Chapter 50: Eternal Phoenix

Noire clenched her eyes tightly shut and waited for her fate, yet nothing happened to her. Once Henderson had pulled the trigger she believed that her time was over, but that did not appear to be the case. The senior CPU opened her eyes slowly and saw something she was not expecting at all. In front of her was what appeared to be a wall made out of stone, she weakly looked over next to her right and saw a tall man covered in a black hooded coat and scarf, black gloves and dark coloured pants that seemed to be weather-worn, crumbling bits of what looked like rocks were falling in small pieces from the man's hands. Noire peered over at her younger sister and saw that a wall made of stone had surrounded her as well. The stranger turned around and looked down at Noire, his eyes flared at a wicked grin could be noticed underneath his scarf; it was Wraith.

"Missed me, Noire?" Wraith asked with a cheeky tone.

"Shut up," Noire groaned as she failed to get back up. "Our… our Share Energy is gone, I'm too weak to fight on."

"I know, that means this little brawl has to end very soon, for the meantime this will have to do." Wraith bent d own as he ignored the shouting from the opposite side, he placed his right hand on Noire's forehead and began to channel the pure Share Energy into the tsundere CPU.

"Wh...What are you doing?" Noire asked as her voice began to become quiet.

"Just giving you a piece of my Share Energy to keep you alive, don't worry, I will give some to your sister as well," Wraith replied as he continued to channel his energy into her while the nearby Dark Followers began to smash their way through the stone wall.

Noire felt a strange feeling as Wraith's pure Share Energy flowed into her, she began to feel renewed but not great enough to continue the fight against the Dark Followers, but the CPU was confused as to how Wraith could use such energy. "Wraith, how can you use Share Energy?" Norie asked. "Are you like Brian? You're definitely not a CPU."

"I'll explain later if I have a chance to do so," Wraith replied as he stood up. "For now just stay low and keep out of trouble, this won't take long… I hope."

Wraith summoned two short ghost swords in both of his hands and held them upside down as if they were daggers, just as the magically created stone wall gave way and broke down Wraith lunged forward into the mass of Dark Followers and began to carve them up with an unnatural bloodlust. The ageless god ran past one Dark Follower and sliced his throat, sending the unfortunate man to the ground to choke on his own blood, another unfortunate Dark Follower was punched in the face before being stabbed through the gut and had their bowls emptied onto the ground. One Dark Follower aimed her rifle at the tall man and fired, the bullet scraped Wraith's left arm, a small trickle of blood flowed from the wound. With utmost precision and anger Wraith threw his left short ghost sword at the Dark Follower, the ghostly blade pierced her throat and she fell to the ground dead, blood trickled from her mouth and neck as her eyes bulged.

Henderson growled as he gripped his combat shotgun firmly with his two hands, the battle was now turning against him and his remaining soldiers. Now that Wraith had joined the fight and that he had killed three Dark Followers the rest of them were uneasy about going into battle, some had already began to run away which left only Henderson and six others left to deal with their opponents, some Dark Followers were still knocked out however. Henderson and the remaining Dark Followers quickly slipped back into the wilderness to gain and advantage, but luck was not on their side. One of the surviving Dark Followers was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground, he looked up to see Wraith glaring viciously at him before a booted foot came crashing down upon the soldier's face, one stomp was enough to shatter the skull into many fragments. Wraith walked away from the bloodied corpse and headed towards Henderson's position before he stopped a few feet away from the Dark Follower commander.

"I know you're there, I can feel your fear," Wraith said as he raised his hands and channelled the Corrupt Energy flowing through him into the palm of his hands. "If you won't come to me then my warriors will."

Henderson raised an eyebrow and watched as the hooded man channel the Corrupt Energy in his hands, Wraith was then covered in the energy as it began to flow across the battlefield, the energy entered the nearby corpses of the fallen Dark Followers just as Wraith slammed his right hand down on the grassy ground. Noire looked on as Wraith's Corrupt Energy flowed through the corpses and the CPU of Lastation watched as the dead bodies began to float and rise off the ground, the dead bodies walked over to Wraith and the remaining Dark Followers, along with the two CPUs of Lastation, looked at the corpses and saw their pale, lifeless eyes and the blood that flowed down from their mortal wounds. It was a horrible sight, not to mention unethical and frightening.

"Let's see if you have the guts to kill your fallen comrades, Dark Followers," Wraith taunted his opponents.

"Just who the hell are you?!" Henderson yelled as he opened fire at his fallen comrades.

