what is up people? Another week, another chapter. Depending on how I think of the next chapter, it may extend to two more chapters or simple a final chapter to the segment of the origins arc, moving over to a certain and pressing matter once everything is said and done in Siphrus City. Anywho, I hope you enjoy!


Chapter 52: Fathers and Avenging Sons

Dante, Darwin and Eve were huddled into a car that Dante was driving with a fake license Sienna provided him with in case he was going to be stopped. In case the fake license failed, Sienna gave him written permission with her royal seal to allow Dante to drive around at his age. The fact was, Filia and Sienna stayed behind to not only defend the palace in case of attackers, but to also run interference.

"How do you plan to handle the situation?" She asked Dante.

"Simple extraction. Why?"

"There is the possibility of him being guarded by the enemy until they are able to extract him. What will you do just in case?"

"Um...not un-alive them if possible?"

"Good. I don't need a bigger mess to clean up. Do your friends understand that as well?"

"Loud and clear." Said Eve enthusiastically.

The transmission ended and Dante kept driving while Darwin and Eve sat together in the back.

"Why do keep wearing your helmet all the time Darwin?"

For a moment, the AI seemed to shy away from the question.

"Should I tell her for you?" Said Dante.

"Tell me what?"

"Unfortunately...that basically is Darwin's face. He doesn't have...well...skin like you do for your face and a body when you remove your armor. Which is why I gave him the holo projectors to make him look human if he ever needed to."

"It's true. When I fell that day, I was recovered by the Ashford Syndicate and repurposed into a killing machine. Being so, they saw it fit to repurpose my appearance to that of a machine."

"Hey...don't worry. The sooner we get to professor Everest, the closer we get to taking down Aincrad and his troupe."

"How much further?" Asked Darwin.

"Just two minutes out."


The building in itself was large. It was a research facility after all. And full of guards. Guards that belonged to a different group than what they were posing as now. Luckily Dante had plan for such an occasion. Two guards stood by a doorway keeping watch constantly. Then they were surprised at what they saw next.

"Hello boys."

Eve had stepped out in front of the guards, wearing a black miniskirt and a long sleeved white v-neck shirt, exposing some of her more than average cleavage that was in between Filia and Sienna.

"Y-you're a long way from home miss..." Said one of the helmeted guards.

"I was sent to keep you boys company. I hope you don't mind..." Said Eve tugging on her shirt as the guards gulped.

"Come on guys, just sit back...and...go to sleep."

"Huh?"

The first guard was kneed in the groin then punched in the face, while the other received two kicks in the head. She then quickly dragged both bodies behind a counter and made sure none of their limbs were sticking out.

"All clear gents." Said Eve.

Dante and Darwin stepped out from the corners as Eve's body shimmered and soon revealed her metallic body.

"You were right. This is useful." She told Dante.

"So where is professor Everest?" Asked the teen.

Darwin opened his palm as a holographic screen appeared a few inches above his palm.

"We're currently on the tenth floor. Security is just going to increase from here on out. Unfortunately we can't use Eve's feminine charm to fool other machines." Said Darwin.

"No kidding... So basically we can cut loose but should be stealthy about it until we reach the professors floor?"

"Precisely. And to answer your other question, it seems the professor is on the fiftieth floor. That's were maximum security resides." Said Eve.

"Well then...who wants to take the guys on the first few floors?"

The three glared at each other for a moment before forming their right hands into fists and holding open their left palms.

"Rock, paper scissors!" Said the three.

Somehow by pure luck, both Eve and Darwin managed to get rock and Dante was stuck with scissors.

"Ah shit." Replied the teen as he summoned his sword. "Well, let's get started."

Darwin and Eve stepped back and let Dante through as he opened the doors and went inside. The two AI's waited outside for about five minutes or less, making small talk.

Soon after, "All clear on my end."

The two then began a fast pace run through the halls, seeing soldiers strewn all over, either knocked out on the floor, hanging from some piece of furniture, or in a few soldiers cases, smashed through walls.

"I'm surprised he took on this many..." Said Eve.

"I'm surprised he didn't set off any alarms. Even if we did still-frame the cameras and monitors." Said Darwin.

When they got to the end of the second floor, just before the entrance to the third, Dante was sitting on a stairs railing, spiraling a pair of key cards on a chain around his index finger.

