Chapter 28

Blood Storm

The King of Furies roamed the ruined halls of the Institute in a state of wrath fueled by anxiety and fear. Mayu, a mere human had somehow penetrated his deepest secret and thrown it into his face. "How did she know?" he grumbled under his breath. "She's just a human parasite. Yet she knew what I did all those centuries ago. How did she find out?"

A couple of diclonius minions innocently approached him as he stalked down the corridor. Without blinking, he slaughtered them in a splash of blood and body parts, absorbing their essence and power. Instantly, the King became aware of the siphoning of pieces of his kill to another source. His rage doubled. "Who dares take what is mine from my very hand within my domain?" he growled. "Someone's fighting me in secret. I must find whoever is doing this now. They're interfering with my grip on the wills of these fleas, and I'm not going to have it. First that pest, then the little girl, and now this; they've all underestimated my power. It's time for me to unleash the full force of the Fury, and cleanse this putrid planet of the contagion of humanity forever."

Minutes later, the King walked into Kakuzawa's office. He strode to the window and looked out over the smoking ruins of Kamakura. His diclonius telepathy fluctuated, growing exponentially. "She is coming," he murmured, sensing Lucy at a distance. "I can feel her. And the pest is with her too. I knew she couldn't resist coming to the rescue of one of her pets. Now I will take what is mine."

He suddenly cringed in physical pain, grabbing his belly. "What's this?" he gasped. In the same instant, he realized the pain originated deep within his own mind from a buried personality. By will alone, he forced the pain down, hissing, "A valiant effort, Rayden. But you will not interfere. Watch helplessly as I destroy your Queen, followed by your precious sister, and then this festering world. You'll be the last one I consume, seeing the end of every species of life on this miserable planet, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Now observe as I rip open the Fury and release it on this doomed planet, consuming every essence and soul, human and diclonius alike."

He looked out over Kamakura, his eyes becoming as scarlet fire. His eye's pupils and irises vanished in the crimson flames that reflected a universe in self-destruction. Raising his hands like some pagan god ready to unleash annihilation upon all he sees, the King of Furies groaned, pulling his hands together, concentrating his diclonius power between his hands. A glowing ball of black energy formed between his hands that slowly grew in size. Rolling the ball of infernal fire between his hands, he called out, "Hear me, brothers and sisters…the time has come for us, and the entire world to be one with the Collective. Come to me; join with me to release our rage on this unforgiving planet. Give yourselves to the Collective and our collective Fury! The time is now. Let the planet and all that's on it die in the blood storm of our wrath!"

The ball of black fire between his hands suddenly pulsed out, encompassing his entire body. A shriek of pain rose first as the power of the Fury penetrated every cell of his being. He doubled over, crossing his arms in front of his chest. The shriek rose into the roar of an enraged beast. Witnessing his actions from just outside the door to Kakuzawa's office without being sensed, Susan bolted, sending out a telepathic distress call to all her friends to take cover. The King abruptly absorbed the black energy of fury swirling about him, pulling every speck of it into himself. His horns suddenly grew to demoniac proportions, each nearly six inches long and curving upwards. The fingernails on the King's hands became three-inch razor claws as he grew six inches in moments. Fangs grew from both his top and bottom jaws. His face became sunken and gaunt, ashen in color: the terrible view of demoniac death incarnate.

"Ahh, horrid freedom…now I can act!" the King of Furies crowed sadistically. "Time to unleash the blood storm; I call to every diclonius fury in Japan…come to me now so I may unleash the Fury, and end this world!" He bolted to a standing position, spreading his hands wide releasing a blast of black flaming energy, its shockwave flashing out in every direction. The black energy pulse encompassed the island in seconds, killing every diclonius minion whom he had controlled. Only a handful of high-level diclonius rebels, including Susan, managed to get to safety in the core of the Lazarus lab, where the chromium, lead, and titanium-carbide alloy walls prevented the dark pulse from killing them. Every other diclonius on the island perished; their souls, power, and essence sucked out of them by the vampiric black plasma. Screams of primal agony echoed over the whole island as the infernal pulse of fury demolished the brains of nearly seventy diclonius souls. Their eyes exploded and bloody brains flowed from the eye sockets, nose, and ears of every diclonius victim. The glowing mists of their power flowed to Kakuzawa's office, and into the King of Furies.

The black pulse washed over Japan in a matter of minutes, killing every fury-deranged diclonius in the country in a similar manner. Their cries rose as a wail over the whole of Japan. Lucy, Kohta, Charlene, Draco, Bandoh, Guildo, Tanya, Dimitri, Tao, and Li Mei were cruising at top speed towards the Institute from the north when they saw the flame of Black Fury spreading out like a nuclear blast.

"What the hell is that?" Bandoh cursed, pointing to the energy wave approaching them.

"Oh shit," Guildo growled. "That looks like a physical manifestation of the Fury. Brace yourselves!"

Lucy saw the blast coming and stood up on the bow of the boat, bracing herself. She held her hand up and concentrated, clenching her fist, spinning an impenetrable vector field around the boat. The dark energy wave hit hard. Everyone's hair stood up as the electrical component of the blast crackled around Lucy's vector shield. She could feel and hear individual voices within the fury wave. Her legs buckled. "No…can't let them in. Can't reveal my power level yet," she groaned as she looked up from her knees. In seconds, the wave passed, leaving everyone untouched. However, the electricity of the pulse overloaded the skiff's engines, leaving them adrift three hundred meters from the lower docks.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Kohta asked while Guildo started looking at the engine.

