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.

37. Man on a mission

NEW: I now have a discord server for fans of GC and my works to hang out and talk about the future of my stories:

discord . gg/EcF823z

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I am back, everyone. Sorry for the long break. There is a reason for that as I got a job in summer and got somewhat busy, but now I got fired just recently so I am back at square one. But it ain't that bad because I hated it anyway and am happy I don't have to bother with it anymore, so there is that which is nice.

Since it's been a while since my last update, I will have to fill you in on something regarding the story. Realizing that it might be hard to imagine how big the actual battlefield is and where all the key players are in it, I have tried to make a rough map of the quarantine area for you to give yourself a rough idea in case you are interested. I previously stated that the quarantine area was merely the Tokyo prefecture, but upon checking it out, I realized that the Tokyo prefecture is actually pretty small and doesn't even contain most of the locations in this story. In actually, the quarantine area contains Tokyo, Chiba, parts of Kanagawa and (if I can read maps correctly) a bit of Saitama as well. You may think that that's quite big of an area, but the Mananites did spread out quite a lot during the early outbreak so the government didn't have a choice but to make sure contamination wouldn't spread. They didn't know that Genesis weren't carriers of the apocalypse virus, after all. If you are curious, you can check out the map on my patr*on or my facebook page.

My patr*on: patr*on dot com /GKOS (missing letter is an e)

Facebook: facebook dot com /GuiltyKingOumaShu

Quick shoutout to Anubhav for being the 300th reviewer. Thanks for your support, I appreciate it and am glad you like my grey in grey GC universe :D

And sorry, Guest, if there aren't enough Yahiro x Ayase interactions. I kind of never expected them to become a thing, let alone something that gets requested so much. I will see what I can do about that.

I will leave the rest of my A/N for after the chapter, so have fun reading now.

Word count: 15.139 words

Enjoy!

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37. Man on a mission

Ah, the early evening.

Some people would claim it to be the very best part of the day. The moment you would sign out of work, get into your preferred option of vehicular transport and tell the god of unpaid overtime: "Not today!" while flipping him the bird to the beat of your favorite song.

Indeed, it was satisfying to return home after a day of hard work, knowing that you had earned your peace and freedom for the day.

In any part of a civilized country, that might have been true.

But not so in Tokyo.

The streets of the locked down capital of Japan had been mostly quiet for the past few weeks, with only a few cars driving around or a couple of SDF vehicles patrolling. Today, however, the population of Tokyo had decided that they would have none of that. There would be no peace, no backing down until the military would come clean with the public and give them answers regarding the claims of Ouma Shu they had all been listening to earlier that day.

And so, thousands of citizens had gathered at Narita airport in protest, raising signs at least as high as they had with their enraged voices. They demanded to see their loved ones, their sisters, brothers, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and friends now that they had seen visual proof that they could still be alive.

The military, on the other side, could do little but try to send them away. Soldiers had climbed on towers and used megaphones in a vain attempt to calm down the masses, to convince them to go home and wait for more information in the news.

All it did was add fuel to the fire, though.

From high above, camouflaged with the help of an infiltration cloak and airborne thanks to Ayase's void, Shu overlooked the stage he had set a couple of hours ago with folded arms. To some, he would have appeared as the mastermind of an evil ploy, rubbing his hands together with mischievous glee. To others, he might have appeared like a puppet master, letting his marionettes dance to his entertainment. Then there were those who could possibly have viewed him as a ghost. A vengeful spirit looking down on the souls it would prey upon. And then there were those who might even have thought of him as god himself overlooking his dear, yet dumb sheep.

He was neither of that, but was it of little difference to him. He would let people think of him whatever they so desired as long as they would never forget one thing:

That he was king.

And as king, he did not welcome people who would not acknowledge him. He wasn't a king that asked much of his vassals. They didn't have to like him, didn't have to bow, heck, they didn't even have to go into battle with him if they didn't want to. But when he told people to stay out of his way, he demanded that they followed that order at least.

The military refused to do as such. He had asked of them to capitulate. He had not received a capitulation. But such was hardly surprising, he mused. They were led by the stubborn old fart of a general that had previously refused to cooperate with him against Da'ath back when he had kindly asked him to do so. The king narrowed down his eyes and looked down at the control tower of the airport where he assumed General Iwamoto to be.

This time, he wouldn't ask.

His gaze went back to the countless citizens of Tokyo that had answered his call to arms and had rallied up to free their beloved friends and family members.

Well, it hadn't been as much a call to arms as it had been a simple provocation. Either way, it had fulfilled the same purpose.

The king knew firsthand that uniting people under you wasn't easy. Many factors played into their willingness to follow you. People, after all, were individualists, every single one of them entirely unique in what they thought and cared about. Many leaders today tried unifying this mess of a demographic with the help of political parties. Factions over factions of different parties struggling to get the majority of the people they tried to rule behind them. And yet, it was a futile struggle for there was not a single party which could possibly bring them all together. And there never would be.

That was when Shu couldn't help but smirk knowingly as he overlooked his small army of civilians.

He had done it. He had managed to unite the entirety of Tokyo by finding the one thing everyone of them had had in common.

Lost Christmas. The first as well as the second coming of it. And not to mention the fourth apocalypse as a whole.

It didn't matter whether you were religious or an atheist, whether you were vegan or not, whether you were Asian, white, black or something in between, whether you were old or young, male or female.

Everyone had lost someone during that day or the following apocalypses. And everyone wanted their lost ones back. And so, they had all gathered up before the SDF.

To be honest, Shu was quite surprised that it had happened so soon after his speech at noon. He had originally assumed people would need time to organize a protest so he had planned to give them a day or two to do so, but then he saw the news and how more and more people were leaving their houses in order to march into the direction of Narita airport. It didn't even matter if they came from the opposite side of Tokyo and couldn't ride public transport. Somehow or another, they had managed to come here by now, merely 8 hours after his announcement.

There had been no planning. No organization. No announcements on the social media. Everyone had just decided to come here as soon as they had seen the message by themselves and steadily, the groups of individual protesters had united into the group of activists laying siege of the airport before him.

It was downright amazing, to be honest. It showed that certain things really could mold people together in a matter of seconds.

"How does it look, Shu? Are there enough people yet?" He could hear Hare's curious voice resounding in his head, coming from the small crystal he held in his hand.

"More than enough. We might actually be able to go for it tonight rather than tomorrow. This is good. Very good." He told her with a pleased smile, still overlooking the situation contently.

"The snipers are in position and await your command, my king. We can commence any time you see fit." Jun informed him respectfully.

"Good job. If this goes smoothly, we will be done before we even break a sweat over here." The king said as he looked over his shoulder to see a small group of his fighters hiding on the roof of the highest building around. Not all of them had been equipped with actual sniper rifles, but the ones who hadn't, had other means of sniping, such as voids that enhanced their vision or aim or guided their projectiles one way or another to ensure long-range support. He also knew that there were several such groups scattered around Narita airport. One located to the south on the roof of a multi-story parking lot, another one to the southwest on the roof of a medium sized apartment complex and one more on the roof of a huge hotel building in the north.

He hadn't bothered to post troops to the east of Narita as the gathering of civilians would have been weak anyway. There was nothing but rural provinces in that direction up to the point in which you would hit the quarantine walls, so there was nothing to be expected to come from there anyway. Luckily, the few people that had come from the east had had enough common sense to group up with people coming from the other parts of the city at least, thus making his job of protecting them easier.

The majority had gathered up to the north, where he was at. Luckily enough, the north also had the best vantage point for his snipers to cover them, so all was going well so far. The troops to the south and west were only stationed there in case of emergency anyway. He doubted they would get to do much if everything went as smoothly as he had planned it to.

"There is one more thing, Shu. While you were preparing everything for the strike against the SDF, I was contacted by a certain individual that claims he has met the queen and has sworn allegiance to her." Jun continued his report.

"Hoh? Who is it?"

The brunette man could almost sense his friend frown on the other end.

"He goes by the name of Kyoma Ichiyo, although he is also known as Kyoma the undying, or Kyoma the immortal."

"That's quite the redundant title, given how everyone in the void realm must have been immortal to an extent, no? Unless he acquired that title recently, that is."

"No, he got it in the void realm, alright." Jimmy suddenly spoke to him, sounding somewhat bitter. I've fought him before. He is told to have never died even once during the war, even surviving the most deadly of injuries inflicted upon him. As a result, he has a multitude of scary looking scars all over his body. He was an enemy many a soldier feared to oppose due to the rumors surrounding him and his appearance."

"Interesting, so what does he say?" Shu wanted to know.

"He claims to be the leader of the former Mananite clan called Retribution, which is odd, since it was supposed to be led by one of Tsutsugami Gai's lieutenants." Jun told him while probably checking some of his documents to confirm he wasn't feeding his king false information.

"It might be possible that the clan hierarchy was shuffled around after Gai's death." Jimmy suggested thoughtfully. "The Mananite chain of command was fickle like that. Clans were established and dissolved with leadership over them being shifted around practically all the time."