"There you two are! I was beginning to think you guys were actually evil enough to leave me here to do this on my own."

"How long did it take for you to clear them out?"

"Two minutes tops." Said the teen jumping off and tossing Darwin the chained key cards.

"Third and fourth floors are for you guys to clean up. Good luck!" Said Dante taking a seat on his railing. Darwin just sighed and shook his head while Eve giggled.

"Quite the character." She said.

"He's not even trying." Replied Darwin opening the door.

The two were quick and merciless with their attacks, performing non-lethal takedowns left and right while drawing no attention to themselves. After getting the all clear from his AI friends, Dante disappeared in a blur of black energy and reappeared right next to Darwin and Eve.

"Nice work guys. So...what do we have beyond here?"

"The floor with the maximum security robots." Said Darwin.

"Only robots?" Asked Dante.

"Seems so. There's no human presence on this floor. When we ascend the floor after this one, the professor should be up there. But here's the twist. There's three different rooms, each filled with Titan class mechs of different varieties."

"Unmanned?" Asked Darwin.

"Unmanned. The only problem is the massive army of robots behind that door."

"Meh." Said the teen summoning his sword once again.

Within the next second, he kicked down the doors and entered into the room of HK 500's, all of their sensors focusing on the teen and his companions that entered after him.

"Intruders. Identify yourselves. Or be terminated."

Dante only chuckled.

"Wanna see my I.D?" He said before unleashing a massive wave of energy upon the crowd of robots in front of him.

The fight didn't last long with the three working together. Dante was simply Darkstepping left and right, slashing and hacking his foes to bits and pieces each time he did so. Darwin would make short work of the robots, using his pistol in his left hand while his rotator sword in the other. Countless drones fell under his tank like bullets and chainsaw like sword. Eve moved on the field with grace and beauty, dodging and parrying with simplicity while also dealing lashings of her own that devastated her foes. Her bladed tonfas simply cut through the masses of robots as if they were paper. The last HK 1000 fell by Dante's hand when he lashed up wards on its body, splitting it in two.

"Well...that's that. And look! They even have a three road path for us! Ah gee! They're so nice!" Said the teen.

"Sarcasm does not suit you." Said Darwin.

"Bite me..." Said Dante.

Darwin only chuckled in response as he choose the path on the right, while Eve shrugged at the teen and went down the left path.

"Guess I get middle...ugh...I hate middle. It's just like a car. Almost always the worst spot."


Darwin walked into an area as open as the one before. Only, in the middle was a Titan mech, gun class. With a short mechanical roar, the mechs cyclops like eye lit up and slowly rose up, it's gun arms shifting and activating before pointing them in the AI's direction. Darwin on scoffed as he drew his sword and waited. As soon as it's barrels spun up, Darwin was on the move, circling the metal beast until he got close enough for it to try to stomp him. The AI simply raised his sword and blocked the oncoming foot with an extra output of force that forced its leg up, allowing Darwin to jump towards the Titan mechs missile pack and slash it to pieces. After landing, Darwin gave his sword a twirl before rising back up and dashing towards the mech full speed, dancing around the storm of bullets flying his way. After getting close enough again, the AI jumped towards the mechs face and kicked it straight in its one eye, staggering it while Darwin slashed away at its chest while falling back down.

Perfect...its body is exposed...

The mech staggered back to take aim at Darwin with its right arm, but the AI tossed his blade at its joint, then ran up to the arm and grabbed onto it. Currents of white energy crackled around Darwin's body as the large metal arm groaned and creaked before being torn off completely. Through his touch, the AI managed to link his systems to the giant arm gun he ow possessed and pushed it into the Titan mechs chest. After ensuring it was well planted, Darwin triggered the arms systems and forced it to fire, shredding the mechs body as he slowly go right it up to the mechs head. After completely tearing through, Darwin swiped the arm to the side of the mech, batting it into a wall. As soon as he saw its eye lose power, Darwin walked over to the mechs large head and tore off its head to ensure it wouldn't try to reactivated later, then walked over to the large doors that now opened up for him.


Eve found herself in a large room with no light. Her eyes flashed white for a moment, as her vision now enabled her to see in the darkness. It was still dark, but it was enough to pass. Her sound sensors picked up something in the room, as did her radar. The red dot started to moved around her in circles as she tried calculating the possible direction her enemy would come from.

It's moving too fast...I have to try using the human instinct...