Wraith glared at everything before him as his undead minions and the remaining Dark Followers fought it out. As Wraith spoke his voice began to become disorientated and sounded as if there was more than one person speaking, his body glowed bright blue, red and dark purple, distorted images of what appeared to be people appeared for a few seconds in Wraith's body, especially in his face. "Everyone I meet keeps asking me that damn question, so I'm going to make this very clear for you," Wraith growled. "I am Wraith, the Destroyer of Worlds, the Necromancer, the Reaper of Souls, the Oracle of Tari, the Mechanist, the Ancient God of Time and I am here to slaughter all who stand in my way! Now perish before the might of a God!"

All manner of Share Energy gathered in the clenched palms of Wraith's hands, they began to crackle and spurt forth from the hooded man's hands. As the deadly energy continued to build up around Wraith the sky began to darken and lightning sprang forth from the clouds, the fighting between the undead and the Dark Followers continued in a bloody fashion as they killed one another, limbs were severed, heads were rolling and bullets embedded themselves in undead and living flesh. Henderson snarled viciously, strapped his now empty combat shotgun onto his back, grabbed a scimitar that was strapped to his belt and charged straight at the former Oracle.

"I don't care what you call yourself, you're dead!" Henderson yelled as he ran forward, his scimitar poised to strike downwards as he neared Wraith.

"We'll see."

As Henderson was about to strike a blow against Wraith the hooded man swung his arms behind him and brought them forward swiftly, the energy that was contained in his hands surged forth and a bright beam of light erupted from Wraith, the light enveloped the sky and the land around them, everything was encased in a bright blue light. The force of the impact landed on Henderson, the Dark Follower was was smashed by it and sent flying across the ground and into a tree as the light died away, leaving craters in the ground and trees dead, the very ground around Wraith and Henderson was dead. It was clear that the fight was over. What was left of the Dark Followers ran away into the wilderness and never came back, at least to Lastation. Wraith panted for air as he ran over to Uni and channelled some of his Share Energy into her.

Once Noire found the strength to stand up she did so and walked over to her younger sister and Wraith, the senior CPU almost fell to the ground as she approached them. "You're a lot stronger than I thought, I'm glad you are on our side," Noire said to Wraith as Uni opened her eyes and groaned in pain.

"Looks can be deceiving," Wraith responded. "That simple lesson can apply to anyone."

As Noire panted for air she collapsed to the ground and held a hand to her chest and another to her stomach, Uni looked on in horror and would have cried if she had not tried to act tough. "Noire! What's going on?" Uni asked in a frenzy.

"I lent her and you some of my Share Energy, but it looks like it is about to drain away," replied Wraith. "I have to get you and her back to the Basilicom, and quickly."

"I-I can manage it…"

"No, you can barely talk, just drop the tough act and just accept help for once."

Uni grumbled but complied with Wraith's request, in a matter of moments the CPU Candidate found herself in Wraith's arms while Noire was slung over the hooded man's back with her legs intertwined with his arms. Both CPUs of Lastation were blushing like a ripe tomato when Wraith stood up and began to run north towards Lastation, his pure Share Energy engulfed him and increased his speed dramatically. As they neared the city the clouds grew darker than ever before and bright blue lightning flashed in the clouds, in the distance Wraith, Noire and Uni could see a blue light.

"Hey, Wraith, what's going on over there?" Noire asked weakly.

"It's Brian, the phoenix within him has awakened," Wraith replied, his voice becoming tense.

"Wh...What's going on there? Is Lastation alright?"

"No, it's under attack by Lothar the Bloodthirsty and everyone inside is in danger, whether from the Dark Captain or from Brian."

"What do you mean by that?" Uni asked. "And what's this about a phoenix?"

"Do you two remember what happened in Planeptune? Well, that isn't as bad as what is, or might, happen to your beloved city. As for the phoenix reference, well, it is a legend among the Ancients but it is said that every Shadow Walker in history has been born with the soul of a phoenix, once they die they are reborn in another part of time. But what I'm talking about is the power they wield, the power to ravage the land, the power to annihilate armies and cities off the face of the world. Not to mention what drives his powers: emotions, mostly his anger. I just hope we're not too late."


"Lothar, Lothar, where are you?" Brian asked in a less than sane voice as he roamed down the ruined streets of Lastation, his Share Energy flowed like a large, burning flame from his body, leaving the ground and nearby buildings cracked and ruined, his swords were drenched in blood and his coat and face was splattered with the blood of his deceased foes.

The air was filled with smoke and blood, the sky was covered in dark clouds and lightning sprang forth from the heavens, it was a dark and grim day compared to how the morning was. Lastation was in ruins. Just about everywhere in the city the battle was occurring, most of the damage had occurred in the centre, eastern and southern parts of the city where small bands of Dark Followers had been looting, pillaging and slaughtering their way around.