"That's true." The younger Samukawa agreed with the American. "According to him, Redemption and Judgment have been annihilated as well, their remains scattered all around loop seven."

"Is that information reliable?" Shu asked his advisor doubtfully.

"Hard to say." The younger man admitted with a sigh. "It's not unlikely since both clans were also led by Gai's lieutenants. Their demise during his rebellion against Da'ath could have been a logical result, but then again, we are also talking about trusting the word of a Mananite, so…"

Shu frowned, visibly suspicious of this Kyoma individual. However, he might be a valuable informant, so disregarding him too readily might be a bad move.

"Jimmy, you said you know this Kyoma? What else can you tell me about him?"

"He is a good and strong soldier. His void is a musket that shoots plasma at his opponents. Scary stuff. He has quite some skill with it and is able to even shoot down fast moving targets with it. I hated facing off against him, because he fights like a monster. His bravery knows no limit and is able to even affect his allies around him. Although he was an enemy that was a huge pain in the ass to deal with, I still respected him a lot as a human being. He was one of the few Mananites known to fight with honor, never resolving to cheap tricks and always fighting on equal grounds. Many thought him to be a fool for doing that, but I think he was inspiring. It's too bad he was so loyal towards Mana, or else he might have been a good addition to our troops if he had defected."

Hm, honorable and loyal. Those were some good traits to have, Shu thought. Yet he had also been loyal to Mana, which could be a problem. His sister had been nothing but a hindrance ever since he could remember. If Kyoma shared her views on Inori, he might never become an ally. In that case, any information provided by him might just end up being a trap. Then again, according to Jimmy's description of Kyoma, he wouldn't have resolved to traps.

Urgh, how complicated. He massaged his forehead as he weighed out whether trusting that man was worth a shot or not with closed eyes.

"For all it's worth, there was one more thing he said to me, Shu." Jun eventually added with some hesitation, unsure whether or not that part of his information was even worth sharing. "He said it would help prove his credibility as a follower of Eve, but, to be honest, what he said doesn't mean much to me."

"What was it?" Shu had to ask with a raised brow, visibly curious about what could possibly prove his loyalty towards Eve so easily.

"He just gave me one name, my king. Hanae."

Clearly surprised to have heard that name coming from Jun, he couldn't help but open up his eyes wide as a result.

-GC-

Back when Inori had just awoken as Eve, after hours of vigorous physical activity, the pink haired queen finally allowed herself to collapse next to her king in a mixture of bliss as well as exhaustion.

"Can it be? Have I at last managed to still the hunger of my gluttonous queen?" Shu allowed himself to ask jokingly with what little breath he could spare.

"Nuuuu~, it can never be enough. But where my heart screams for more, my body keeps whining and begging for rest." She moaned tiredly into his chest, gently snuggling up to him with closed eyes. "Sleep is cruel. Why can't I just run on your love forever instead?"

This caused the king to burst out into laughter. "Have some mercy, please. If it came to that, I am sure you would squeeze my dry." Watching his adorable lover snuggling up to him like a kitten caused him to subconsciously stroke her silky hair as if to pet her. A smile appeared on his lips when he heard her quietly humming delightedly in response. It was almost as if she was purring for him.

"You didn't seem to be objecting that much when I was just doing that earlier." She told him with a sweet giggle.

"As if I would ever. Pouring my love out to you is all I have ever wanted to do." He told her as he kissed her forehead.

"I have received so much from you tonight. Any more and I might burst. I am so happy." She sighed contently, putting her arms around him and holding him close.

"And you are sure it's okay? You won't become pregnant?"

She could only smile sadly. "I won't. Because even though I wish for nothing more but to receive your child and start a family, I also know that this is not the time for it. The world is too dangerous right now."

"True." He agreed with her. "But I doubt biology cares about whether we think the timing was good or not." He told her jokingly.

"It doesn't matter what biology thinks. I decide the timing. If I say there won't be a child, there won't." She declared with narrowed down eyes. It caused Shu to smile at her awkwardly.

"I don't think it works that way, Inori."

"It does. I know it. Stupid Shu, doesn't even know how children are made…" She chuckled at him.

"Wha…" Did he miss something? When did she become the expert here? "Excuse me? When you woke up you whined about me not telling you about sex and now you are the prodigy in the matter? Are you mocking me?" He asked her with a smirk as he pinched her cheek playfully and proceeded to pull at it ever so slightly.

"Nuuu, stahp. Don't be mean, Shu. Since you didn't teach me, the queen's crown did. I can decide whether or not I become pregnant or not. Is that not how it normally works…?" She asked him while rubbing her cheek after he had let her go

"Seriously?" So she wasn't messing with him? Eying her with slight bewilderment, he received nothing but genuineness from her in return. This caused him to eventually lay off her. "No, this is not how it normally works .Is that also an Eve thing?"

She shook her head. "No? I think it's more of a Genesis thing."

"Huh. Amazing. I guess it's not called evolution for nothing." Still, to be sure, he should go and ask Hare tomorrow. For now, though, Inori's word was good enough to ease his mind. He allowed his head to lean back against his pillow with Inori looking up to him from his chest.

"Are you still worried, Shu?"

"These days I am always worried. I can't afford losing you again, let alone our child, if it were to come." He admitted truthfully and with a deep sigh.

"I won't ever leave you again, Shu. Don't forget that." She tried to reassure him. It caused a weak smile to appear on his lips as he looked down at her.

"I know." She leaned towards him and gave him a small peck on the lips to cheer him up. To her relief, the worry in his eyes slowly dissolved. She took pride in the fact that her kisses could dispel his uneasiness. It was her very own form of magic.

He suddenly chuckled out of nowhere after a short moment of silence between them.

"Can you imagine us two actually becoming parents one day?" He asked her amusedly.

"Of course. Why are you asking?" There was not a speck of doubt too be heard in her voice.

He looked at her as she was blinking at him in confusion and could do little but shrug in return.

"It's not like I have spent much time with my Dad. Makes me wonder if I even know how to be one."

His queen frowned at him.

"Shu, there is nothing to know about it. It's all about what's in there." She pointed at the spot next to her on his chest, undoubtedly referring to his heart. "There is no need to worry, since you have plenty of love in there to give. If our child received but just a tenth of the love you are giving me, it will still be more than enough. You will be perfectly fine." She told him with a gentle smile.

"You really think so?" He couldn't help but chuckle at her optimism. "He or she might actually come to hate me, you know?"

"Hating you is impossible, Shu." She said with a nod, sounding as if these words had come straight from her heart.

Jokingly, he replied: "Tell that to the rest of Japan, please. They might not have gotten the memo."

"Japan doesn't know anything." Was her response as she frowned, blowing up her cheeks in the process. "Country of idiots." Her cuteness alone made his heart skip a beat.

Then she suddenly giggled. "Shu, don't suddenly increase the amount of love you send through me. It's too much." Oh, so she had noticed. There was no hiding anything from her, huh.

"Sorry for loving you too much." He thus admitted defeat with a sheepish grin. Getting up from his chest, she slowly brought her face closer to his to plant her lips on his very own ones to share a gentle kiss with her king.

"Don't ever apologize for that." Was all she said when she eventually broke the kiss with a kind smile.

"Even when it feels like a crime?"

"That's fine, then you will just be my guilty king."

Smirking at that, he couldn't help but say: "What a lovely role model I would be for our child. The criminal dad."

This made Inori laugh. "She will love you regardless, Shu." This was followed by a smirk. "And if she won't, I am sure one of the other dozens of kids we will have eventually will."

"Wait, what?" Smiling at her nervously, he couldn't help but ask her: "How many did you just say we will have?"

That's when her eyes suddenly began to sparkle. "I want at least twenty, Shu! We can do it!" She told him that while putting up her fists in front of her eagerly.

"Twen-…!" The second half of the word was gulped down quickly from shock. "Now hold on just a second there…"

Tilting her head at him cutely, she asked somewhat disappointedly: "We can't?"

"Argh, don't give me that look, Inori. You know we can't."

"Why not?" She suddenly sounded very desperate as she began looking at him with those sparkling puppy eyes. "We don't have to get them all at once, you know? Given that we will likely live for a couple centuries, we could easily just spread them out in between."

Sighing at her as he held his forehead in silent disbelief, he had to ask: "You really just planned our entire life ahead just now, haven't you?"

"I can't help it, Shu. I love children! I have wanted to have my very own one for years now! And with how much love there is in us, why just stop at one? We could make a huuuge family!" She told him excitedly as she held out her hands to show him how huge "huuuuge" actually was.

"You know…" He told her after a defeated sigh, smiling at her antics. "Why no start with one and work our way up from there?"

She blinked at him, followed by calming down. He was happy to see that she seemed to understand where he was coming from.

"Right. That works, too." She nodded contently and beamed at him again."Then tell me, Shu. What will we name her?"

This made him chuckle at her. "I noticed it earlier, but you seem to really want a girl, don't you?"