Eve then forced her sensors to block out all other noise except for the enemy moving around the room. She waited until the sounds were close enough to come into contact with what was stalking her and slashed at the dark behind her, hitting her intended target as it screeched loudly. Eve was the able to get a better view of what she was dealing with now that it was out in the open. It was an extremely large mech, having the metallic frame of that of a canine or a lion. It had a cyclops-like eye that glowed bright red. On its legs were thrusters made to incense the mechs speeds, and on its back were two large heavy machine guns that started spinning up. With quick motion, Eve drew her bladed tonfas and charged in towards the metal beast, blocking its bullets quickly before it stopped firing and pounced on her. Being the beast was larger than herself, Eve was instantly pinned to the floor by the mechs paw as it readied its head to devour her. With a quick motion, Eve used her free hand to stand on it and used her feet to somersault up while striking the beasts head, stunning it momentarily. The AI quickly made another charge at the beast, tonfas ready, and slid under its body, slashing its underside rapidly before sliding out on the other side and instantly getting back up. Eve walked over to the metal creatures body and raised it in the air by the neck before turning the longer side of her tonfa around and stabbing it twice in the chest. She then tossed it high in the air before doing a spin heel hick to its head, forcing the creatures body to spin around violently before crashing a small distance away from her. The AI gave a final charge towards the beast, tossing her left tonfa straight at the metal beasts mouth, which caught the weapon with the bladed sided going towards its body. After dodging a quick swipe of its paws, Eve grabbed her weapon and began pushing it until the the blade of her weapon started tearing through the creatures mouth. After a little more effort, Eve soon found herself moving through her target quickly until she reached the other side of it. A loud thud of metal was heard. All she did was turn around to see her target had been cut in half horizontally.

She gave a quick and silent "Yeah!" before doing a quick victory pose and making her way past the metal doors that now opened.


Dante grumbled as he walked his path with his hands in his pockets. He knew the middle would offer him no challenge at all or would be extremely annoying to take care of. Either way, he didn't want to waste time on a fight with a mech that may or may not prove to be a worthy opponent. In all his past cases, they were always let downs in exception for the time of the Giga Mech that was piloted by Charles, Blanc's dastardly uncle who wanted total control and who wanted to kill his own nephew in order to assure his...ascendancy. The room he entered was rather large and completely dark. But as quick as he entered the dark room, through his vision, his eyes began highlighting every objects corners and crevices in white lines with grey-scale coloring the rest of the objects. It was a perfect countermeasure against dark areas. Dante heard a low toned mechanical growl and slowly turned his head around to trace the source of the growl, eventually laying his eyes upon the metal beast now in front of him.

"Oh hello. That's new."

In front of him stood a silvery metal replica of a Northern Burrow Wyrm, a dragon whose arms were wings, which also stood on two legs before breathing a gulf of fire and going on all fours with its wings and legs.

"Been a while since I fought your kind. Even if you're a hunk of metal, you still count." Said Dante summoning his sword.

The metal dragon roared while breathing fire on the teen, who raised his hand to block the stream of fire. After the dragon finished its attack, the fire died down and Dante stood in his place unscathed. He soon looked up to see the dragon widen its jaws it it tried to eat him. After some minimal effort on his end, Dante forced the dragons jaws wide open before kicking his legs backwards to avoid another gulf of fire exiting the dragons mouth, the swung his legs back towards its moth, hitting it directly under its mouth and causing it to stagger back as he landed softly. The mechanical dragon shook its head in frustration before trying to chew on Dante again, who then jumped atop its head and began stabbing it multiple times. In an attempt to crush the teen like a fly, the dragon was smashing the sides of its head left and right, hoping Dante would accidentally slip towards the side its head was moving towards.

"Missed me! Hello! Goodbye! Whack-a-mole! Yee Haw!"

After giving up its attempt to crush the teen, Dante jumped onto the creatures snout and slashed its face before kicking off it and landing on the ground once more. As he turned, the dragon managed to bite the teen, digging its teeth into his body as the teen struggled to get free. He managed to free his arm that held his sword and began stabbing it along its face until he managed to stab the metal beast in the eye. The creature freed Dante from its jaws as he grabbed his sides to feel the large teeth marks were gone.

"Okay beasty, round 2! Fight!"