The Lastation Armed Forces had mobilised as much of their manpower as they could to fend off the attacks while also trying to find where the enemy headquarters was located, but with the sudden counter-attack by Lothar's killachines and the loss of White Heart – whether she was dead or had merely disappeared was not on most people's minds as most to nearly all had not heard the news – the tide of battle had turned over and over again for both sides. The Lastation soldiers also had a hard time trying to defeat, or at least kill, the Dark Followers, these soldiers of the Dark Captains were made up of ex soldiers from the Console War, monster hunters from the Guilds and malcontent locals, the ex soldiers and the hunters were the most troublesome of the whole bunch due to their experience on the field of battle, not many soldiers of Lastation had ever been in a real battle before.

Then there was the other problem that was now plaguing both sides of the battle: Brian. The Shadow Walker had gone crazy and whenever he entered a fight between the Dark Followers and the Lastation Army the Ancient would usually beat up both sides as well as a small portion of the city around them, but in the end he would usually kill the Dark Followers who fought against him – and not in a very quick and merciful way. Wherever Brian roamed death and destruction followed swiftly afterwards. Anyone could tell that there was something different about the young man, and it was not just about his change in personality, it was also his appearance. To onlookers he appeared to be some sort of ghost with flesh, like something out of the old horror tales that involved the supposed barrows around the ruined factory where the vault was located. Whatever the case the Shadow Walker was now more dangerous than ever before, and what little of his reputation that happened to be left was already sliding down the gutter.

As Brian savagery cut his way through a Dark Follower and a small escort of mobile robots armed with all manner of weapons the young man stopped and took a moment to look around his surroundings, everything around the young man was either in ruins, on fire or had been broken into and looted, several dead bodies littered the ground, some belonged to Dark Followers while others were of the Lastation Army, a small amount of bodies were citizens. Nothing like this had ever happened before, not since the days of Tari and the Ancient Era. Brian noticed one body propped up against a lamppost and decided to investigate it due to the body looking alive, when he walked up to the body it appeared to be some sort of lightly armoured citizen but on further inspection the man in question was a Dark Follower, the ten pointed star on his armoured coat's collar gave it away. The Dark Follower was indeed alive if only a bit injured, blood was flowing from his mouth and chest, his orange coloured hair was dirty.

"Hey, you, who's side are you on?" the Dark Follower asked Brian as the young man knelt down in front of him.

"Definitely not yours" Brian replied back in a harsh and cold tone, the young man then quickly grabbed the Dark Follower and swiftly stabbed him through the neck and out the back of the head with his Roman sword, the Dark Follower fell to the ground dead with a shocked and painful expression. With this done Brian got back onto his feet and resumed to roam around in his search for Lothar.

The search appeared to be in vain as no sign of Lothar could be seen, not even the killachine that Lothar was using as a mount was around the city it seemed, Brian growled viciously as he glared at everything around him. "Dammit Lothar, where the fuck are you?!" Brian shouted into the air as he held his two swords tightly.

The sounds of metal crashing into the ground was enough of an answer for the young Ancient, he swiftly turned around to see the same killachine that had supposedly killed White Heart, its large energy cannon appeared shiny despite the dark clouds that flowed over the city. On top of the killachine was Lothar, an injured Lothar at least. The Dark Captain had cracks around his chest plate and a tired expression as across his face, he wasn't fully prepared for a challenge, in fact he was just getting ready to halt the attack and retreat due to the number of casualties on his side. It was clear to the barbarian prince that getting away was not going to be an option any more now that Brian had caught up with him. Lothar sighed, gripped his war-hammer with both hands and gritted his teeth.

Well, no turning back now I suppose. To fight him in my state is practically a death sentence. Never mind, if I'm going to die then I'll do my best to take him with me!

As Lothar finished lamenting his thoughts Brian stared at Lothar with the intent to kill, his grip on both his swords tightened and a malevolent smirk formed on his face. "Time to meet your maker, bastard!" Brian yelled as he charged at the killachine, its cannon prepared itself to fire.

Lothar stood in a defensive position and awaited Brian's attack, he noted how different the Ancient looked, especially concerning the strange blue markings on his flesh. The Shadow Walker ran up to the killachine, his Share Energy flowed aggressively and tore asunder the land around him, he then yelled in a bloodthirsty voice and began to strike blow after blow against the killachine's legs. The killachine swiped its legs at Brian who dodged attempt after attempt while doing his best to smash the robotic legs apart with his Share Energy encased swords, his attacks were quick and precise but the only damage inflicted were a few scratches. The young man snarled harshly and prepared to attack once more, that was the case until the killachine smashed one of its legs against him and sent him flying into a nearby tall building, a large hole in the wall was a clue to anyone about Brian's location. The young man had crashed into what looked like a business office, the rubble that made up a wall was spread all over his body, with a grumpy groan Brian threw off the brick and stone rubble and stood back onto his feet to see the killachine's energy cannon charged, aimed and ready to fire.