For some reason, she averted her gaze as she began playing with her hair awkwardly. "It's not that I want a girl or a boy in particular. It's just that's all I am going to get. As long as I am affected by the Eve curse, all our children will be female." Then she suddenly leaned forward in his direction, looking at him in panic as her eyes began flashing red.

"B-but if you want a boy, Shu. I could always just bring the apocalypse, so…"

"Woah! Easy there. There won't be a need for that." He quickly tried to calm her down by taking hold of her shoulders and pushing her slightly back with a kind smile. "I don't care about that at all. If girls is all I get, then a girl it will be. Anything is fine as long as it's coming from you, after all."

"I am glad." She told him with a huge sigh of relief. Shu wondered if she really would have gone as far as to kill half of humanity if he had insisted on sons, though. Knowing Inori for her honesty, she really might have. As worrisome as that had sounded, it still made him somewhat happy that his opinion had such a high standing to her. It's not like he wanted to destroy the world, but knowing that his girlfriend would be willing to do it on a whim if only he had asked her to was really moving. Or perhaps they were just two closet psychopaths all along. He shook off those stupid thoughts with a conflicted smile, deciding that in the end, it didn't really matter. Even if she turned out to be a psychopath, she would still be his psychopath. As he would be hers.

He blinked at that realization. So he would embrace the sinful path of the apocalypse for her if it made her happy. He had always known that, but seeing how readily the thought had come up in his mind was still shocking. He was no different from her. If she was ready to sacrifice the world, so was he. He closed his eyes with a defeated smile.

Closet psychopaths, indeed. One step away from embracing lunacy. Well, if it came to that, so be it. Still, if it could be avoided, he would still try to do that. It didn't all have to end in murder and a bloodbath, right? Not yet anyway.

"Shu? Are you alright?" He heard Inori's lovely voice reaching out to him.

"I was thinking about something stupid. Doesn't matter anymore." He told her with a small shake of the head, dismissing her worry.

" ….You don't have to worry about me bringing the apocalypse, you know? I don't want to do it, either."

"Forget the apocalypse." He told her with a grin. "We were talking about a name, right?"

This made her eyes sparkle again as she began gleaming at him. "Mh-hm."

"Well, let's see." He said as his gaze traveled to the ceiling, lost in thought. "A name for our cute little daughter. Hmmmm. Do you have any preferences?" He asked her with a smile. She only shook her head cutely, awaiting his answer. She really wanted him to decide, huh.

He closed his eyes in thought, thinking back to something.

"Do you remember…" He eventually told her somewhat nostalgically. "Back when Gai tried to erase you, how you came back to me with the help of a crystal wildflower you left behind?" She nodded, albeit with a heavy heart. It wasn't a nice time to think back on, to be honest.

He chuckled weakly. "When I recovered from my injuries and was told that you were gone, I went back there and kept looking for another flower. I couldn't see a damn thing, but I didn't care. I kept digging through the rubble even after my hands got all bloody and messy. Yahiro had to drag me away from there to make me stop. He asked me what I was hoping I would find. I told him I would be finding a flower through which you would return. He didn't laugh, or try to tell me that I was being foolish. No, he just brought me back home. The next day, do you know what he brought me? A flower pot. In it was a single wildflower." He laughed sadly. "I told him it wasn't the one I was looking for, but he only chuckled and asked me how I could be so sure. He claimed he had gone back to the ruins and looked for a flower for me. And there, right amidst some weeds, this little flower supposedly grew there. It was the only one he had found. I doubted his words, but something inside me just couldn't let it go. And so I took that flower and looked after it for every single day these damn five years. I didn't know anything about botany. I didn't even get to see it bloom. And yet I still took care of it, hoping that if I did, one day, you would return. And then you just did. Maybe it was due to the flower, maybe it was not, but the thing is…: I kept believing in it. It gave me hope." He finished his story with a content smile.

His queen, in the meantime, had just listened quietly with eyes sparkling with tears. That was so sweet and sad at the same time. Eventually, though, she closed her eyes with a smile and said:

"That's lovely, Shu. A beautiful flower that gives us hope. A blessed wildflower. Hanae."

"Hanae." He let that name roll off his tongue for a bit, enjoying the ring it had. Eventually he nodded and smiled at his queen. "I like it. We will raise her and look after her. And one day, she might work another miracle."

She snuggled back up to him again. "She will be a small miracle of her own, I bet." She said with a soft giggle. Shu nodded, holding her close with a smirk.

"Beautiful like her mother, no doubt."

"Strong like her father for sure." Inori yawned tiredly.

"Smarter than both of us combined."

"And not a speck of guilt in her heart…" Inori mumbled tiredly as she closed her eyes. Eventually she nodded off, continuing her thoughts in the land of dreams.

The king planted a small kiss on her forehead before he leaned back on his pillow, looking up at the ceiling dreamily.

"Yeah, I would like her to be like that. Our beautiful, strong, smart and innocent little blessed wildflower."

And with that thought, further soothed by the rhythmic sound of his queen's quiet breathing next to him, he allowed himself to be lulled into sleep as well. As his eyelids grew heavier, he kind of regretted giving his daughter a name so early, for giving things a name brought them into existence. And now that an image of his daughter was floating around in his mind, he couldn't help but wish she was already part of his life.

Ah, why couldn't there be peace already. It would be so much easier…

Maybe there would be peace once he would wake up the next morning?

Yeah, right…

-GC-

Shu couldn't withhold a smile at the sweet memory, although he was a bit ashamed about the naïve thoughts of his past self. Before he had been reborn as the true king his Eve needed him to be, he had still wished peace would eventually come.

He frowned. Now he was a wiser man. He knew peace wouldn't come to you just like that. But that was alright. Unlike then, he now knew that if you wanted to have peace, you would have to bring it yourself.

But he digressed. Knowing that Jun was still waiting for a response, he calmly answered:

"…If this is the name he gave you, then he is legit."

"Is that some sort of code word, my king?" Jun asked jokingly. "If so, should I feel hurt that you haven't shared it with me in the first place?"

"It wasn't supposed to be a code word, Jun." The brunette man replied with a quiet chuckle. "But I can understand why Inori would use it as one. It's the only thing only we two could possibly know of. If Kyoma knows it, it means he must have gotten it from Inori. And unless she was forced to reveal it to him, that means he is an ally."

"Oh? Only you and Inori know that name? How curios." Hare snickered mischievously. "Whose name is that, I wonder?"

"Well, might as well tell you guys, now that the secret's out." He sighed at her and shrugged. "It's the name we both decided on for our daughter."

"D-D-D-Daugh-…!" Oh my, Hare dot EXE appeared to have encountered a problem there.

"A princess!" Jun exclaimed excitedly. "Ah, how could I have not seen this coming? There is so much to prepare. So much to think about. Let's see, roughly nine months from now should leave us at…" And then there was Jun, seeming to be even more excited than the actual father was. It made Shu question whether his own wish to be a father had been too weak or Jun's devotion to the kingdom simply too strong. He was afraid that next to that man's enthusiasm, everything would seem insignificant by comparison.

"Put that calendar down, Jun." He thus told his brunette friend with an amused laugh. "We were just thinking about the future. There is no child on the way yet."

"Oh, I see. Regrettable. But understandable." Jun's voice replied to him rather calmly. It was good that he understood the situation they were in. Who would give birth during warti-. "After all, we would have to perform a wedding first, right?" The question appeared to have been directed at Hare who was likely standing next to him.

"W-W-W-Wedding…!?" Oh no. Hare, don't go crashing after you have just rebooted! Hang in there, girl!

"Guys, focus." Shu tried to get his friends back on track with a nervous smile, happy that Yahiro and Tsugumi weren't able to listen in on crystal conversations or this little chat would likely never end. "We can talk about this after we get Inori back, alright?"

"Of course, my king. I will talk with that Kyoma person for you while you are away. See what he knows."

"A-and I will go buy some diapers…!" Hare also informed him quite over-excitedly.

Sighing at that, Shu could do little but massage his temple. "Hare…!"

"Don't worry, Shu. I will have an eye on her." Jun said with a bit of a snicker, obviously feeling amused by the medic's confused state.

"Thank you. In the meantime, I think it's time for me to make a move." Shu thought with a smirk on his lips. This shouldn't be too hard.

"Good luck, Shu." Jun wished him.

"Stay safe!" Hare also told him.

"Are you sure you don't need more men as backup?" Jimmy asked nervously, clearly not feeling good about leaving his king exposed with so few bodyguards to aid him.

It'll be fine. I am a ghost on this mission. I will walk and kill unseen. No one will ever even know I was there before it will be too late." With that being said,he directed his next words to the snipers he had positioned around Narita airport.

"Remember, our objective is to force the army to join us. Try to keep casualties to a minimum. Only focus on key targets to ensure the civilians won't get subdued. If they fail with their uprising, we will be forced to fight the SDF ourselves."

"Got it, your majesty. Leave it to us."