She sighed heavily, retracting her vector shield. "I think so, Kohta. But many of our people will not survive that pulse. I think the King is trying to kill every diclonius in Japan to get their power."

"Why would he do that?" Charlene asked.

"To release the Fury," Bandoh growled. "His plan was to take out as many diclonius as possible and absorb enough of their power to break open the Fury so no one could stop him. That's what I would do if I were in his shoes."

"Can you sense him, Bandoh?" Tao asked.

"Yes," Bandoh hissed. "And he's very pissed. Something has happened that's sent him off the deep end."

"Is there anyone left on the island besides him?" Li Mei queried in a very worried tone.

"Yes," Lucy replied. "I can sense a handful of diclonius in the lower levels who apparently found a way to avoid the attack. But everyone else is dead. I can't even sense Mayu."

"Mayu is okay," Kohta stated. "I can feel her, though she is very weak. We need to hurry up. Guildo, are you making any progress with that engine?"

"Fuck no," Guildo hissed, disgusted. "The energy blast blew every circuit on the engine."

"Any ideas on how to get to shore?" Draco asked.

"We have a boat load of diclonius royals here," Charlene announced. "We have all the power we need, if everyone is willing to lend a vector to our cause."

"I got this," Dimitri volunteered.

"Me too," Tanya said. Within seconds, Tanya and Dimitri's vectors propelled the skiff toward the ocean docks of the Institute.

As they approached, everyone noticed a glowing haze moving towards the upper portion of the island. "Is that what I think it is?" Lucy asked about the haze.

"It is," Tao replied. "It's the essences of deceased diclonii heading toward the King."

"There's more coming from the mainland," Draco announced. "Look!" A glowing cloud rose from Kamakura, drifting slowly toward the Institute and the King of Furies.

"Oh, we have to stop this," Kohta declared. "We have to do something to keep him from swallowing all those souls or we may never stop him."

"I don't think we need to," Charlene reported. "The glowing cloud from the island is starting to split. Look, some of it is coming to us, I suspect to Lucy."

Kohta grabbed Lucy's hand, holding it as the ocean started to murmur and cry, voices echoing from the glowing fog that fell from the island. "I'm here," Kohta told Lucy as the glowing fog started to swirl around the boat, being drawn to Lucy. She squeezed his hand as the fog touched her.

In her mind, she saw what happened to each diclonius soul eradicated by the King's pulse. The souls happily attached themselves to her, being the strongest diclonius in the vicinity. "Hold me, Kohta," Lucy wheezed in pain, tears of sorrow and pain flowing. "It's like the beach. I need your help to control the release."

"Say no more," Kohta answered, drawing her into a tight embrace.

Lucy closed her eyes, clinging to Kohta as the glowing mist swirled into her. Repeatedly, she felt each diclonius' piece of the Collective snap into place with hers. By time they reached the Institute's dock, the glowing mist from the island had dissipated. Lucy shuddered violently, holding in the furies of those she absorbed. "Can't release in open," Lucy wheezed. "Kohta, help me. What do I do?"

"Send out your vectors into the water and release it underwater," Kohta urged. "It won't be as destructive, and it may conceal it somewhat."

Lucy sent out ten vectors, reaching down into the water out an incredible half a kilometer.

Guildo pulled a leather wallet out of his pocket. "Bite down on this, milady," he suggested. "It'll help as you release those furies."

Lucy instantly bit down on the wallet as Kohta held her tight. "Now let them go," Kohta ordered. "You can do it. I believe in you."

Lucy groaned, clenching the wallet between her teeth as she released the furies of forty diclonii into the sea a half a kilometer offshore of the Institute. Tears flowed, and the sea boiled over a six hundred meter diameter, killing every living thing in that area. With the release of the furies, Lucy sighed deeply, slumping in Kohta's arms. Guildo took the wallet from her lips, finding it nearly bit in two. "Thank you, captain," Lucy whispered. "That wallet helped me from screaming at the top of my lungs. I hope the King didn't see that."

"He saw it," Bandoh said coldly. "How could he not see it? You drew a significant number of his kills away. That's something he would definitely notice."

"So we can assume that he knows we're here," Kohta stated.

"Absolutely," Bandoh stated. "Now if we're done here, let's get Mayu out of here and kill that fucking prick."

Lucy looked icily at Bandoh, sensing his divided loyalties. "After you," she ordered once Guildo tied up the skiff to the dock.

"By all mean, your majesty," Bandoh replied sarcastically. "…this way."

"What about the other teams?" Draco asked.

"I don't know," Guildo answered. "They were to come in on the other side of the island. But after what that blast did to us, I'm not sure we can rely on them."

"You really think so?" Kohta asked.

"Yes, I do," Guildo answered. "But regardless of their mission, ours is to get Mayu out of here before that reactor blows. If they survived, we should run into them."

"Then let's get to it," Kohta said. "Time is not on our side. Bandoh, take us to Mayu."

"Yes sir," Bandoh answered with a middle-finger salute. "…this way."