"Time to finish this once and for all. Time to die, Shadow Walker!" Lothar yelled at Brian as he began to laugh uncontrollably, his eyes full of bloodlust.

The young man glared at his impending doom and awaited it with his Roman gladius held in front of him, his bright blue and pink eyes flared ever more brightly than before. As the killachine's cannon prepared to fire a round of deadly energy at Brian he stood still, stared at the mighty weapon and began to search through his thoughts, more more accurately his and Bellona's thoughts. Once he did this the young man began a conversation between him and Bellona, the former CPU of Lowee.

Hey, got any bright ideas on how to take this thing out before the whole city, and everyone in it, is destroyed?

Yeah, I have a plan actually. Let this damn monstrosity attack you, then you must use a special move to destroy the cannon.

Are you serious? That's impossible, even for me. Do you happen to have an attack that can do this?

Of course I do, otherwise I would not have suggested this idea. Did you know that I was once called the 'Flame of the North'? It was a grand title but I received it from my favourite attack that I created, since we are sharing the same mind at the moment you can access my memories on how to use this ability, and you better do it fast.

Brian then tapped into his combined memory and began to search away. His mind was filled with all sorts of memories, many of which were not his and some of them were not pleasant. The Ancient was experiencing the life of Bellona, from the moment she was born from Share Energy to the moment she was killed my a horrible and devastating humanoid-like monster. As the killachine's energy cannon fired Brian quickly searched through some of these memories and attempted to find Bellona's special, and favourite, attack. Finally, as the energy beam was about to hit the young man he found what he was looking for, with quick precision the young man stood in a defensive position with his swords out in front of him just as the beam of energy smashed into him, the explosion that followed was not expected.

"Burning Abyss!" Brian shouted.

The Ancient twirled his arms around as his Share Energy covered him like a ball of blue fire, the killachine's attack was sent away into many different directions, some of which smashed into the robotic killer. The huge contraption was sent hurdling to the ground as its own attack was blasted right back at it, destroying the metal legs and very important machinery within. As the killachine crashed into the building Brian was in Lothar did his best to hang on and stay on his two feet as his robotic killer met its end, the Dark Captain growled savagely as he looked up to see a grinning madman known as Brian looking down at him..

"Pity to still see you alive, no matter, you're gonna be in pieces soon enough!" Brian snarled. "I'll bathe in your blood!"

"Let's see you try to bastard! I'll wear your skin as a leather jerkin!" Lothar responded as he cried out in a loud and blood-curdling war cry, he ran up the killachine's spine and swung his war-hammer at Brian who swung his swords at his opponent.


"Finally, we made it," Wraith panted deeply as he entered the southern district of Lastation city, the smell and vision of smoke, fire and blood was all around him and the two Lastation CPUs, both of whom had started to recover miraculously much to Wraith's surprise and suspicion.

The thousand year old man put Uni onto her feet while Noire slid off his back, they both took a moment to gaze at their surroundings and note what they saw. It was a complete mess, and it made them both utterly distraught and sad, especially for Noire who was the ruler of the country. Wraith swore that Noire would have started weeping at the sight if he did not interrupt her and the CPU Candidate. "I know it's a right old mess but there will be a chance to rebuild, if we're lucky that is," Wraith told the two raven-haired CPUs. "Still, I'm surprised that the two of you recovered so fast, how do you feel?"

"I feel as if I'm sick while my chest and gut feel as if they are on fire, but apart from that I'm alright," Noire replied, Uni nodded to agree with her older sister's answer. "Does that mean our Sharicite has been replenished? Did Brian have something to do with this?"

Wraith shook his head as several explosions went of in the distance. "No, Brian is still out there in the city fighting Lothar, I guess you can call it luck." He then gazed at the Lastation Basilicom and stared sternly at it, the hooded man hada few guesses as to what actually happened, but one name came to his mind.

Minerva, she must have replenished a small portion of Lastation's Sharicite crystal. A daring move, especially coming from someone like her. Still, I can only wonder what has happened to her now, I doubt she has even managed to stay in her ghost form after all of that. I better make sure that everything over there is alright.

"Noire, Uni, I'm heading over to your Basilicom, you two should go and make sure your people are alright and encourage your soldiers," Wraith told the two of them.