Nodding at those words, he couldn't help but crack his knuckles with a smirk. Showtime.

His attention was shifted towards the clones of himself he had hidden among the civilian force with the help of Tsugumi's void. Fragile and weak versions of himself with next to no combat ability whatsoever to keep the upkeep in form of energy consumption low. That was quite alright, though, seeing as to how he had no intention to use them for fighting in the first place. All they needed to do was stir some trouble.

One of the clones began putting down the hood he was hiding under and raised his voice in order to let everyone around him hear him.

"People of Tokyo, I am happy to see you all came together in order to put an end to the madness the SDF is suffering from. Our family members and friends aren't guinea pigs to use for their weird experiments, wouldn't you agree?"

The people near his clones began yelling approving words. Some were raising their fists to show their enthusiasm.

The very next moment, his clone fell to the ground with a bullet hole right between his eyes. A soldier had shot him down with perfect precision from his post on the guard tower. The people around the clone gasped in shock at the sudden kill right next to them. The soldier who had taken the shot smirked smugly at his colleagues, boasting that he had just killed Ouma Shu, most wanted terrorist of Japan. The real Shu could do little but chuckle at the man's naiveté as shortly after, from a different spot, another one of his clones came out from hiding and yelled:

"Did you see that? They try to kill me because they know I am right. They don't want me to uncover the truth. And what's worse is that they were fine with risking your lives as well! If I had dodged that shot, one of you would have been hit instead. Tell me, friends, is that the kind of military you want to be protected by? Can this even be called protection anymore?"

Naturally, there would be confusion about the appearance of a second Shu, yet somehow, the paradox was quickly disregarded due to the fact that many a citizen had already seen the most miraculous things happening with the help of voids. Seeing the killed clone vanishing into silver threads quickly did all the explaining they could possibly need to understand the situation.

Some of the panicked civilians stopped screaming and trying to get some distance between the corpse of his clone due to that and instead directed their now angry looks up to the soldier who had shot him. Whether they were angry at him for killing the fake Shu or due to the fact that he had endangered their lives by taking that shot didn't really matter to the king. All that counted was that he could channel their anger into the right direction. Which, of course, was the SDF.

"Hey, he is right you know? The hell were you thinking, eh?" One of the civilians yelled.

"We have the right to demonstrate peacefully, yet you shoot at us?" Another one claimed.

"First you experiment on our families and now this? Some military you are!"

The soldiers on the guard tower began sweating nervously. This wasn't looking good for them.

"Oi, we might need a bit of backup over here. I don't know what happened but there are multiple Ouma Shus popping up in the crowd, trying to stir up some trouble." The one in charge contacted the HQ via radio. "We killed one, but they keep appearing."

It was quiet for a while until he eventually got a response. "Ignore the Ouma Shus for now. They are likely fakes created with the help of voids. Try to calm the civilians down. I will send out some men and Endlaves with non-lethal weaponry just in case."

What the soldiers didn't know, though, was that Shu could hear their conversation just fine using his Genesis ears. They wanted to send out Endlaves? Just what he had been waiting for, he thought.

As the two heavy war machines approached the fence standing in between the protesters and the soldiers guarding it, the real Shu floating up in the sky summoned Jun's void into his right void hand.

"Assume control of the endlaves down below." Was his order. Soon after, the court advisor's void awoke to life.

Scanning…..

Targets located.
Establishing link….done!
Connected to JSD-EU23 and JSD-EU5.

"Greetings, King Ouma Shu. How may we serve?"

The king held back a pleased laugh when he read that line on the smartphone's display. Having a conversation with a machine was equally as ridiculous as it was marvelous. What a truly magnificent void his young friend could call his own. Shu would sure enjoy making use of it in the future.

"Bailout the pilots currently controlling you, then proceed to mark every ally as an enemy. Once done, begin using non-lethal force on your enemies. Your objective is to protect every civilian around you to your best ability."

"Affirmative. Executing command."

Executing emergency bailout protocol…..failure: no clearance - access denied.
Connecting to mainframe.
Accessing database…..done
Logging in as: Kazumi Kudo, chief engineer - clearance level: B password: ********* ….failure: staff already logged in.
Logging out Kazumi Kudo….done.
Logging in as: Kazumi Kudo, chief engineer - clearance level: B password: ********* ….success!
Executing emergency bailout protocol...success!
Emergency bailout in….5….4…3…2…error: connection terminated by admin
Calculating solution, please stand by…..done.
Creating new entry: Username: Ouma Shu, King - clearance level: SS password: *****
Logging in as: Ouma Shu, King - clearance level: SS password: *****….success!
User management: set admin "Ouma Shu"…success!
Executing emergency bailout protocol...success!
Emergency bailout in….5….4…3…2…1….done!
Error: No pilot detected! Endlave unit will now return to docking stat-
command aborted.
Performing surrounding scan….done!
Allies located. Civilians located. Individuals marked on radar.
Updating categories: Allies into hostiles….done!
Warning: Several hostiles detected! Endlave unit is surrounded!
Executing combat protocols:
Determining threat levels…..done!
Unlocking tier 1 weaponry…..done!
Engaging hostiles.

The words had barely appeared on the void's screen when the huge war machines suddenly were seen going limb for a second as if shutting down, followed by reawakening soon after under new command. The formerly hostile machines then proceeded to enter a battle stance out of nowhere and shocking the SDF soldiers around them by shooting a barrage of teargas grenades at their feet, effectively blinding them. This offered Shu the perfect opportunity to strike. Letting one of his clones jump on the back of a car so that everyone could see him, he quickly pointed at the chaos unfolding before the civilians and shouted:

"Look! Even some of the soldiers within the military have begun supporting us! Now is our chance to reunite with our families. We have been oppressed by a military regime once. Never again!"

His clone was soon surrounded by lots of people raising their fists in agreement, screaming loudly in hopes of raising the morale of everyone around them as well.

"Yeah!"

"Let's show them we won't accept their bullshit without resistance!"

"Let's free our families!"

One of the Shu clones among the crowd spotted a man near him taking out a bottle filled with a clear substance and a piece of cloth sticking out of its bottleneck from underneath his coat, undoubtedly having saved the poor-man's grenade as a hidden trump card to use once a good opportunity arose. One such as this. While Shu was surprised to see the weapon given the shortage of inflammable substances currently in circulation, it mattered little to him in the end. Realizing the valuable incineration device for what it was, he waited for the man to light the piece of cloth with his lighter, then quickly took the bottle from his hands with a smirk.

"Allow me." Was all he said as he effortlessly threw the Molotov cocktail against the guard tower in order to cause yet another bravery-inspiring display of utter defeat for the military. The fragile glass container shattered upon impact, plunging the whole upper platform of the guard tower into flames. The two men standing up there were quickly overwhelmed by their panic trying to extinguish the flames that had also spread to parts of their uniform, eventually stumbling back against the fence and falling down to the ground clumsily.

Sure, in terms of actual damage, the Molotov cocktail probably could have been used more effectively, but making the SDF lose their intimidating high ground had a strong psychological effect on the civilians. With the rampaging Endlaves in the back and the loss of an intimidating position high above, the once scary SDF now looked like a bunch they could actually take on. They may have been soldiers, but if anything, it also showed that they were still human. They could be beaten. They weren't all-powerful just because they were better equipped.

And thus, with a valiant battle cry, the civilians charged.

With some help from the Genesis sniper squad to their backs, the fence surrounding the military base was quickly torn down and from there on out, an already chaotic situation became total mayhem. The few soldiers guarding the fence found themselves overwhelmed by the onslaught of raging people. With the traitorous Endlaves to their backs, a spreading fire up front, tear gas all around them and an angry mob of people charging at them, many a soldier forgot their discipline. It didn't actually help that communications with HQ appeared to be disrupted by some sort of unknown hacker attack. With the chain of command temporarily being severed, the defending squad lost their unity and began acting out individually, thus losing every bit of strength they might have had as soldiers.

After all, an army was formed by many people working in unison. Once that stopped happening, they were nothing but soldiers. And no soldier could win when faced with overwhelming odds, no matter how many war stories were trying to claim otherwise.

Some military men and women tried fending off the people non-lethally but where overwhelmed and knocked out. Seeing their comrades being taken down by the people caused more panic to spread amongst the defenders. A couple soldiers appeared to forget their orders and took out their lethal weaponry. It was unclear whether it was merely an attempt to threaten the civilians into submission or something they would actually make use of, but the snipers Shu had posted around the airport weren't going to risk seeing the outcome. With careful shots, the few shady individuals were quickly taken out form a safe distance.

With more and more comrades falling left and right, morale was eventually broken completely. Once the first soldiers began retreating hastily, more and more followed suit, choosing to fall back to a second line of defense to regroup and hold off the assault. The civilians who saw this were ecstatic. Realizing that they made great progress, they decided to push further.