The King of Furies absorbed the furies of his kills, knowing each one his black pulse eradicated. When the glowing mists of diclonius essences vanished, he roared, sending out a pulse of destructive telekinetic energy that opened Kakuzawa's office to the sky. The debris from the office rained down in the sea around the island. Instantly, the King discovered not all of his kills from the pulse came to him. Forty kills were missing. A vicious growl arose. He knew what it meant. "That bitch; she stole my kills! I don't have enough power to rupture the Collective now." As his thoughts went to Lucy, he sensed her very near. "Seems I underestimated your power, Lucy; but it makes no difference. Even with those souls you stole from me, I'm still far more powerful than you could ever be."

Bandoh's essence touched the King's mind. "So, you're back too, dog," the King sneered. "Now we'll see whose side you're really on. Oh, this is getting better by the moment. The bitch brought along a bunch of heavy-hitting royals to fight me. They will not succeed. I will swallow their souls myself. With their power, I'll be able to release the Fury and my brothers and sisters from their eternal prison. And I know just where to meet them." The King cackled madly, storming out of Kakuzawa's office, still unaware of the overloading power plant beneath his feet.

Deep in the Institute's reactor, the runaway fusion cycle shook the reactor core housing, melting it from the inside. Huge streamers of electricity arced from the reactor to the containment walls shielding the reactor from the rest of the Institute, same as a giant Van De Graff generator. The containment structure rumbled ominously under the bombardment from the core, its structure trembling and weakening under the overload. Radiation spiked immediately around the core containment to over 10,000 times the lethal limit. The temperature in the same area also skyrocketed to 130 degrees. The containment walls slowly melted from within, thinning under the superheated plasma arcing from the core. Hairline fractures started appearing in the six-foot reinforced concrete walls lined with four feet of chromium/lead/tungsten alloy shielding. Radioactive gas began seeping from the cracks as pressure built within the core and containment structures.

Bandoh led Lucy's team deep into the lower levels of the Institute in search of Mayu's cell. Dead diclonius with their eye missing with the bloody pulp of their brains oozing out of their eye sockets, nose, mouth, and ears greeted them. Bandoh frowned at the sight, realizing his plan was forfeit. He would now have to improvise to get his revenge.

"Dear god," Guildo breathed as they strode over the bodies of dozens of the dead. "It looks like their brains exploded."

"That it does," Bandoh replied coldly. He suddenly stopped at an intersection in the corridors. "Here is where we must split up. I'm certain now, seeing the dead here, that our other teams aren't coming. Someone needs to go to the reactor core to see if there's any stopping it. Now who's going to do it?"

"That's a death sentence for whoever goes in that direction," Kohta growled. "And we don't have the gear for it. It was with Jericho's team."

"Makes no difference," Bandoh retorted. "If you want to get the kid out of here, someone has to try and at least slow down the overload."

"I'll go," Guildo said grimly. "I'm familiar with the Institute's reactor system because the Kraken's reactor was modeled after it."

"I'll go too," Draco replied. "…to watch your back."

"Dimitri and I will come with you, captain," Tanya volunteered.

"You should go with Lucy," Guildo retorted. "They may need you more than I."

"Nonsense," Dimitri answered. "In Russia, I was a nuclear technician. You may need my expertise."

"Enough of this," Lucy snapped. "Tanya and Dimitri will go with you, captain. We haven't time to argue about it."

"Yes, my queen," Guildo replied softly.

Bandoh pointed down the left corridor. "The reactor core is that way. Follow the signs. Even you can't miss it."

Lucy slugged Bandoh with a vector. "Enough of that sarcasm, you pig. Take us to Mayu now."

"As you wish," Bandoh growled, rubbing his jaw.

"If we don't make it back," Guildo said, "I'd like to say it's been an honor to know you and Master Kohta, my Queen. May Izanami protect us all."

"Same here," the rest of Guildo's makeshift team chimed in.

"Don't say such things," Lucy growled. "You'll come back."

"Let's go, people!" Bandoh snapped. "Mayu is waiting."

Lucy nodded as Guildo's team disappeared down the corridor as the lights started flicking. "He isn't coming back," Kohta said as they followed Bandoh straight across the corridor intersection.

"I don't know," Lucy replied. "The Fury is so thick in here that I'm having trouble staying focused."

"Tell me about it," Kohta agreed.

In minutes, Bandoh led them into the maximum-security cellblock just outside of the Lazarus Labs. The corridor expanded into a cavernous passageway twenty feet high and wide, stretching into the darkness. Huge steel doors weighing dozens of tons lay broken on their hinges, many with the sharp edges where the diclonius prisoners broke out of their confinements. The decomposing bodies of the original guards lay scattered everywhere, the blood splatters having turned black. The stink made Kohta gag briefly. Lucy grimaced at the odor, moving on.

"Oh man," Tao commented. "They really did a number down here."

"This is just what the prisoners did to their guards," Bandoh hissed. "The worst atrocities took place in the Lazarus Labs."

"Where is Mayu?" Lucy demanded.

"Why can't you see for yourself?" Bandoh chided. "She is in the only cell not damaged down here. It's the deepest cell, sitting right next to the Lazarus Lab."

"Stop stalling, Bandoh," Kohta roared, feeling a flush of anger. "You'd better take us there now or I'll kill you myself!"

"Shut up, little man," Bandoh growled. "…and keep your threats to yourself. Haven't you figured it out yet? Shit, you're such an idiot. Just look around you…this is a place of the dead, a necropolis of the damned. In these cells, Kakuzawa committed the most heinous crimes imaginable against the diclonius. If I might be so bold, this is as close to hell as you can get without dying. I should know, since you killed me once before, you little prick."