The teen then charged straight towards the metal beast and jumped on its leg as it tried to fly away. The teen made a short climb towards its backside and jumped on, then began a full fledged sprint towards its head, running across its spined back until he jumped ahead of the dragon, turned his sword downwards, then stabbed it into the dragons head. It gave off a final roar of pain before it began to head towards the floor, which forced Dante to jump off. The mechanical dragon crashed into a few cargo crates before exploding and unleashing an inferno in the area.

"Down and out." Said the teen with a smile as he walked towards the large metal doors.


The three eventually met up when they reached an office floor with a single obscured room.

"Are we done and through with security?" Asked Dante.

"It would seem that way. No other enemy forces have been detected. The only signs of life are behind that door." Said Eve.

"They probably should have tried harder. If they're supposed to guard one of this worlds biggest brains, they haven't done an excellent job." Said the teen.

"I agree. This was far too easy. Titan class computer controlled mechs aren't exactly the definition of small fry forces, but they still are powerful enough to take out a large amount of enemy forces."

"But it's us we're talking about."

"Even so..."

Darwin placed his metallic hand on the door softly. His thoughts were frantic despite his best to try to calm them down. He was going to meet his maker again. The first man he's ever respected and held any notion of respect, Dante and his friends being the second.

"Okay...let's open it." Said Darwin removing his hand.

Eve began working on the holographic locks as Dante pulled Darwin to the side.

"You are alright right?"

"What do you mean?" Asked the AI.

"You're all fine and dandy? Nothing...I don't know...wrong?"

"Why ask me this? Have I been...strange?"

"Not particularity...you just seem... You know what? I don't have words. Go nuts. Have a field day. It's not everyday you get to meet your maker again after seven years."

"It's strange..."

"What is?"

"After all this time...the repairs...the maintenance checks...the upgrades...it's as if you're my maker."

"Aw shucks. Truth be told though? I may be smart, smarter than most even, but I probably wouldn't have been smart enough to make you. You're lucky you had someone take the time to build you to make a difference...a change... Me? I don't even know where the hell I came from. But enough sob stories from me. Right now we get to meet a great man! Well, I get to meet a great man. You guys already know him."

Eve signaled to the two that she was finished, which forced them to quickly move over to the door which soon opened. Dante stuck out his hand to find it being shot at.

"Ouch. I guess he doesn't like me." Said the teen dislodging the bullet from his hand.

"Professor! Please put down the gun! We are not here to harm you!"

Bullets started flying again as the teen sighed.

"Oh screw this."

Dante then walked out of his hiding spot as bullets started to hit his body, one of them eventually hitting his mask and leaving a crack. After a few clicks and no more bullets approaching, the teen walked to the professor who was now trying to load another magazine, but Dante had managed to grab his wrist and prevented him from doing so.

"Would you please stop shooting? Besides, didn't you hear me say I'm not gonna hurt you?"

"The last person that told me that was the person who put me here. Forgive me if I'm not too trusting. Wait...would you mind taking off your mask? Just for a moment?"

"Uh...sure?"

Dante placed his gauntleted hand on his mask and took it off, forcing the professors eyes to widen.

"It's...it's you!"

"Uh...it's me?"

"Professor?" Asked Darwin as he stepped through the doorway.

"Who are you?"

"It's me professor Everest."

"That voice...Darwin?"

"Yes professor."

Everest instantly ignored Dante and went to hug Darwin.

"What...what happened to you? How are you here?"

"After the events that transpired seven years ago, I was gathered by the mercenary group known as the Ashford Syndicate. Just this year they managed to activate me and use me for their...purposes. Through luck however, my friend Dante was able to defeat me and remove whatever twisted repurposing programs they installed in my systems while also repairing my body after slicing it to pieces. From that time towards today, I have been helping him in his endeavors. Just recently I was able recover my memories...and a friend." Said Darwin standing aside as Eve approached.

"Hello professor."

"All of you...what of Ephram?"

"He's still under Aincrad's influence. He's launched two attacks so far and we have reason to believe he is somewhere in this city."

"Not good...I have been here for a year now and have little to no information on his plans. I have been trying to create schematics for newer model mechs, maybe even sow thing to work against the corruption program but...that's about it."

"Allow me." Said Eve.

Her hand glowed for a moment as she placed it on the console unit and started downloading information.

"He has a bit more planned for Siphrus city. His real target is New Wellington, but he intends to finish what he started here seven years ago."