Shu bore witness to all this form high above, smirking at the outcome with folded arms. Everything was going according to the plan he had forged out. With the civilians pressing on and causing chaos, he was free to infiltrate the base himself. Trusting that the Genesis he had brought with him would keep the people of Tokyo safe in his absence, he decided to not waste another second and flew towards one of the airport's hangars.

Landing on the big building's roof, he knelt down next to one of the many narrow skylights to see inside. Normally, this would be where some of the big aircrafts would be brought to for performing maintenance on them, but naturally, ever since the SDF took over the airport, there was no real need for that anymore. Instead, one of the hangars had been repurposed into a place for the soldiers to sleep while another one had been turned into a place to keep the captured Genesis locked up in.

Luckily for the king, he had managed to land on the latter which saved him the hassle of flying over to the other one. Instead, he could now spend his time checking out the security of the improvised detainment center. Given the huge amount of space inside the hangar, he wasn't really surprised to see a lot of people being perched together into multiple cells as much as the fact that said cells had been made up of glass which he initially found to be an odd choice of material. However, upon closer inspection, he had seen some sections of the walls being riddled with cracks, yet being perfectly intact still. That's when he realized that said glass had to be bullet-proof, which suddenly made a lot of sense to him. While certainly not unbreakable by any means, bullet proof glass was not easy to break with force alone. It required some tools to get through it and while Genesis all had voids at their disposal, drawing them would surely draw the attention of the guards keeping a watchful eye on them. A tricky situation.

To break free from such a cell would need some time. Time the guards could use to react to stop them from attempting to break free. It surprisingly made a lot of sense. Furthermore, Shu spotted a few automated turrets hanging from the ceiling, probably programmed to take aim at anyone attempting to break free. Thanks to this, such a huge prison could be supervised by just a handful of guards easily.

Unfortunately for them, though, that only made it easier for Shu to break these people out. Flying down to the guarded entrance to the prison, he was about to ambush the two soldiers holding watch when he noticed a female soldier approaching them.

"Quick, there is trouble at the fence. The civilians are breaking through. We need help holding the line." She told them hastily. The two guards eyed each other nervously.

"How could this happen?" The first one asked himself, while the other one tried contacting his superior over the radio.

"Don't bother. No one is answering. I don't know what's going on but if we ain't getting some backup soon, some fucking civilians will run us over. I don't know about you guys, but I am not going to allow the media to make fun of us even more now."

"You have a point. First the failed invasions on Loop seven, then the blunder at the Kuhouin headquarters. If we can't hold the line against rioters now, the SDF is done for." The first guard agreed begrudgingly, even though his comrade was not as eager to leave his post.

"But what about our guard duty? We can't leave the void freaks unguarded…"

"Forget them. They can't do anything in there as long as we keep the rioters away from them. If we lose control over them any more, the SDF will never regain its respect, whatever little of it is actually left of it." The woman argued with him.

"She is right, man. You can tell how bad the situation is by them not even being afraid to attack us bare-handedly. If we let them walk all over us, we might as well just dissolve the army. Come on!" And with that, he and the woman ran off with an unsure second guardsman eventually trailing behind them in frustration.

"Goddamnit!"

Shu held back a slight chuckle as he looked after them, still being cloaked under his infiltration coat. That's what he would call a tactical error, if you asked him. These military folks were making things easy for him, not that he would complain, of course. Stepping in front of the door, he quickly noticed the keypad next to it. However, due to a certain brunette court advisor's void, such hindrances were no hindrances at all. With a simple command, the keypad display's normally merciless red color was quickly changed into an inviting green, despite there never actually having been a keycard to match the lock. Heh, as if a king needed keys, right?

Stepping into the former hangar, he closed the door behind him to see one soldier turning towards him in surprise. If Shu had panicked for a second, he might have feared the soldier would have been able to see through his guise of invisibility, but in actuality, rationality suggested that the soldier had merely been alerted by the noise of the opening and closing door without anyone actually entering through it. Well, not anyone he could have seen, that was. With the king simply stepping aside, the soldier confusedly began investigating, opening the door to look outside, followed by stepping out to have a better look.

"Huh? Shuichi, was that you? I swear, if this is just a damn prank, I'll..."

And that's when Shu closed the door behind him, using Jun's void to lock it shut so that the guard couldn't enter anymore, even if he had and used the matching keycard. The king snickered when he could hear a muffled "Are you fucking serious?" from the other side.

Too easy. Simply too easy. Either he was too good at this, or the SDF was actually quite pathetic.

Then again, they did manage to capture all these Genesis behind him, so they probably weren't that incompetent. Using a hacking void on an organization that heavily relied on machinery to balance out the shortage of staff was pretty much cheating, he assumed. But then he shrugged mentally. It wasn't like he had to play fair now, was it?

Looking around, he could see a handful of soldiers patrolling the detainment center in a bored manner. Due to the inability of high command to reach them over radio, they hadn't even heard of the breach yet. These guys weren't even on high alert. It would be easy to sneak up on them and take them out one after another, but Shu had an even better idea.

If he was already cheating, he might as well go all out.

"Assume control of all turrets."

Scanning area….done!
Targets acquired!
Establishing link…..done!
Connected to JF-T01, JF-T02, JF-T03, JF-T04, JF-T05, JF-T06, JF-T07

"Greetings, King Ouma Shu. How may we serve?" The now hacked turrets spoke to him through Jun's void. Okay, now Shu was actually sad he would eventually have to give that void back. Couldn't he just keep it forever? This was really awesome!

"I just want you to kindly keep these soldiers from interfering with this prison break." Was all he said with a playful smirk.

"Affirmative."

Updating categories: Allies into hostile, hostiles into allies….done!
WARNING: Several hostiles have left their designated areas. Executing safety protocols.
Trigger alarm…done!
Locking onto targets.

Following the king's command, a siren went off and the automated turrets each locked onto the SDF soldiers who began looking around in confusion. Only once the turrets laser guided barrels began pointing at them did they realize that something terribly wrong was occurring here.

"What is the meaning of this?" One of the guards asked, completely bewildered.

"A malfunction?" Another one guessed.

"We gotta shut them down and restart them, hold on." As the soldier was about to take out a tablet from his pocket to remotely control the turrets, a monotonous voice coming from the turret's speakers warned him:

"Warning: You are in a restricted area. Do not move until authorized personnel has arrived and given further instructions. Failure to comply might result in the use of lethal force."

"But I am said authorized personnel, you…" The man in question shouted back in anger, completely in disbelief over the fact that he was actually trying to speak with these stupid malfunctioning machines.

"Urgh, screw this. I am just gonna shut them down." He told everyone in frustration, trying to type something into his tablet. However, before he could even begin, the turret facing him shot a bullet at his feet, thus startling him.

"Hey, are you nuts?" The man shouted at the device.

"Warning: Do not move until authorized personnel has told you otherwise. This is your final warning."

Gulping at that, he eventually gave up and remained motionless. "You gotta be kidding me…"

Meanwhile, the Genesis inside their cells had naturally borne witness to all of this and begun cheering and/or laughing at the misery of their captors. They might not have understood what was going on, but it certainly had been a welcome change to see these turrets target their guards for once instead of them.

Now that the situation was under control, Shu decided that he no longer needed his cover and thus put his cloak away. This, as a result, made him appear in the middle of the hangar to all the people around him. Most people were surprised to see him appear out of thin air, safe for a couple of Genesis who had noticed the slight distortion of the invisibility cloak as he had passed them by in their cells. Although they may have noticed that something was up, they had chosen to remain silent in hopes that it turned out to be beneficial to them, which it eventually turned out to be.

However, it also became clear that the sudden appearance he had thought to be quite impressive turned out to be quite lackluster instead. That was because the people he had hoped would react in some shocked or amazed way to see him wouldn't even recognize him at all in the end. With questions such as "Huh, where did that guy come from?" or "Who's that?", the king's high spirits were eventually brought back down to earth where he realized that in the end, most of the Mananites here didn't even know who he was, let alone that he was their great king coming to save them all. He held back a disappointed sigh and addressed his fellow Genesis:

"Greetings, Genesis of Loop seven. My name is Ouma Shu and I am also Adam of the apocalypse which makes me your king. I've come to save you."

"King…?"

"Ouma Shu? That's him? The one Queen Mana used to talk about a lot?"

"Yeah, I saw him once. But wasn't he with Inori?"

"The renegade queen? For real?"

"You gotta be kidding me…"

The reactions to his announcement caused quite some chaos among the ranks of Mananites. But while Shu could certainly understand their confusion, this had hardly been the time to have elaborate talks regarding the new sheriff in town, therefore he decided to cut things short:

"Calm down, everyone." He said while performing slow gestures with his hands to ease up the crowd. "We don't have much time to explain, so just listen to me without interrupting me because what I am about to tell you will be important."

Looking around him calmly, he noticed that the voices of the Mananites slowly died out and instead were replaced with nervous silence, much to his relief. At least they would hear him out for now, which made things easier.

"First off, I am not sure how much you guys were able to keep up with what's been happening outside, but there have been some changes you may need to know of. The biggest one being that Mana has rebelled against Da'ath and lost. They killed and stripped her of her title of Eve as a direct result."