"Why you arrogant bastard!" Charlene hissed, her ire rising. "You have no right to talk to Master Kohta that way."

Bandoh stopped in his tracks, wheeling around on his heel. His face reddened with rage. Stabbing an accusing finger at Kohta, he roared, "I have every right to speak to him that way. He killed me with my own gun, goddamn it! I have a score to settle with him for that shot. So don't speak to me about how I talk to this little shit!"

Tao, Li Mei, Lucy gathered around Kohta as the confrontation ensued. Lucy's eyes glowed with growing rage. "What did I tell you on the ship, you arrogant prick?" Lucy growled icily at Bandoh.

"And you, bitch," Bandoh snapped. "Don't think I've forgotten all the shit you did to me, either. By all that is holy, I'll see both of you dead for what you did to me!"

Li Mei saw the Fury slowly poisoning her friends. "Please," she begged, getting between Lucy, Kohta, and Bandoh. "Now is not the time for this! You friend Mayu is depending on us to get her out of here before this place explodes."

"Get out of the way, Li Mei," Lucy demanded; her tone reflective of her growing anger. "His arrogance stops here."

Kohta gasped in epiphany. "Wait!" he shouted. "Everyone stop!"

"Why should we?" Bandoh hissed, ready to fight. "Let's get it on!"

"Yeah, Kohta," Lucy agreed. "We need to put him down now."

"No we don't," Kohta disagreed. Turning to Bandoh, he said, "Bandoh's right, Lucy. He has legitimate gripes with both of us. It doesn't bother me that he speaks to me as if I were a dog. What does bother me is that we're standing here, mere steps away from freeing Mayu and we're about to kill each other. The Fury is doing this. It's poisoning us as I speak."

"Master Kohta is right," Tao stated grimly. "We all know Bandoh is unstable, and that he'll try to provoke you any chance he gets, Lucy. But you must not bite on his barbs. We have a job to do. The King is very, very close. In fact, he may be orchestrating this fight. Let's turn it back on him by not fighting each other."

"You're a wise man, Tao," Lucy admitted. "Yes, I can see it now." She turned her attention to Bandoh. "You son of a bitch," she cursed. "I made you a promise to leave you alone forever if you helped us get Mayu out of here. Now you act like you're trying to betray us, trying to get us to let our guards down to the Fury. You have failed, Bandoh. We're not going to fight you, nor let the Fury infect us. Now where is Mayu's cell? We have precious little time left to get her out of here."

Bandoh cursed under his breath, seeing his plan unraveling. "Not going to fight, huh? You'll regret that decision." He pointed his finger to the far end of the cavernous passage. "Mayu is in that cell down at the end, next to the entrance to the Lazarus Labs."

At that moment, an explosion rocked the whole complex, knocking everyone to the floor. The lights flickered, going out for a few crucial seconds. The backup lights came on, bathing everything in a hellish red glow. "What was that?" Kohta asked.

"I don't know," Charlene replied. "But I'm betting the overload just knocked out the main power to this place. These are backup lights."

"Where's Bandoh?" Li Mei asked, noticing his absence.

"Shit!" Lucy growled. "He's gone, probably to betray us to the King."

"And we didn't suspect that? Let him. He's not what we came in here for," Kohta insisted, looking at his watch. "We have forty minutes before this place blows. Let's just get Mayu and get the fuck out of here."

Lucy nodded. "Let's do it." They raced to the last cell where Bandoh had indicated Mayu was being kept. The massive seven-foot thick vault door hung partially open. "I don't like this." Lucy hissed.

"Me neither," Charlene agreed as they gathered at the entrance.

Mayu hung ten feet off the floor in a cocooning restraint with a helmet covering her head. A spotlight shined down on her position from above. Kohta saw her and gasped. "Oh my god, she's wrapped up like a spider's dinner!" he cried, his heart breaking at her suffering. "Is this how you were bound when you were here, Lucy?"

Lucy saw it and cursed, the scene bringing back bitter memories of her own imprisonment at the Institute. "Yes, Kohta, it is. He's going to pay for this in blood," Lucy snarled.

When she stepped toward the door, Tao restrained her gently. "Hold on, Lucy. This may be a trap. We don't know if she's even alive. Let me go first."

Lucy saw utter dedication to her in Tao's eyes, and nodded. "Be careful," Lucy said softly. "This doesn't feel right."

Li Mei stepped up beside Tao. She looked him in the eye, and he nodded. They stepped just inside the door. "Mayu, Mayu, can you hear me?" Li Mei called out as Tao scanned the shadows.

Kohta and Lucy held their breath for a few moments, fearing the worst. Mayu's head lifted and she called out weakly, "Don't come in here. It's a trap."

Kohta pushed by Lucy into the cell. "Mayu, we've come to take you home!" Kohta announced.

"No, Kohta…run away! He means to kill everyone and everything! Don't mind me. Save yourself!" Mayu begged.

"We're not leaving without you, Mayu," Lucy called out, moving into the cell as Charlene stood guard outside.

A mocking laughter rose from all directions, sending everyone into a defensive stance. Kohta and Lucy kept their power levels concealed as the laughter grew more menacing. "The little bitch is right," a menacing gravelly voice rumbled. "You should not have come here. But I knew you'd come. Your desire to save this pathetic human scum has been your undoing, Lucy."