"That crazy bastard wants to turn the reactor into a bomb?! Again?!" Asked Dante.

"It appears that way. He also has something else set for this city as well, but I've been locked out."

"When does he plan to strike?" Asked Darwin.

"Tomorrow at one pm."

"Then we get there two hours early and set up for any contingencies. If by chance there's guards or mechs, we take them out." Said Dante.

"Or...we can hit whatever kill switch there is in the area, disable all the mechs, then reactivate them for casual movement and non-combat purposes. That way whoever is coming with the access codes to the reactor doesn't suspect anything until our moment of attack." Said Everest.

"I like it. Well, I say we leave now and go to the palace with you and further this plan professor. Let's go." Said Dante pointing towards the exit.


"Okay...you two both check out." Said professor Everest to Darwin and Eve.

They nodded and made their way out of the lab that was provided for Everest. The only one who remained in the room was Dante.

"Do you need something?" Asked Everest with a smile.

"I do actually. I need answers about those two."

His smile dropped.

"What do you want to know?"

"Probably the most important thing. I noticed this when I went through Darwin's memories and noticed this when he fought with Eve. Why? Why were they able to bleed?"

Everest sat down in his chair and sighed, rubbing his forehead as he removed his glasses.

"Is the door locked?" He asked.

Dante went over to the door and typed in a code to which the word "locked" appeared in front of the door.

"Do you know how Darwin and the others were constructed?"

"No...how though?"

"Do not repeat this to Darwin or Eve until the time of my death. Do you understand?"

"I got it I got it. Just spill the beans already."

"Darwin, Eve and Ephram were once human...it was during the time of the War. Darwin's mother had passed away from a terrible accident and we were alone. But in the time of his grievance, he had his friends. They were Eve and Darwin. During the years of the war, when the old cities stood, people were violent...cruel. They...oh god...they were playing in the streets...and a car just...just hit them. From the crime scene, it looked as though Darwin was attempting to shield them. Thanks to his efforts, both Eve and Ephram lived. But they were crippled either way. And Darwin? His reward for his act of kindness? A coma. And him being paralyzed from the neckline down. I...I hated seeing him like that. At the time, we were working on AI development, making actually bodies so those AI's can move freely, have an opportunity to live like we do. After extensive research...I found it. The key to Darwin's problem. I transferred his thoughts and the thoughts of Ephram and Eve into separate data units...and erased their memories."

"You what?!"

"I had to. It was determined that if they remembered what had happened to them, they wouldn't be capable of a mind transfer due to the stress it would put on their minds."

"And erasing their memories was the best option you could come up with?!" Said Dante grabbing the man by the collar and raising him up in the air. "You son of a bitch!"

"Would you have liked it?! Would you have liked to see them crippled for the rest of their lives?! Unable to claim their future because they were crippled! I said no to that! I said no and gave them a chance to live again! Was that so wrong?!"

Dante growled, his left eye twitching a bit before he let go of the professor.

After sighing and getting over his anger, the teen said "Look...I don't care if you played Frankenstein with your son and his friends. Truly I don't. I like him as he is. But what is really messed up is erasing their memory."

"I told you already. If I didn't do that, their transfer to their new bodies wouldn't have been possible. I...I have a request."

"Yeah?"

"Do not speak to Darwin about this. Please."

"I won't. You tell him whenever you want to. It's not my business. You just figure out what your going to do about that kill switch."

"Don't worry about that."

Everest turned and went back to his desk, working on some schematics as Dante watched for ten seconds or so before leaving.


Filia sat on a stool looking towards a mirror, brushing her long black hair while Sienna was sitting in a stool next to her doing the same.

"I'm surprised we weren't attacked today considering their tactics." She told Filia.

"I know. It's just weird. But thankfully they came back unharmed. And with professor Everest to! I guess today was a success. I just wonder how tomorrow is going to go. Hopefully we can end all of this and go home after the week passes."

"We can finally relax after all of this blows over. And get time to know each other a lot more."

"We'll have so much fun!"

The girls giggled for a moment before going back to brushing.

"Off to bed then huh?" Asked Filia.

"I would guess so..."

"I wish Dante was here."

"Why's that?"

"We usually sleep together."

Sienna quickly clasped her right hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as Filia's face turned bright red.

"No! That's not-!"

"It's exactly what you meant!"