"I-impossible…!" Some Mananites began muttering in bewilderment as soon as they had heard the king's explanation, but he simply decided to speak over them, even louder. The seriousness in his voice effectively shutting them up again.

"Furthermore, following Mana's dethronement, Inori Yuzuriha was given the crown as her successor, thus crowning her the new Eve. I was directly appointed as her Adam the very same moment."

This time, the outrage was even stronger. What did he mean Mana was dead and the fake Eve was now the real Eve? Was this supposed to be some kind of joke? It obviously wasn't very funny to them, as Shu could clearly tell.

"I know this is quite some bomb I have just dropped on you all, but it's the truth and you deserve to know it. What you also need to know is that with Inori now in charge, the war between her and Mana is over and therefore, the division into two different factions is no longer needed. You no longer are branded as Mananites, but instead as Genesis. The same as her followers have been all this time. Today, I am speaking to you not as the king of your enemy queen, this so called "renegade queen", but your king instead." He turned around to face all of the Genesis around him.

"That's right." He continued confidently once he saw quite a lot of brows raised at him in surprise. "Eve reigns over and protects all Genesis who are willing to follow her, so as her Adam I am obliged to do the same. That's why I am here. To free my people from imprisonment."

"And what if we don't want to follow her?" A man rudely cut into Shu's speech, causing him to merely shrug back at him.

"Then don't. It's your decision. But before you decide, let me paint you a picture real quick." He faced the man and gestured with his hands to make him envision a framed image in between his hands, followed by addressing everyone around him again.

"Imagine! The kingdom of Eden. A kingdom of our own where Genesis and humans live together in harmony. A kingdom in which there is fairness and equality no matter of your past affiliations. Whether you were a follower of Mana or Inori doesn't matter. Nor whether you are evolved or not. Nor does anyone care whether your void is strong or not. All that matters is you as a person. This will be a kingdom where there is safety and peace. A kingdom where Eve protects everyone and everyone protects Eve. A kingdom that lives up to its very name of Eden. Once you have all that envisioned in front of you, I want to ask you: Do you honestly not want to be a part of that?"

He smiled at them kindly and nodded.

"I know I do."

Many a Genesis was either seen looking at the king in awe or suspicion. Some were eying each other questioningly, undoubtedly wondering whether or not anything the king had just described to them could actually be more than just an idealistic dream. Eventually, some of the more optimistic Genesis surprised him by actually applauding him for his vision. Some even cheered.

Others, however, were not as easily convinced.

"No offense, my king. But this place of yours, this "Eden". Can you actually create it?" A dark haired man suddenly spoke up with a loud and serious voice. He was standing amidst a crowd of people inside their cell, but everyone made room for him as soon as he had spoken, allowing him to move forward. His expression was fierce, making Shu think his reddish brown eyes could very well cut holes into the air around them, sharp as his look was. If the scar over his left eye had meant anything, the king would even wager that this man's look was sharp enough to even cut himself, if at all possible. Still, despite all the hostility, or even perhaps of it, the brunette king couldn't help but believe he had seen those eyes somewhere before. Narrowing down his own eyes on the unknown man curiously, he asked him:

"And you are?"

Offering the monarch before him a derisive smirk, he replied: "Doesn't even know the faces that once fought alongside you. The name's Arima. Nakasato Arima."

Shu frowned a bit in an attempt to bring that name into relation with anything that could have been of importance right now. He struggled a bit, but eventually recalled Jun mentioning that name briefly during an earlier meeting.

"You were one of Gai's lieutenants." Shu made the connection. And that's where he could have seen this man before. He had been a former Undertaker. While Shu certainly hadn't spoken to every single one of them, he, at one point, had surely seen this Arima once, maybe even fought alongside him. You couldn't really blame Shu for not recognizing him immediately, though, as he had certainly been at a disadvantage here. As the bearer of the void genome, Shu had pretty much stood at the center of the terrorist group together with Gai as their biggest trump card, so everyone would have known him. Arima, however? To Shu, he had just been another face among others. Heck, at the time he had joined, when the group had still been big, he wouldn't have gone as far to call them comrades even. Back then, he hadn't really had any intentions to make friends and stay, after all.

Sure you could argue that he must have had at least important enough to become Gai's lieutenant in the end, but Shu kind of doubted that still. If this guy really had held even just a bit of importance, Shu was sure Gai, or at least Ayase, would have introduced him to Shu at one point. So either this guy died to the virus before anyone got the chance to, or, and this was far more plausible to the king, he hadn't really mattered before dying. Still, this Arima person now had a pretty high opinion of himself because of that, or at least that was how Shu interpreted this man and the whole aura surrounding him. He was pretty respected among his peers as well, or else their behavior towards him wouldn't have made much sense with them making room for him and all. The king held back an annoyed sigh. Was that it? Another fool on a power trip? Or perhaps there was another reason for him to try undermining Shu and his vision?

Having an analyzing eye on the man, Shu decided to respond with: "I do. And honestly, if not even Adam and Eve can make that kingdom a reality, then who can?"

"It's not a question of Adam and Eve being able to or not, I am asking whether or not you and Inori are the right ones for the job. I know Gai would have been able to, but you…"

The monarch frowned at the former Undertaker and tried really hard not to roll his eyes. Of course. He was one of these guys. Maybe Shu should just put him in a box and ship him off to Arisa. He was sure those two would get along just splendidly. From one groupie to another and all.

"Yeah, he was great in many things. Remember that one time he turned against us all and told us to sit down and die while he brought the apocalypse…? That was awesome. Quality leadership right there, if you ask me. Good times." Shu decided to respond sarcastically, much to Arima's disdain.

"How dare you…!"

Realizing that talking to this man any further would be nothing but a waste of his precious time, the king merely decided to cut right iinto Arima's rant and said:

"Look, you can idolize the man as much as you want, but that's not gonna bring him back or anything. If you can't live in a kingdom in which I am king and not him, then feel free to settle down anywhere else in the world. That applies to you all, by the way." He turned around to the rest of the Genesis. "If you can't live in peace alongside humans, can't put aside the differences with Inori's followers or can't accept me or Inori as your king and queen, then you don't have to. Once we have torn down the quarantine walls surrounding Tokyo, you can all just go wherever you want. All I am offering you here is a fresh start with a new queen. Take it or leave it, I really don't give a damn, alright? You don't even have to decide right now, either." He pointed towards something outside of the hangar and continued.

"There are a lot of people outside wanting to free you as well. Your friends and family. So here's what I want you guys to do: I am going to open your cells and free you. All you have to do is rendezvous with the civilians and protecting them which should be in your interest as well. The military shouldn't be using lethal weapons, so don't kill them, either, because I will need them in the future. Can you do that for me?"

"Why shouldn't we kill them after all they did to us?" One of the former Mananites asked him angrily. Many voices were raised in agreement. The SDF surely hadn't made friends over here, it seemed. Well, hardly surprising after all Shu had found out about them.

"Because if you do, I'll have a harder time saving my queen from Da'ath. They captured her and I want to get her back. But I will need help for that. Therefore, if you have just the faintest speck of hope in you that my vision of Eden could come true, I want you to do as I have told you, reunite with your friends, protect them, go home with them and catch up on all the things you have missed. Then, after a good night's rest, I hope to see the majority of you at my base in Yokohama. You can ask Samukawa Jun for specifics over the crystal network if you need to."

Following that explanation, he was confronted with a barrage of questions in return.

"What do you mean Inori got captured by Da'ath?"

"Oi, does that mean you haven't talked to her about any of this?"

"Can there really be amnesty for us that way?"

"What about the other Genesis, will they accept your terms if we do, too?"

"Do you really need those assholes of the SDF for that plan of yours? Why can't Genesis be enough?"

Grimacing at the overwhelming amount of sudden questions, he was forced to groan at them. With a strong stomp on the ground and his eyes flashing up red for just a second, he commanded:

"Silence!"

He wasn't exactly sure whether or not it was due to his flashing eyes or the commanding tone of his voice, but everyone shut up and watched him in silence immediately. He cleared his throat and tried to calm down as to not let his impatience have the better of him.

"Sorry about that, but as I said, there really isn't much time for a Q&A. However, I swear to you that everything I have said just now is true. If you wish to accept me and Inori as your king and queen, you will be granted amnesty and a fresh start. I haven't talked to Inori about this because I didn't have the opportunity, but I know her, alright? She doesn't hold grudges. From the bottom of her heart, she just wants everyone to get along, so if you genuinely ask her for a second chance, she will grant you one for sure. As for everyone else, do you really think they are in a position to send you away when Da'ath has taken their queen hostage? We need to work together for this. Everyone from my side understands that. And do you really think anyone will still be mad at you after you have proven your loyalty by helping to get our queen back? Besides, I am their bloody king, for fuck's sake. If they behave out of line, I will deal with it, alright? Naturally this goes for your side as well. Does that clear up your doubts for now?"