"Show yourself, you wretch!" Kohta roared. "Or are you afraid to face us?"

"I fear no being of this universe," the voice answered. "Especially not a pestilent little parasite like you; now you will pay for turning the Queen against me."

"I think not," Lucy retorted. "Looks like you were right, Kohta. His arrogance is his Achilles' heel. We've come to take Mayu away from here, and put an end to your nightmare, Rayden. I know you're in there, Rayden. Fight the fiend who possessed you at the village. Fight him and help us return balance to the Collective."

The King of Furies stepped from the shadows, standing in front of Mayu. Gasps of horror escaped every lip except for Lucy, who steeled herself mentally. Seconds later, the cell door closed with a clang, sealing in Lucy, Kohta, Tao, and Li Mei. Charlene desperately tried to stop the door, but was unable to arrest its movement. "You foolish little bitch," the King snapped. "Rayden cannot help you, and neither will your friends. I will kill each one of you and when I absorb your souls, I'll be strong enough to rip the Collective to pieces. The Fury will take every soul on this planet and finally, the contagion of humanity will be eradicated. I am what you were meant to be, Lucy…death incarnate. So you might as well submit. Your death can be quick and painless, or brutal and very painful. The choice is yours. But I suggest you chose the first option because you are no match for me. You never were, nor will be."

Lucy felt her rage blossoming like a solar eruption. However, it was not the rage of the Fury, but the grief and rage of Izanami, and of all those diclonius who came to her. Lucy trembled, clenching her teeth and fists in righteous indignation. "That's right, Lucy. Give in to your Fury. You cannot fight it. No one can save you from us. It's your destiny."

Tao and Li Mei gathered behind Lucy and Kohta, one on each side. "We are with you, my Queen," Tao reassured her.

"Silence, worm," the King snapped. He lashed out with a powerful vector strike aimed at Tao's head.

In the blink of an eye, Lucy sliced the vector off with one of hers. "There will be none of that," she growled. "These are my friends. Touch them again, and I will show you the real meaning of pain."

The King howled in pain, his sheared vector retracting. "You bitch! You will regret that." He launched a vicious attack of twenty vectors, aimed at destroying Lucy.

"I don't think so, you prick," Kohta shouted, jumping in front of Lucy, using his vectors to stop the assault cold.

"What the fuck?" the King cursed. "How did you stop my attack?"

"Like this," Kohta replied in a stony tone. "Now!" Everyone launched a coordinated vector strike. A wave of 100 powerful vectors washed toward the King of Furies, catching him off guard. The first ones hit him, throwing him back away from Mayu. He crashed against the wall with a thud. The other vectors descended upon him in a writhing mass that seemed to swallow him. A roar rose, followed by a flash. The King stood back up, knocking all vectors away in a brutal fashion. The telekinetic shockwave hit Lucy, Kohta, Tao, and Li Mei, throwing them against the cell wall, stunning them.

"What a pathetic attack," the King cackled madly, genuinely amused at the attack. "A valiant effort to be sure, but as you can see, it's in vain. I have the power of ages at my disposal. You pests are just insects under my boot."

"Oh yeah?" Kohta growled, rising to his feet. "Then why am I still standing?"

Lucy stood up, glancing at Tao and Li Mei, who were out cold. "You still don't get it," Lucy moaned, grasping her throbbing ribs. "We don't have to kill to survive. We cannot kill all of the humans. We're the same species. Without them, our species will die too."

The King laughed Lucy to scorn. "You foolish little bitch," he said, "Whoever said that I wanted only to kill humans? You are correct in assuming that humans and diclonius are forever connected. So, since the diclonius are human as well, they must die too. The contagion of the human genome will be purged from this planet by my hand. Justice will be served and my true brothers and sisters will rise to take your place."

"And who might they be?" Kohta demanded.

"Your primitive mind cannot comprehend who they are," the King growled. "It will only be swallowed by them. Now, putrid human, it's time to die."

"Bring it, demon," Kohta returned, settling into a defensive position.

"I could just kill you outright, but where would the fun be in that," the King stated in an icy tone, yet amused by Kohta's challenge. "Let me show you and Lucy the true reach of my power." He raised his hands and called out, "Rise, my minions, and rip the Queen and her friends to tiny bits!" A banging rattled the cell door, which suddenly pulled open. Charlene stood in the doorway with ten other high-level diclonii, Susan among them. They glared at the King with blood lust in their eyes. "Destroy the Queen and her friends!" the King roared. When they just stood here, staring at him in all their hate, he clenched his fist, shrieking, "Destroy them, or be destroyed, maggots!"

Susan stepped beside Kohta and Lucy. "We will not!" Susan snarled defiantly, stabbing an accusing finger at the King. "You're not the King. We serve the Queen and her King, Master Kohta! Now release Mayu or we'll take her from you!"

The King of Furies rage went nuclear. "How dare you betray me like this? I am the King of the Diclonius Universe!"

"No, you are not!" Lucy shouted. "I am the Queen of the Diclonius Universe and only I can choose my King. I told you I'd never be your Queen and meant it. Kohta is my choice. He is my King! It's time to shed the masks and let Izanami's light shine in this darkness. Show him, Kohta."

"With pleasure," Kohta chimed viciously, revealing his full diclonius essence as Lucy revealed her full power to the King of Furies.