"No it's not!"

Sienna began laughing as Filia sat in her chair embarrassed.

"I'm just poking fun. But what did you really mean by that?"

"You meanie...I meant we share a bed. It's just...I don't know...I feel safer in his arms. Like nothing can hurt me. When we're together, I feel we can't be broken apart. It's that special of a bond we've formed. We're...more or less connected to each other's souls...if I can go that far."

"That's so romantic and heartfelt. I wish I could say the same for my life."

"You don't have a special guy in your life?"

"I do...I just...I don't think he really knows I...I love him."

"Well you should sit down with him more."

"I already do whenever I visit him. He actually lives in New Wellington. I always make sure to visit him when there."

"Just tell him how you feel. I'm sure he loves you too. Maybe he's just waiting on you."

"I never thought about it like that. Want to do something that's a real eye catcher for Dante?"

"Um...maybe?"

"Don't worry. You'll love it. And he will most certainly love it."

"I'm concerned."

"You shouldn't be." Said Sienna getting up and moving to her closet.

"Ah! Here it is!" She said in a sing song voice.

"No."

"Oh yes."

"I'm not wearing that!"

"Oh yes you are! Do it willingly or I'll force it on you!"

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh I so would!" Said Sienna running towards a screaming Filia.


The stakes were high as all five sat around the table. Dante had a grin of confidence on his face, Eve looked from person to person with a suspicious glare, Darwin simply stared at his cards and the two head guardsmen that always protected Sienna were a nervous bunch.

"Call." Said Dante.

"I fold." Said Darwin.

"We fold..." Said both guardsmen.

"Feeling a bit too confident there Eve?"

"Just show your hand already Dante."

"A full house! How do you like that? Sorry, but seems like I won."

"Then I'm sorry too."

"Huh?" Eve laid out her cards on the table, which showed all spades.

"Royal straight flush. I win." Said the female AI with a smile.

Dante sighed as he tossed his cards to the table and took off his shirt. The current score was this. Dante was now down to his his pants and shoes, Darwin down to his boxers, and the guardsmen down to their boxers and helmets. As they all began to laugh, Dante noticed he got a text.

From Filia?

"Meet me up top."

For what? Ah, doesn't matter. Can't keep a lady waiting for too long. "See ya later guys." Said Dante grabbing his grey collared shirt and putting it on.

"Scared to lose another game?"

"Nope. Personal matters. Good luck gents." Said Dante to Darwin and the guardsmen.

He exited the doors and began walking down the long hallway until he reached the stairs. Trying make his venture quicker, Dante Darkstepped all the way up to the level where Filia was supposedly at. He kept walking, eventually passing a balcony. His eyes widened as he was a few feet ahead. With a quick scurrying motion, Dante walked backwards at a fast pace until he reached the entrance to the balcony outside, seeing who he was looking for.

"Uh...you called?" He asked.

Filia turned around, causing Dante's face to go red a bit. All she wore was a white nightgown with thin straps, the gown going down to the midsection of her thighs.

"Uh...uh...wow! That...that's a really nice gown!" Said Dante, his voice cracking on the last bits of his sentence.

"Y-you think so?" Said Filia, face bright red with an embarrassed expression on her face.

"I...uh...I don't...don't know what to say...um...oh boy. I'm kinda getting embarrassed here." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh god...w-what did I do?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Dante.

"S-Sienna told me to ask you to...uh...to come up here. And told me to wear this." She said.

"Don't be me wrong! I-it looks good on you! Too good to be exact..." Finished Dante softly.

"So Sienna put you up to this?"

Filia nodded, still embarrassed.

Then that means..! "Shit..." He said softly so she wouldn't hear him, turning around and scanning the area.

Where are you..?

He heard metal scraping against stone and turned towards Filia to see water had splashed all over her. What he also saw after that made his face turn a shade of red brighter than Filia. The water that doused her had forced her clothes to become see through, revealing Filia had been wearing a sexy bra and panty set that was colored black, which also formed perfectly on her body. Dante gasped with a small childish shriek as he covered his eyes and took off his shirt, using Filia's agitated cries to get closer to her and out the shirt on her.

"Okay lets go now!" Said Dante taking her into his arms.

And quickly scurrying off the scene. Above the balcony on the roof stood a laughing Sienna, holding a silvery metal tub. As Dante scurried down the halls with Filia in his arms, he could think of only one thought.