"What are you planning on doing over there?" Uni asked, suspicious about Wraith's motives.

"Nothing much, just making sure that your Sharicite is in good condition. Now get moving."

"No need to tell us twice already, we're on it," Noire replied haughtily.

Wraith nodded and ran towards the Basilicom, as he began to disappear Noire noticed how the hooded man was becoming slower despite using his Share Energy to go faster, the tsundere CPU sighed and looked back at her younger sister. "Uni, go to the western part of the city and make sure that everyone over there is alright, I'll be in the north if you need me. We will then regroup at the Basilicom before entering the fight," Noire told Uni.

"Alright then, good luck, Noire," Uni responded, the CPU Candidate then ran off towards the western district of Lastation city, she ran through the small piles of rubble and headed down a corner and passed out of Noire's sight.

The CPU of Lastation ran of northward along the ruined road, passing by destroyed cars, blood trails, soldiers of Lastation fighting robotic contraptions and Dark Followers, Noire's mere presence was enough for her soldiers to gather up the courage to fight back with al t he ferocity they could muster within themselves. The senior CPU of Lastation neared the Basilicom and noticed a small alleyway that led to the northern district via a quicker route, with all the strength she could muster Noire ran to the alleyway and made her way north. When Noire got out of the alleyway she quickly wished she had some back up, or at least remained hidden for a short while, standing around her were five Dark Followers, all looked badly beaten and worn out but dangerous nonetheless. The leading Dark Follower, a man in a dark purple trench coat, turned around to see Noire staring at him, he grinned and held onto his rifle tightly as the rest of the group huddled around.

"Now this is interesting, I thought you were supposed to be dead by now," the Dark Follower said. "No matter, we'll do what Henderson could not!"

Noire gritted her teeth, summoned her rapier and attempted to transform, but to no success. She stood on the street bewildered at what happened before grinning, she pointed her sword at the nearest Dark Follower and with a cocky expression the CPU got ready to fight for her life. "Come on, let's get this over with!" Noire shouted before disarming the closest Dark Follower and kicking him in the gut, sending the enemy soldier to the ground.

With all of the elegance Noire had she parried blow after blow while also simultaneously landing her attacks upon the other Dark Captians without getting so much as a scratch on her body, that was the case until only one of the Dark Followers was left. As Noire stood in front of him she smirked and held her blade towards him. "Ha, you lot weren't much of a challenge," Noire taunted before letting out a little laugh. "I hope you can do better."

The Dark Follower stared at Noire before an evil grin formed across his face. "Oh believe me, Lady Black Heart, I've already won."

"What do you mean by…" but before Noire could finish speaking several small explosions went off around her, it was caused by some sticky grenades that the Dark Follower had planted on the ground during the fight. It was enough to send the Lastation CPU flying across the ground and straight into a wall back in the alleyway, while the explosions had not done much it had succeeded in grounding the almighty tsundere CPU. Noire looked up with a painful expression to see the Dark Follower looking down at her, a knife was in his right hand and a victorious look spread across his face.

"How the mighty have fallen," the Dark Follower said while swinging his knife around in circles. "I wonder what happens to a CPU once they have the skin on their face cut off? Let's find out, shall we?"

Before Noire could protest and try to defend herself someone ran up behind the Dark Follower, grabbed and turned him around before landing a punch directly to the face, the blow sent the Dark Follower crashing into the wall, knocking him out cold. Noire looked at he now unconscious Dark Follower before looking up at her saviour – although she would never step so low as to say that the newcomer was her saviour. "Wh-Who are you?" she asked the newcomer. "Why are you here?"

"I'm just an individual trying to get through life is all," the stranger replied as they extended a hand. "Need some help?"

"I-I-I can do without any help, I can do it… ah!"

Noire attempted to get up but collapsed back to the ground, she gritted her teeth and growled in annoyance as a response. With a sigh the newcomer bent down and began to feel her left leg, much to the CPU's chagrin. "Wh-Wh-Wh-What the hell do you think you're doing?! Pervert!"

"Stay still, I'm trying to make sure that you haven't got any broken bones, this won't take long."

After a minute the stranger had felt her leg from the shins of her foot to her knee, the newcomer grunted as they got up and stretched their back. "Just as I thought, you sprained your ankle and all the up the lower leg, you're not going to be doing any more fancy combat like that again for a while," the stranger told her.

"Don't underestimate my abilities, I can heal faster than the average human."

"Lucky you then, eh? Well for the meantime you're not going to be able to fight for the rest of the day at least, even if what you said is true. If you want help I can lend it."

"I don't need your help, now you better scram and get undercover in case this battle takes your life."