The King's face fell with dismay and fear. No doubt remained in the King's mind that Kohta was not just a human, but also a hybrid with the power of the King of all Diclonius. Furthermore, he realized the vastness of Lucy's power as the true Queen. She no longer was a fearful diclonius girl with a fractured mind, but a single being who had accessed the power of the Collective as the true Queen. Together with Kohta, the King knew his chances of successfully beating them in a battle dropped dramatically. Quickly adopting a new strategy, the King retreated, taking Mayu hostage. He yanked her down from the suspension cables with his vectors, and grabbed her by the throat with his clawed hand. "You will not beat me," he hissed. "Surrender or I'll rip this little pet of yours to bits in front of you."

Lucy's greatest fear came to fruition with the King's act. Her mind went to the day she first used to her vectors to kill; the day Tomo and his so-called friends killed her puppy in front of her. She watched Tomo beat her puppy to death with a lamp while his friends held her back, taunting her. She snapped, killing the three bullies with her vectors, slicing them to pieces. Never again, she thought, her mind coming back to the present. Her eyes blazed with hatred of the King. "Coward, you're just like Tomo and every other worthless piece of shit that torments others because they're different. Let her go. This is between you and me."

"Don't give up!" Mayu cried. "Don't worry about me. Kill him before he kills us all!"

"We can't," Kohta replied, infuriated at the cowardly move on the King's part. "If we let him kill you, he wins."

"You're wrong, bitch," the King hissed, scratching Mayu's throat, drawing just a little bit of blood. "You're the reason she is here. If you hadn't turned against me and your kind, I wouldn't have needed her to insure your cooperation."

"Let her go, you coward!" Charlene shouted. "You cannot force your will on us any longer!"

"I can, and I will!" the King retorted, lashing out with a swarm of vectors without warning. "You will all die now!" His move caught everyone off guard. Lucy and Kohta barely managed to protect themselves, Tao, and Li Mei, whom they stood over. But the vectors took out every other diclonius except for Charlene and Susan. Charlene took a nasty hit while trying to protect Susan and those behind her. The hit knocked her against the wall, crushing her lower spine, rendering her unconscious. Susan likewise managed to dodge the lethal hit, but her leg snapped in three places when she crashed to the floor. The other, less fortunate diclonius flew apart, dismembered in seconds with an explosion of blood and body parts. Blood splattered over the walls as their pieces fell to the floor like rain. The glowing mists of their essences, however, didn't flow to the King of Furies, but to Lucy and Kohta: their true Queen and King. When the King of Furies saw them absorbing his kills, his eyes grew wide and his fury grew to infinite proportions. "No…this is not possible! They are mine!" he roared. His focus fluctuated wildly, his rage distracting him.

"They were never yours," Lucy hissed as the last of the diclonius essences flowed into her and Kohta.

Without warning, a swarm of vectors came out of the darkness, snatching Mayu from the clutches of the King while cutting off his arms. Blood spurted from the stumps of the King's arms. A shriek of pain erupted from the King as Mayu disappeared into the darkness. A fraction of a second later, Lucy and Kohta released the furies of the diclonius essences they absorbed with brutal efficiency. A concentrated burst of blazing fury pulsed directly at the King, sending him flying against the far wall, briefly stunning him.

"Who did that?" Lucy snapped after releasing the pulse, looking around wildly for Mayu.

"I did," a gruff, familiar voice called from the dark. Seconds later, Bandoh appeared next to the door with Mayu in his arms. Another explosion rocked the Institute, shaking the cell violently. "We need to beat our feet out of here," Bandoh urged. "We've gotten what we came for."

"No one's going anywhere," the King snarled, rising to his feet, "least of all you, you traitorous dog. You're so dead!" One concentrated vector shot from the King, aimed at Bandoh and Mayu. Lucy sheared the vector off with her vector as Bandoh counterattacked with his own vectors. Bandoh's vectors plunged through the King's chest, severing his spine and knocking a baseball-sized hole all the way through him.

"I don't think so," Bandoh replied icily, retracting his vector. "You're done, King. You should have never awakened me. Now I've killed you."

A wicked smile crossed the King's face as he stood still for a moment, blood gushing from his chest wound. "On the contrary, you fucking dog, you've freed me. By killing me, you have ruptured the Fury. Only a hybrid could rupture the Collective. It's now free to destroy this world, thanks to your stupidity." Blood gushed from his mouth and he slumped to the floor, stone dead.

A rumble rose as a ball of black energy rose from the King's corpse. "Oh shit," Kohta growled. "This is not good."

Lucy turned a furious eye to Bandoh, snatching Mayu from his grasp with her vectors. "You fool; you may have doomed us all! You fell right into his trap! The only chance we had of containing the Fury was to deal with it while it was inside him. That's why I was supposed to kill him. Only I could kill him without rupturing the Collective! But now you've destroyed his body and freed a plague that is next to impossible to stop! Idiot…because you killed him directly, you get to absorb his essence and take his place!"

"Fuck me sideways!" Bandoh cursed. "I should've known he would trick me like that." The black energy sent out a tendril of dark fog, snaring Bandoh. When it touched him, he turned to Lucy. With a look of desperation, he said, "I think I have one last trick up my sleeve for this prick. Seems he wants me as his vessel. But I'm like Kohta, a hybrid. I might be able to hold him here long enough for you to escape, but you must cut off my arms and legs so I cannot leave. This will be our graves…his and mine. Maybe by doing this, I can get some satisfaction and peace."