That evil witch that evil witch that evil witch!

Followed by, Gotta find a place gotta find a place gotta find a place!

After skidding to a halt, Dante found an open door and quickly entered, locking the door. As he entered, the teen quickly grabbed the thin bed sheets and began wrapping Filia in them, running around her rapidly, almost making the lower half of her body look like a mummy.

"Uh...Dante?" Squeaked Filia.

Before she could say another word, the white haired teen quickly unlocked the door and went outside running. After a good ten seconds, Dante was back, holding a pair of Filia's usual pajamas. The pajama set was a soft and thin purple blouse and pajama shorts, which he quickly gave to Filia, while dragging her to the restroom, stepping out and closing the door.

"Take your time! I'll just...uh...I'll be out here both scared and mystified at the same time!"

As Filia heard this from the other side of the door, she couldn't help but giggle a bit.

"Something I said?" Asked the teen confused.

"It's just...you always go overboard with a few things. Wrapping me like a mummy?"

"I-I-I was trying to cover you. Uh...jeez...that woman!"

"It's okay Dante! Really! And thank you for bringing my pajamas down."

"No problem." He said sliding down the wall, eventually sitting down.

"God what a day..." Said the teen sighing while messing up his white hair.

"Trouble at work? Hehe. We sound like a married couple."

"I'd wait until we're at least eighteen. Maybe twenty."

Upon saying this, Filia started off with a giggle before laughing.

"What?"

"You already thought of our marriage?"

"What's wrong with planning ahead?"

"Nothing. It's just sweet is all." She said sitting down with him, leaning her head against his chest while wrapping her arms around him. Dante closed his eyes with Filia and enjoyed the peaceful moments they experienced.


After finishing an embarrassing game of strip poker, in which Eve won without losing a single scrap of clothing, Darwin had found himself walking the halls to his and Dante's room with Eve at his side.

"An interesting day today..." He said.

"It sure was. We got the professor back...and we can end this tomorrow."

"Thank goodness. I could finally relax with everything calming down. We can resume life as it was."

"Can we resume where we left off?"

"Huh?" Said Darwin a bit nervously.

Eve opened the door to Darwin's room and pulled him inside while also pulling him in for a passionate kiss to which Darwin returned with the same affection while closing the door behind him.


The complex surrounding the reactor was silent. The workers were sent him for the day. And where the worker usually were, robots now filled the halls, both large and small. As they patrolled the area, to figures in torn cloaks walked down the halls, each carrying a metal briefcase. Eventually the duo reached the reactor room ready to open the cases until the mechs started pointing their guns at them.

"I feared as much..."

"I got this."

Under his torn cloak exited a white and black striped metallic hand that held a switch that was pressed in the next second. As this was done, all of the robots and mechs in the surrounding area, both inside and outside the reactor complex, started to self destruct, taking care of whatever fears the two held.

"You do realize how much one of those costs right?"

"Hey, Ephram said go by whatever jurisdiction we deem. I deemed those malfunctioning pieces of crap as pesky and decided to swat them. Simple."

"And because of that, whoever caused the mechs to malfunction is already on there way here."

As soon as he said this, the two turned around to see a pair of metal doors explode off their frames.

"Correction, they're already here."

"Knock knock!" Said Dante exiting the smoke with Darwin.

"The Black Knight and his AI accomplice Darwin. Pleasure to meet you two."

"Pleasures not mine." Replied the teen.

"Funny. Unfortunately we have no time to waste with you two."

From his cloak, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers as both he and his accomplice vanished out of sight.

"They vanished?" Asked Dante.

"No. They're using holograms. They must be close."

Before either of the two could make another move, they heard the doors next to them being banged on.

"The hell? Didn't they blow up all the mechs we repurposed?"

"They must have brought their own backup mech."