"I don't fear it, there isn't much for me to loose anyway. Still, the offer for help is still on the table if your interested."

Noire grumbled and decided to swallow her pride in order to accept the newcomer's help. As the stranger held out their hand she took it and was help to her feet she noticed that her rescuer was a male, a young man at least. He had shortish dark coloured hair that could be mistaken for either black or brown depending on the situation, he wore a grey shirt underneath an open brown jacket with black lining and the Lastation symbol around the right breast, his pants were a dim dark blue colour while he also wore a pair of dirty white shoes with black and grey lining. The young man had a caring expression across his face as he helped Noire walk back onto the street, his right arm was around her waist while his left was supporting her left around that was behind his neck.

"Alright then, where too?" he asked her.

"To the Basilicom," Noire replied weakly and with utter embarrassment as her face turned bright red.

"The Basilicom? Do you work there?"

"Sort of, I'm the CPU."

The helpful stranger was stunned into silence and stopped walking to stare directly at Noire, the two of them stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before the newcomer started to stammer. "O-O-Oh Goddess! S-S-Sorry about all this!"

Noire looked bashfully at him before gazing at the ground. "I-I-It doesn't matter, b-b-but this doesn't mean that I am grateful or anything so don't get any weird ideas!"

"Huh, so you're a tsundere, Lady Black Heart?."

"S-Shut up! I am not a tsundere! Now hurry up and take me to the Basilicom."

"Alright, alright, just hold on. Still, you seem to fit the tsundere part quite well."

"I said shut up."

The two hobbled down the road towards the Basilicom, along the way no one said a single word to each other, all that could be heard was the noises from the battle and Noire's ragged breathing. It was not until they almost reached the Basilicom that the silence was broken by the CPU. "Um, can you tell me your name? I-It isn't because I'm interested in knowing it or anything."

"The name's Hiroshi. Hiroshi Fujita," the young man replied back.

"Hiroshi… um, nice to meet you, Hiroshi."

"Yeah, good to meet you too, Lady Black Heart."

"You can call me Noire if you want to, everyone else I know calls me that."

"Alright then, Noire. Hey, looks like we're here now."

Noire and Hiroshi arrived at the front entrance of the Basilicom, or what was left of it anyway, a huge hole took the place of the front entrance. Small amounts of glass littered the area as well as huge piles of building rubble, it even seemed as if some blood was spread across the place. Inside they saw Rom in her HDD form and a wounded Kei, a bloodied bandage was wrapped around her head and parts of her outfit were in shreds, then there was what appeared to be Wraith far in the background talking to a womanly figure with silver hair, a black dress and padded armour, she soon disappeared and the hooded man came into the reception area to see Noire and Hiroshi enter.

"Now this is unexpected, to see the almighty CPU of Lastation being helped by one of her citizens, how funny," Wraith chuckled as he watched them walk in.

"Oh shut up, Wraith," Noire growled back as she was help down onto a chair thanks to Hirsohi, she blushed at him before breaking into a small smile. "Th-Thanks, Hiroshi, I owe you."

"No need to worry about that," Hiroshi replied, he then looked up at Wraith and appeared to be a bit frightened at the sight. "Um, who's this?"

"That's Wraith, he's… a companion of sorts towards Brian," Noire explained.

"If you wish to call it that," Wraith said. "Anyway, Noire, your Sharicite has been replenished, just wait here and heal up while your new friend can go and inform the people that their senior CPU is still alive."

"Um, alright then, if you say so," Hiroshi said as he began to walk outside to go one his mission. "Um, bye, Noire."

"Yeah, see you later, Hiroshi," Noire replied.

As Hiroshi smiled and ran back out of the Basilicom Kei walked over to Noire and began to make sure that she was alright, meanwhile Wraith sighed and fell to the ground, exhausted and completely drained of energy. "Dammit, this is going to take a while," Wraith muttered to himself as his head began to feel as if it would explode – the three seals in his mind were beginning to become undone. He looked up to see a worried Rom looking down at him, she held her staff tightly and was about to use her healing magic on him until he interrupted her. "No, don't use your magic on me, I'll be fine, just go out there and look for Brian, this battle is about to be over soon. Tell him the news."

"A-Alright then, but where can I find him?" Rom asked.

"Just look for a young man that appears to be like a phoenix. Now go."


Brian and Lothar clashed atop the ruined killachine, sparks flew from their weapons as they smashed into one another, both parried blow after blow as they tried to kill each other. "Just die already!" Lothar yelled as he swung his war-hammer at Brian once he sidestepped past the young man.