"You mean to hold the Fury in check until this place blows?" Kohta asked.

"I do," Bandoh replied as the black fog swirled up his legs to his waist. "Now be quick. I'm sorry for all the trouble I gave you. Please, do it. I can feel the rage starting to build."

Lucy nodded. "Very well, Bandoh. May you find peace, wherever you go." She punched his pineal gland first, scrambling it, and then she shut down his pain receptors before removing his limbs with cauterizing cuts from her vectors. Catching him with her vectors when she removed his limbs, she gently set him down.

"Thank you, Lucy," Bandoh said gratefully. "Now go, you crazy bitch! Get the fuck out of here!"

"Let's go," Lucy ordered, picking up Susan and Charlene with her vectors.

Kohta picked up Tao and Li Mei, and then turned to Bandoh as the black fog swirled up to his neck, and the black ball of energy over the King's corpse continued to grow. "Bandoh, I misjudged you, and I'm sorry."

"Get the fuck out of here, Kohta," Bandoh pleaded. "Go and don't look back!"

Lucy grabbed Kohta by the arm. "We have to move, Kohta." With that, they fled the cell with their wounded. On their way out, they encountered fully functional zombified diclonius corpses, animated by the King's power. The zombie diclonius viciously attacked them, without success because the King no longer controlled them. Lucy and Kohta plowed through them, using their vectors like scythes to cut down the animated corpses. Body parts and blood splattered everywhere. They turned a corner, running into Draco and Tanya. Both were nursing heavy injuries and burns with Tanya leaning heavily on Draco.

"Guildo?" Kohta asked Draco.

Draco shook his head. "Guildo and Dimitri were separated in an explosion and collapse that nearly killed us," he reported. "We don't know if he's alive or dead. But this place is going to blow in five minutes. There's no stopping it."

"We're not going to make it, are we?" Kohta asked.

"Not if we keep flapping our jaws," Lucy hissed. "Come on!"

They raced to the docks, slaughtering every zombie diclonius they encountered. Explosions rocked the facility with ever-greater frequency and magnitude. Chunks of the ceiling began falling as the Institute shook violently. When they reached the docks, their hopes were dashed. The boat had been demolished by falling pieces of the structure over the pier.

"No," Kohta moaned, "What do we do now?"

"There's no escape without the boat," Tanya announced.

"We're not dead yet," Lucy replied. "I fell off the 787 bridge after being shot and survived. We must swim for it. Go, everyone in the water!" She pushed Draco and Tanya in as Kohta jumped in with Tao and Li Mei. Lucy looked back one last time at the Institute, and then looked at Mayu, who remained cocooned in her restraints. "Are you ready, Mayu?"

"Yes, Lucy," Mayu replied. "I trust you with my life."

"I hope that trust isn't misplaced," Lucy murmured, jumping to the sea.

"I know it isn't," Mayu said confidently. "You came for me. I know you won't let me drown."

Lucy smiled, feeling her confidence rise with Mayu's faith in her. With that, Lucy started swimming carrying Mayu, Charlene, and Susan with her vectors, following Kohta, Draco, and Tanya.

Back in Mayu's cell, Bandoh fought against the parasitic Fury that was engulfing him, using the only weapon he had left: his will. The King of Furies struggled to possess Bandoh's body, Bandoh's mind locked in mortal combat with the alien King for control of Bandoh's dying body. "Why do you resist me?" the King hissed, "You can get your revenge if you only stop resisting."

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Bandoh growled, grappling with the King. "You played me for a chump. Now you're going to pay for it. All I need is to hold you here just long enough for the reactor to…"

The King's last words were "Goddamned, I've been tricked by a mongrel dog!" The temperature of the Institute went nuclear as the core ruptured. The heat flash pulsed out, vaporizing everything in its path, including Bandoh, the King of Furies, and his corpse.

On the Chimera, Fargo, Ron, Saito, Emperor Watanabe, Elle Eldritch, Mina, Nana, Suko, Miss Karosuma, Chris, and Phillip watched the Institute on the holographic viewer in Fargo's ready room. "Oh man, where are they?" Saito asked. "This is cutting it way too close."

Smoke billowed from the main structure as explosions rocked the island. "Please god," Suko prayed. "Let them be all right."

Fireballs rose into the sky from various parts of the Institute. "We must believe," Fargo commented, his tone betraying his worry. Suddenly, darkness fell within the souls of every diclonius on the Chimera. "Oh no," Fargo moaned. "Something's gone dreadfully wrong. The Fury is loose! The Collective is ruptured! They were supposed to contain it, not free it."

"I feel it too," Karosuma replied, her shaking voice betraying her fear. "But it's not spreading. Something is holding it in check."

"Is it Lucy?" Saito asked.

"No," Fargo replied. "It's something else."

"I feel Lucy!" Nana blurted out, pointing to the hologram with her new prosthetic arm and hand. "She's in the water!"

"Find her," Fargo barked to Ron.

"I'm on it," Ron replied, zooming in on the water around the Institute. However, before he could get close enough to see anything small as a person in the water, the Institute exploded in a ball of black flame that encompassed the entire structure. A fraction of a second later, a blinding light blasted through the black fire, obliterating it, and causing the holograph to sizzle and vanish.

"Oh god no," Emperor Watanabe cried.

"Get that view back now!" Fargo demanded.

"I'm trying, captain," Ron growled. The lights on the Chimera went out as the ship pitched violently from a powerful shockwave.

