spells with ease!" an elder commented.

It was already after an Iktiyar. This was the girl's eighth Iktiyar, and she managed to pass again. She smiled warmly. Her bandaged wrists connected to a hand that carries a staff with what looked like a lantern at the end. She wore a cute wizard hat and dons a Magnostadt student uniform with only smallclothes underneath. The hat covered her blue eyes as she looked down. A cute smile was on her face and she dug the end of her staff into the ground.

Her hair is now long, reaching up to the middle of her back. One year has already changed this girl (she's slightly taller) and after she had a meeting with Holly and May, she decided to go to a good place where Magicians train. Ramses decided to return to Heliohapt to train with Armakan in Djinn usage after his loss against Serket. Magnostadt was the place for her, and while its caste system was abolished, the academy rules and regulations stayed the same. She looked up high into the sky and wondered about the well-being of her dear friend.

"Franklin..." she said softly, not heard by the roaring crowds,"I hope we meet again."