Brian ducked and brought his head up and smashed the top of his head against Lothar's chin, sending the Dark Captain up in the air. "A day may come when I shall die and break all forms of friendships then, but it is not this day!" Brian yelled, changing a quote from one of his favourite films.

"Well fuck you!" Lothar yelled back as he regained his balance. "Blood Ankh!" Lothar held up his left arms and extended his hand towards Brian, then nearby blood from the ground floated up and began to swirl around the barbarian prince. "Let's see you dodge this."

Lothar grinned and sent the large amount of swirling blood towards Brian, the young man dodged time and time again in order to get away, but eventually the blood smashed into him in a large, blood red ball that floated in the air. Lothar looked satisfied with the result and calmly walked up to it, his left hand still held towards it. "You won't last long, you'll die once my hand clenches tightly," Lothar explained.

Just as the Dark Captain was about to clench his left hand tightly a bright. Blue light began to engulf the blood ball, it did not take long for Brian to burst out and glare viciously at Lothar. The Dark Captain noticed that Brian looked like two different people occupying the same body, the markings on his skin glowed more brightly and he seemed ready to kill. "Shadow Walker Secret Art: Eternal Phoenix!" Brian shouted.

The Ancient was encased with a huge amount of Share Energy as it began to take on a form, the form of a bright, blue phoenix. It was as if it had came out of legend, the creature roared I na high pitched noise as Brian roared in an untranslatable war cry. His hands and swords were encased with the energy as well as his feet, he then charged at Lothar with unparalleled speed, striking blow after blow at the barbarian. As Lothar was sent back Brian head-butted him before jumping into the and roundhouse kicked the Dark Captain in the face, lothar was thus sent flying off and away from the destroyed killachine.

"I'm not done with you yet," Brian told Lothar as he jumped after him, he kneed the Captain in the chest and repeatedly stabbed him again and again with his swords.

As Lothar fell to his death he said only one thing. "My life for the Dark Lord." The last vestige of his life was brought to and end when Brian erupted in a bright light and blue phoenix fire burst forth, Lothar was caught up in it and the now charred barbarian prince fell to the ground wit ha smirk on his face.

Once he crashed into the ground, leaving a crater around him, Brian did not stop his relentless attack. The young man landed next to Lothar and began to mutilate him, laughing as he did so. For several minutes he slashed and hacked away at the lifeless corpse of Lothar, not caring whether people were watching or that he was giving in to madness. Brian raised his right foot and was about to bring it down upon Lothar's face when all of a sudden something, or someone, tackled him to the ground and resulted in his crashing next to a brick wall and his swords were dropped. He looked up and was about to strike his attacker when he recognised the person, it was Rom, and she was crying out of fear.

"Big brother, that's enough, he's dead, stop this" Rom told Brian as she laid on his, her face streaming with tears and her expression filled with fear.

"Get out of my way," was all Brian said as he tried to fling Rom off him.

"Stop this, please! There isn't anything else you can do."

"But he killed Blanc, and for that I'll crush him until there's nothing left of him!"

"Blanc's alive, she's in the Basilicom with Ram being healed up. Please, stop this, you're scaring me."

As soon as Brian heard the news he began to calm down, his Share Energy died away as well as the markings, his eyes returned to normal and he began to pant deeply for air. The young man looked down at Rom to see her still crying, in response he sat up against a nearby wall, put Rom in his lap facing him and patted her head while he began to look pleased yet also saddened as he wiped away Rom's tears. "Rom, I'm… I'm sorry about before, I truly am. I didn't mean to get out of control like that, guess there's still some things about me that even I don't know about."

His 'little sister' smiled in response and wrapped her arms around him while also burying her face in his chest. "Don't worry about it, big brother. Let's get back to the Basilicom before they start to worry."

"Alright then, oh, one last thing." Brian moved aside some strands of hair from Rom's forehead before leaning in and pressing his lips against her soft skin, a second later he leaned back from kissing her forehead and saw how Rom was blushing. "That's for helping me come to my senses, thank you," Brian thanked Rom.

Rom stammered at first before beaming a bright smile at him, her arms tightened around Brian – much to his discomfort. "I love you, big brother," Rom declared happily as her face pressed up against Brian's chest again.

"I love you too, Rom, thanks again. Now, let's head back."


As the fire died away and the sounds of guns, cannons and shouting dimmed into nothing Hiroshi sighed with relief and collapsed onto the ground in an exhausted state, he was completely worn out. He had no idea that the day would have played out like it did, no one could have expected such a thing to occur, but he was grateful that they had the Shadow Walker as well as the CPUs of Lastation and Lowee, he had even bumped into Noire, Lady Black Heart herself. Hiroshi had a feeling that he would see her again some time in the near future, and he looked forward to it, at least partially, the young man was not quite sure about his opinion towards Noire's tsundere nature.