"Hold on to something!" Fargo shouted in the darkness. The sounds of items crashing to the floor, including people echoed throughout the room. Seconds later, the power came back up, revealing everything and everyone tossed around like rag dolls. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'll live," Saito answered.

"Me too," Phillip agreed. Within a minute, Fargo found no one injured.

"Can you get the picture back, Ron?" Fargo asked.

"I'll try, captain," Ron replied.

Pressing on the communications' console, Fargo asked, "Bridge, is there any damage?"

"No sir," Hans replied through the speaker. "We were fortunate. That was a thermonuclear detonation. Our distance and depth shielded us from the worst of the blast."

"We have only some bumps and bruises down in sick bay," Dr. Ravenclaw called in.

"Thank goodness," Fargo answered. "How's everything in Engineering?"

"Engineering reports that they'll have main power back up in twenty minutes," Hans reported.

"Very good," Fargo said. Turning to Chris, he ordered, "Have the recon teams on immediate standby. We must find Lucy."

"Yes sir," Chris replied, leaving the room.

"I have a picture," Ron called out. "It's not a good one, but we can see."

"Put it up," Fargo ordered.

Ron put the view up and everyone's hearts fell into their shoes. In the holographic image, they saw an enormous mushroom cloud rising over Kamakura and the Institute.

"Oh no," Elle cried, covering her mouth. "They're gone. They were too late!" Tears run down her cheeks. Nana broke into uncontrollable sobs. Mina, tears in her eyes, tried to console Nana.

Fargo suddenly gasped. "She did it," he whispered.

"Did what?" Saito asked.

"The Fury isn't loose any longer," Fargo said. "A hush has fallen over the planet. It's as if the Fury has been stunned. It's not raging like it was just before the explosion."

"Yes, I can feel it too," Karosuma agreed. "There's this eerie silence where the Fury once was."

"The Queen and her King sacrificed themselves to calm the diclonius Fury," Emperor Watanabe announced.

Nana cried deeply, sobbing over her lost family. "It's not fair!" she wailed. "Why must my friends always die?"

Then, deep in Nana's mind, a voice called to her. "Do not grieve, little silpelit," the voice echoed softly. "Follow your heart and you will find the truth of my power. Look twenty kilometers south of the Institute."

The shock of hearing the voice in her head caused her to stop crying. The light of hope returned so strong that Fargo asked, "What's wrong, Nana?"

"Can you take that thing and look twenty kilometers south of the island, captain?" she asked urgently.

Fargo raised an eyebrow, feeling a prick of hope rising in his heart. "You heard the lady, Ron," he ordered. "Do it."

Ron scanned the ocean twenty kilometers south of the Institute. The image cleared somewhat as he zoomed in on the churning sea. "I have something, captain."

"Zoom in," Fargo barked.

Ron zoomed in until the wreckage of a boat came into view. Everyone gasped, seeing people clinging to the wreckage.

"It's Lucy!" Nana blurted out. "I know it!"

"By the Collective," Fargo swore, seeing the figures resolve into Lucy, Kohta, and several others of their team, including a little girl of no more than fourteen years.

Tears flooded out of Nana's eyes upon seeing the little girl. "It's Mayu! She's alive! They're all alive!"

"Are they?" Fargo asked. "Ron, can you tell from here?"

"No, captain," Ron replied, working the console feverishly. "I might have before the blast, but not now. We're lucky to have a picture at all. What I do know is they are very lucky. The prevailing winds today are from the south and very strong because of an incoming storm, so the radiation and fallout is being blown to the north."

Fargo pushed the communicator button. "Chris, get the Chimera moving as fast as you can. We found Lucy and Master Kohta."

"What's the heading?" Chris replied. "South by southwest, 190 mark 85 at twenty kilometers. They're clinging to a wrecked boat. Have the rescue team ready for extraction."

"Aye, captain," Chris returned. "We have only partial power, but it should be enough to move us that distance without any trouble."

"How long," Fargo asked.

"It'll take about an hour, sir," Chris said.

"Make all speed to those coordinates, Chris," Fargo replied. "We need to reach them before the storm breaks on them."

"Aye, sir," Chris answered. The ship shuddered as the engines fired up, and the ship began moving.

"We're going to get them, Nana," Fargo said.

Nana beamed and hugged Fargo gratefully. "Thank you, Captain."

"No, thank you," Fargo stated with a smile. "The ocean is a very big place. Without your inspiration of where to look, we may have never have found them."

"I hope they're alive when we get there," Saito murmured. "We still need them."

"They're going to be all right," Nana chimed confidently. Yet a hint of hesitation in her voice betrayed a deep-seated fear. "They have to be."

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A/N: This is it, the rescue of Mayu. Lucy, Kohta, and their friends managed to rescue Mayu, avert the blood storm, and escape the island just before it exploded. Bandoh finally showed his true colors and came through, making the ultimate sacrifice to allow Lucy, Kohta, and their friends to escape. But they are adrift in the Pacific with a storm bearing down on them. Will Fargo rescue them before the storm reaches them? Moreover, has the breech in the Collective truly been sealed, or is the Fury just stunned, giving our heroes a brief reprieve? Keep reading to find out. The saga of the Requiem is quickly coming to a close.

As always, reviews are welcome. Be honest, but kind in your reviews. Merry Christmas.

Beowulf Caverias