He looked around to confirm whether or not anyone was still unsure about this, but all he saw were people looking at each other with faces of resolve, or at least acceptance. If anyone still had doubts about it, they were disregarded for now and put aside for another time. After all, Shu did have a point. What really mattered right now was to get everyone out of their cells. What happened afterwards could wait.

"Looks like we are finally on the same page here. Good. I am going to free you now. I made my offer to you. All that's left for you is to think it over together with your friends and relatives. I can understand if you don't want to join another fight, but I still hope to see a lot of you at my place tomorrow. The fight I have chosen to fight is an important one after all. By participating in it, you will effectively send a message to Da'ath and your queen. That we Genesis stand as one. That we won't accept anyone to mess with our queen. We are the future. We alone decide our fate. No one holds power over us but ourselves. No SDF, no Da'ath. No one. We are Genesis. We are free."

As if on cue, Jun's void awoke to life following the king's words.

Task received.
Scanning surroundings…done.
Holding cells in Hangar 1: 25
Cells with detected genomic resonance: 24
Unlocking cells 1-24….done.
All Genesis are free. Task complete.

Looking down at the smartphone's screen, Shu could only smirk in response. "Why thank you. Way to make a point."

Surprised at the sudden taste of freedom, the former captives began rushing out of their cells as soon as their initial shock had vanished. Everyone drew their voids and raised them up high in a loud cheer. Some praised the king while others seemed to merely be happy to be out of their confinements at last. The SDF soldiers which had been held at gunpoint by the automated turrets were now escorted back into their cells by the "authorized personnel" they had been supposed to keep locked away in said cells in the first place. There was little more to do for the soldiers but to accept their situation with angry growls.

"You guys will never get through with this madness. Found your own kingdom? Don't make me laugh." One of them grumbled as he was shoved into the glass cells forcefully.

"Joke's on you. I am already laughing at your pathetic state." The Genesis woman who pushed him into one of the cells with her void laughed right back at him.

"Who are you to stop the Genesis when you are being trapped by your own devices!" Another one joined in.

"And yet you guys could do nothing until this self proclaimed king of yours showed up…"

"Wouldn't be a kingdom without a king, no?" The woman told him with a mocking smirk. "There is a reason we choose to follow kings and queens, you know."

"Pah. Over half of you were terrified of your queen before."

"Well, yeah. They are terrifyingly strong after all. Queen Mana did have a short fuse most of the time. But that's just how things are. The strong lead the weak. Adam and Eve lead us and we lead you."

"Lunatics." Was all the soldier could say in response with a shake of the head. With that, every SDF soldier was now effectively held inside the cells, earning more cheers from the former captives.

"Alright." Shu tried getting their attention back after confirming that all the cells had been relocked with the help of Jun's void. "Now that everyone's free, I want all of you to do as I have asked of you. Meet up with the civilians fighting for your freedom and protect them as you guide them back into safety. Every able soldier is then kindly asked to report to Samukawa Jun at my base in Yokohama in order to join my war effort to free our queen. Understood?"

He got another eager cheer in response, causing him to nod approvingly. He had a good feeling about their willingness to join his army, given how eager they sounded. Heck, if even just half of them joined, that would still mean he got plenty of soldiers he didn't have before. Any Mananite joining him was a net gain. And he could use every bit of power he could possibly get.

"One more thing. I need about 10 to 20 volunteers to overthrow the General of the SDF. Strong voids preferred." He looked around him, thinking he would be lucky to get even just a handful of them interested at best. To his surprise, however, he saw many former Mananites gathering around him with their voids drawn and ready for action.

"Just tell me who to kill, boss." One man smirked at him in anticipation. The rest matched his vigor.

"Me and my void are at your service."

"Woooo! Hail to the king, baby. I'm in." Another one cheered excitedly.

"Let's get them back for what they did to us, eh?"

Well, that wasn't exactly expected by Shu, but he would take it. These Mananites came as quite the mixed bag, he noticed. A lot of them were quite wild and tribal in their mindset which was a bit harder to handle than the Genesis back home were. But on the flipside, that made them all eager for battle which meant he didn't have to motivate them first. As long as he gave them a target to vent their violence on, they would gladly follow suit. That would work for now, although he and Inori would have to figure out how to deal with them once the war was finally over.

If it ever would be over, that was.

He dismissed that pessimistic thought almost immediately and held out his void arm as he looked at his volunteers confidently.

"Then join me, comrades. I'll lead the way." With a smirk, everyone put their hand over the king's one, followed by each of them vanishing into the brunette man's void. Shu was about to retract his arm with a satisfied nod, when he noticed yet another hand being placed on top of it. Looking up to the hand's owner, he was quite surprised to see Arima's face.

"We haven't finished talking yet. Let's finish this fast so that we can get back to it, king." Was all he said with a serious expression.

The brunette monarch narrowed his eyes at him and said: "Fine by me, vassal."

And with a mocking "Hmph", the dark haired man vanished into Shu's void as well. Now then, since that's been over and dealt with, it was time to get to the main event.

Or that's what he had wanted to do, at least. However, the king's attention was caught by a group of Genesis who, instead of heading out like he had told them to, had been distracted by something and had decided to stay behind. Raising a brow at them in curiosity, he headed over to them and pushed his way through their ranks to have a look at what they were gathering around. It was yet another cell and inside was a single SDF soldier, which in on itself was odd. He wasn't one of the guards shoved into the cells by the Genesis which meant he must have been in here even before that. Not only was it weird that the SDF would imprison their own men, but it was also strange that he had gotten an entire cell for himself. What was this VIP treatment for, Shu wondered. However, that was only until he realized who exactly had been locked in there. He was quick to recognize the man with an angry frown.

"Well, well, well…if it ain't Lieutenant Sada." Shu said with folded arms, causing the man with square glasses and spiky black hair to look at him. "Never would have thought you of all people ended up in a prison cell, though that's undoubtedly where you belong."

"Ouma Shu." The army officer responded with a sneer. "The man who breeds his own monster army. Why am I not surprised to see you here to free your abominable creations?"

"You make me sound like an evil scientist. Yet it was you who tried experimenting on my people." He said with a smirk, yet eyes cold as ice. Shu had seldom seen a man as despicable as the man before him, and that meant a lot, considering how he had met men like the envoy of Da'ath, or Daryl the butcher. This guy could even compete with both of them in terms of being a scumbag, yet was dangerous in his very own way. Lieutenant Sada had, after all, been the driving force of cruelty and violence against the captured Genesis. In all the files Tsugumi had downloaded from the SDF database, everything that had had his name associated with it had been filled with acts of torture and human experimentation. He was a man that was obsessed with his hatred for Genesis, rejecting them with every fiber of his body. He called them an abomination, yet the only abomination the king could see here was the lieutenant himself.

Yes, while people like Yuu were a danger to Shu for being cunning bastards with evil motives that harmed him and Inori, lieutenant Sada posed a danger to the Genesis population itself. Elitists like Yuu wanted to see the world progress at all costs and psychopaths like Daryl Yan merely wanted to see it burn for their own selfish reasons, but Sada? He was the kind of man that caused genocides. Holocausts.

Shu looked down on this man with nothing but pure contempt. That's right. He was absolute trash.

"All I did was trying to reverse engineer them." Was all the lieutenant said to his defense. "If we could learn how you made them, perhaps we could find a way to undo them again. But that foolish general wanted me to stop all experiments. He made the mistake of thinking you guys are still human, but how could you be? The base of your DNA may be human, but there is so much more, so much alien matter. No, you are no humans. And what the general fails to see, I actually noticed. This is an invasion. It has only just started, but its goal is the destruction of mankind."

The Genesis around the king looked at each other in disbelief. One even mockingly tapped her own forehead to showcase how dumb she thought the lieutenant to be. Shu had to try hard to not laugh out loud at the gesture, instead opting in on focusing solely on the imprisoned lieutenant before him. Sighing at him, he said:

"Conspiracy theorists would love you, I bet. I gotta disappoint you, though. It's not aliens invading our world, but merely nature doing its work. Humanity is evolving, and you are merely afraid of being selected out. I get it. It's scary. But fear is no excuse for the crimes you have committed against my people. Mutilation, torture, performing surgery on them, probing them like lab rats…you just know I can't let that slide, do you?" Shu held up Jun's void and unlocked the Lieutenant's prison, causing the man to raise a brow at him.

"What are you doing?"

He opened the door and went inside, closing the door behind him.

"You see, I want to live in a world in which humans and Genesis can coexist peacefully, Mr. Sada." Shu told him as he put a hand on the man's shoulder and offered him a smile, even if just a forced one. "That's why you can probably understand why people like you are a problem, right?"

"Because we see though your schemes and resist your quest for world domination? Don't play dumb with me, boy. I can see how you are brainwashing these things into following you. No ordinary human being would normally go along with such a fiendish plan."