"What a tsudnere, still, it was nice to meet her in person, not many people can say that," Hiroshi said to himself.

The young man was in a semi-ruined alleyway, weeds grew out of the pavement and rubble from nearby damaged buildings littered the area, but compared to the rest of the city it was a quiet place. Hiroshi definitely had an interesting day, but it was about to get a little more crazier. The first thing he noticed was a strange scent in the air, it was more like an aura – a deathly aura as it reeked of death. As the young man looked towards his left he noticed how the weeds began to whither and die, then came the heavy footsteps, it sounded like a walking tank, as if there was someone wearing a suit of heavy armour with lots of chainmail. Soon enough the source of it all was revealed.

It appeared to be a tall man who was wearing a dark grey cloak with a hood of the same colour over his head, he had a steel chest plate with chainmail underneath that reached from his neck, arms and all the way down to his waist, steel gauntlets and boots with leather pieces could also be seen, even thin steel and leather shoulder plates were being worn as well as some steel and leather pieces on his arms and legs. Whoever he was it was clear that he was not a local. The heavily armoured man also had multicoloured eyes, his left was brown while his right was dark red, his hair was hidden underneath the hood, there was no facial hair that could be seen and the expression that he gave off was one filled with malice, the armoured man also had three long scars running down the right side of his face. He was about to walk past Hiroshi when he stopped and looked at him as the young man stood up quickly. It was then that the armoured stranger spoke.

"Pwy wyt ti? Beth yw enw'r lle hwn?" the stranger asked in a completely different language, strangely enough it sounded somewhat soothing, Hiroshi stared at him flabbergasted and did not utter a single noise. Once again the stranger spoke. "Pam na wbewch chi ateb? A allwch chi hyd yn oed yn siarad yn y Hynafol Tafod?"

Once more Hiroshi was dumbfounded at what the man was trying to say, it didn't make any sense to him whatsoever. Soon afterwards the armoured stranger sighed and, with a disgruntled sigh, began to speak once more. "You do not answer. Must I use this guttural language of yours?"

"Wh-Wh-Who are you?" Hiroshi asked as the man stared at him sternly.

"My name is not important at this time, but who are you?"

"I'm Hiroshi Fujita of Lastation."

"Hiroshi Fujita of Lastation? Well at least I have now got a name for this wretched city." The man stared straight at Hiroshi's eyes, what he was trying to do was beyond the young man.

"Um, what are you doing?" Hiroshi asked nervously.

"Just checking something. Ah yes, you will do."

"What do you mean by that?"

The only response that Hiroshi was given was a swift punch to the gut that sent him to the ground, he leaned up against the wall and gasped for air. The armoured man then removed Hiroshi's jacket and lifted up his shirt before placing his right hand up against his chest. "Negyddol Hegni Enaid Marc!"

A burst of energy entered Hiroshi and began to swirl around his body, he would have screamed if it had not been for the armoured man holding him down, the painful ordeal lasted around a minute before the man put Hiroshi's shirt back down, a small, dark blue circle with various strangle markings - one even looked like and octagon - was on his chest He stood up and cracked his fingers before looking back down at the young man. "Before I go you must learn a few rules. One, do not tell anyone about that mark. Two, never tell anyone about me. Three, you must not unleash the power I have given you by becoming angry, it will lead to you breaking rules one and two. Four, you are bound to me, therefore you are a servant of mine."

"Wh...what does this all mean?" Hiroshi asked weakly.

"It will all become clear in the end, when the sky rains fire. Anyway, as the people here would say, have a good day." As the armoured man walked away, taking with him the stench of death, Hiroshi was too tired to understand what happened or why he was chosen to bear such a mark, or what the man was talking about. In the end Hiroshi sighed and remained on the ground, cursing his bad luck for getting involved with a possible madman who spoke another language.


A/N: Thank you HDNftw for the character Hiroshi, just a little dedication to an awesome guy. Once again I apologise for the wait, it is starting to get harder to find time to start and finish chapters, but I am managing… somehow. Anyway, I think things might get easier now that most of the main fights have been completed so my wild imagination can take a break, although I may need it for the upcoming lemon chapter (or chapters if you readers want to read, and visualise, more than one). Speaking of lemons I am still open to suggestions regarding which characters you want to see. Thank you readers for reading this and have a great day if possible.

PS: I have been thinking about creating an alternative version of The Rising Darkness where at a certain point in the story something else happens, thus creating a whole new yet similar timeline. Let me know about your thoughts on this, I do have something in mind but it's a far off project.