"If I was brainwashing people, why would I have to spend ages trying to convince them to follow me? Your logic is flawed, lieutenant. You are either in denial about it due to your pride or really are too simple to see the bigger picture here. I am trying to save you here by offering you the chance of evolving. Assuming you survive the process, you might come to see the world in a new light and redeem yourself by serving the people you have wronged." Shu tried to convince the man while the Genesis behind him became noisy in protest.

"Um…King Shu, could you please reconsider?" One of them forced himself to gulp down his anger and address his new king with respect. "I am sure I am not the only one who feels this man does not deserve to stand among our ranks. The gift of evolution….it would be wasted on him, sir…um, I mean your majesty."

"I know." Shu replied to the worried man behind him by facing back halfway over his shoulder, never fully letting Sada leave his sight. "I can see where you are coming from and even though I share your concerns, the way of our queen is a way of mercy and forgiveness. Inori…Eve wants to believe in the good of people from the bottom of her heart. It has been hard for her lately and the harshness of the world has begun saddening her. As her king, I wish to bring a smile back on her lips. Therefore, I need to at least try bringing out the good in people as well." He narrowed his eyes on Sada with a mixture of contempt and anger. "Even when I find it hard to believe that there is any good left in them myself."

The man in question could only shake his head in response, choosing to offer the king an amused chuckle as he readjusted his square glasses confidently, obviously thinking he knew it all. "Just listen to yourself, Ouma Shu. You sound like a madman, speaking of kings and queens. Who is this queen you speak of? Your alien overlord? If so, you can spare me your "mercy". Like hell I would like to mutate into one of you monsters and become another one of your marionettes." The lieutenant brushed his hand off his shoulder with quite a scowl once he had finished talking.

"Are you sure? This might be your last chance to atone." Shu told him patiently, yet with clearly no kindness in his eyes.

"I will never abandon humanity. Everything I did was for the sake of humanity, after all. Therefore, my conscience is clean. I have nothing to atone for. Tell your queen that." Was the lieutenant response to that. Not even the faintest bit of hesitation or doubt was to be heard in his voice. Well, fine with Shu. No one could claim he didn't try. All he could do was offer a way. If people refused to take it, it was no longer his business what happened to them.

"Fine then." The king said with narrowed eyes as he stepped back and opened the door once more to step out. "I don't do mercy anyway." He looked down as if slightly ashamed of himself before he eventually left the cell. "Not anymore."

He never relocked the door again.

"H-hey, Ouma Shu. You forgot to lock the door. Ouma!"

Ignoring the lieutenant's disturbed voice, the brunette monarch instead turned his attention towards the Genesis patiently waiting outside.

"Do what you must and then meet up with the civilians. Make it quick." Was all he had to say to them to plant evil smirks across all their faces. They began flocking into the cell with drawn voids soon after, surrounding the human purist who was looking at them in utter fear now.

"Get away from me you fiends! Ouma, call your barbaric creations back."

He ignored his pleas as he headed for the door.

"At least give me a weapon to defend myself! Ouma, you cruel basta-ouf!" A fist found its way into his stomach and cut him off halfway through his sentence.

"That's King Ouma to you, asshole." One of the Genesis said, never losing his evil smirk as he began putting the blade of his void saber near the lieutenant's face. "Now, after all the time you spend cutting off our fingers to find out if they would grow back, tell me: Do yours grow back, too?" He eagerly turned around to face his fellow Genesis and asked them excitedly: "Who wants to find out?"

Everyone yelled words of agreement as they readied their voids as well. The malice felt towards that man was so thick that the king felt he could have cut right through it with Yahiro's shears had he attempted to. Not that he believed that it was not to be expected. Standing at the door, he threw one last glance back at Sada from the corner of his eyes. Once the man began crying out in pain to reap the punishment he had sowed himself, the king eventually turned around and left without the slightest bit of sympathy for him.

Somewhere deep down in his heart, he was saddened by this, being able to faintly remember the boy he once used to be. The old him would have never allowed this to happen. He would have tried to convince the Genesis that revenge was not the way. That there would be another way. At the very least, he would have probably killed him himself to both save Sada the cruelty of torture.

But not anymore. He was done with saving everyone, especially people who didn't even deserve it. He was not a saint, nor a savior. He was a king. And a king only had to look after his people. This quite obviously didn't include Lieutenant Sada, as was shown by the man's refusal to accept Inori's mercy in the end. As far as Shu was concerned, that already sealed the deal. People who did not follow his lead did also not deserve his protection. He only had two responsibilities: His people and his queen. His people craved their revenge? Let them have it. If they helped him get Inori back, they deserved to be rewarded with things they desire. As for Inori herself, there would be no mercy for anyone who dared stand in his way of getting her back. Not for the SDF, not for Da'ath. Not. A. Single. Person.

There would be no rest for him until he could hold her in his arms again. That was his resolve.

For a moment he stopped and looked down on his hands, silently wondering what he would be looking at in a couple of days from now, or even years. Would they still be the hands of a king, or instead be the hands of a mass murderer? The hands of a ruthless extremist? He closed his eyes sadly.

The hands of a tyrant?

He was aware that he might have begun treading on a dark path and he could understand his late sister now more than ever. To the outside world, to Inori and even him, she had seemed like a vicious beast lashing out towards anyone who didn't agree with her, but deep down, perhaps that wasn't really the case. Perhaps, Shu thought, protecting the things important to you and regaining the things taken from you required certain sacrifices to be met. Mana had sacrificed her popularity in an attempt to get him back from Inori. Now he was ready to sacrifice anyone that didn't cooperate with him just to do the same for his queen.

He silently wondered: Once he would stand in front of his beloved Eve again, would she still be able to see the man she had fallen in love with all these years ago? Would he still possess the humanity that had moved her heart? And if not, if the loss of his humanity made him become the monster she had always feared to turn into herself, would she still love him regardless? The answer to that question was slightly terrifying and Shu had trouble finding the strength to gulp it down and forget it for the time being. There were currently more important things resting on his plate, as weird as it may have sounded.

That's because in the end, no matter whether Inori's feelings for him would change or not. His own ones for her never would. He would venture to hell and back for her even if she were to hate him for it with all her heart, as hard to believe as it may have been. Such was the extent of his love for her. It was unconditional. Unwavering. Absolute. Even if he were to lose everything else that defined him in the darkness that threatened to erode his heart. This, he vowed as he put his void hand over his heart, he would never lose. His hand was soon after clenched into a fist.

That's why he had to march forward.

Lifting his gaze, he steeled himself and looked forward with nothing but determination in his eyes as he took another step on his chosen path.

For her.

Always.

---

Whew, this chapter suffered from a lot of rewriting because I struggle with nailing down how much and how quickly I want the characters to change. As you may have noticed, Reclaiming the Throne plays in a rather bleak world where there is no clear good or evil, no black and white. It's not easy to define how much black there is in someone's grey and how much more black there needs to be added (or removed) whenever a character goes through a key moment of their development. I often times realize that the scenes I had planned out were too extreme for the versions of the characters I currently have in my story. This is probably due to my bias of liking badass characters and tyrant Shu probably having been my most favorite thing that ever happened in all of GC for me personally. Still, I realize that I need to dial it back and keep it realistic, so there is a lot of refinement going on.

This will probably be a constant problem for this arc, because Reclaiming the Queen will be the harshest arc yet in which the characters will each do the most extreme things you could possibly think of them. Sometimes perhaps doing things you would have never imagined them of being able to do in the first place. I just want to keep that warning out there so that people won't complain when it eventually happens. (Who am I kidding, they probably will anyway). What I am trying to say is: This story will bring out the very worst of everyone and it will most certainly be ugly. Brace yourselves for it. If anything, this chapter is probably nothing to what next chapter has in store.

In fact, next chapter is already halfway finished, as it was originally going to be integrated into this one, but then I realized it was getting really long again and that I could split it up very well at this point so you could actually read something for the time being.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading about RtT again after such a long break. the plot is thickening and boy can I tell you, it's gonna get dark. Really dark. I hope you are up for that.

Oh, one more thing, a guest reviewer once asked me if I was a science student. I had to chuckle at that, because I actually nearly failed all of my science classes aside from biology which I only got a C in. This isn't because I find science boring, I am actually very interested in it, but school forces you to not learn about how things work but how the things that exist are called and so you end up having to learn the Latin names of every enzyme by heart and write them down during exams. Who gives a damn? And physics is basically just maths with a theme behind it. And chemistry? Well, fuck chemistry. I actually don't get it at all, haha.

In short, I love to learn how things work and applying that knowledge for my fanfic. Therefore I often read up on certain topics which are relevant to my fanfic so I could provide a believable and interesting experience for my readers. However, I could never study science for real due to my actual intelligence not being sufficient enough, I think. At least that's what school made me believe back when I still attended. Hope that answers the question.

I think that's all I wanted to say for now. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will come back for more next time. Don't forget to review if you have something to say, even if it's just to nag. Attention is still attention, after all. Hope I didn't forget to mention anything.

Cya next time and merry Christmas everyone.

-GKOS