The doors started to bend towards the two as they got their weapons ready, Dante his black longsword and Darwin with two of his rotator blades. The doors were knocked down as smoke filled the room. Out of the smoke walked a fifteen foot humanoid mech with four arms. Even though it's body was that of complete metal, it's body could be compared to that of a fifteen foot tall, four armed metal body builder. In its two top arms, it held two immense rotator swords, while the lower arms held what appeared to be large guns that crackled with red energy, as did all the other red highlightings of it's body. It's cycloptic red eye glowed bright as it twisted it's swords once. Darwin and Dante looked at each other confused for a moment before looking back to see the new arrival point it's guns at them, at which point they jumped out of the way into cover. As the mech kept firing upon them, the teen and the AI looked at each other before nodding. Dante jumped out of cover from the side and used his sword to block the bullets that were coming his way, while Darwin quickly slipped out of his block of cover to approach the tall mech. As it kept firing on Dante, Darwin managed to jump on the mechs back and repeatedly stabbed it in the shoulder. The mech however decided to thrust itself backwards into a wall, forcing Darwin off him. Dante took the opportunity to tackle his enemy through the wall, but soon found himself kicked off and shot a few times in the chest. Despite shot, the teen made a quick recovery and dashed at his foe again, attacking with Darwin as the two kept a frontal assault on the mech. The duo managed to eventually slice off the mechs lower arms that held it's guns, which allowed them to further their assault without worry of being shot. After a short clash with the mech, the duo pushed back the mechs swords and passed each other, both slicing the mech in half at the same time. It's metal body fell backwards before exploding behind the duo.

"Eve, status report!"

"It's bad Darwin! One of them nabbed the professor and fled while the other is keeping me pinned down! I'm slowly pushing him back, but his accomplice seems to be heading towards the roof!"

"Make sure to keep him occupied then! We'll be passing by you and head towards the roof! Got it it?!"

"Got it!"

"Well, looks like we're on the move again! Which floor?" Asked Dante.

"Eve's on the seventieth floor. If one of them is heading towards the roof, then he would be going towards the hundredth floor."

"We're on the first right?"

"Right."

"Shit. I can Darkstep only three hundred feet currently."

"Currently?"

"Once I get better at it, I can go further. It's still something I need to master. Are we going to talk all day or go stop them?"

"Right. Take us up."


Eve was moving from cover to cover quickly while blocking her cloaked opponents bullets. They weren't ordinary bullets, but carbon steel bullets, strong enough to pierce steel. This reason alone was why the AI took caution as to not be hit, for it would cause some significant damage to her frame.

Damn him! Where is he getting all these bullets?!

Eve heard rustling behind her and turned to see both Darwin and Dante dashing past her at high speed, the two dashing pat her attacker as well.

"Dammit...Blackjack, they're heading you're way! Keep moving up!"

"Shut up and let me work Grimlock!" He replied.

Grimlock simply scoffed as he lowered his guns and activated his leg thrusters so he could catch up to them. Eve quickly did the same, chasing close behind. As Dante and Darwin ran full speed down the corridors and up the stairs, they eventfully managed to catch up to Blackjack.

"Tch! Damn pests!"

Blackjack whipped out what was seemingly a submachine gun and started firing at the two, which forced Dante to quickly rip off a metal door to use as a shield for himself and his friend. Blackjack growled angrily, but soon gave off a triumphant chuckle as he saw what he was looking for. Rooftop access. He shoulder tackled the door as he held the professor in his other hand as he kept running towards the edge of the roof. Dante then frisbee tossed his door at Blackjack who jumped over, but turned around to see Darwin tackle him off the roof, the professor leaving his hand. As Darwin and Blackjack fell over the building, Dante quickly Darkstepped over the edge and found the professor falling too. After managing to get closer to him, Dante nabbed the professor and began running down the buildings side.

"You okay professor?" Asked the teen.

"Just fine! Dante! Their target wasn't the reactors! They were after me!"

"You?! Then that means...they knew we'd bring you in case we had a problem!"

"Exactly! They baited us! But here's the other situation...we need to get Blackjack's case! He has some data in there that would help us figure out Aincrad's true plans for attack! And whatever resources he's using!"

"Dammit! I hate it when the bad guys get the jump on us!"


Darwin and Blackjack kept running down the buildings side, periodically attacking each other, Darwin with his blades and Blackjack with his guns. They masterfully dodged each other's attacks while running and jumping down the glass.

"For an obsolete piece of shit, you're not so bad Unit 00!"

"That's not my name!" Said Darwin as he lashed out at Blackjack.

The speed of the AI's attack was so fast that his enemy had no tiger option than to block, which resulted in him falling faster towards the ground.

"Why so angry Unit 00?! Let's enjoy this to its fullest!"

Blackjack raised up his guns once more and began unleashing a hail of bullets upon Darwin, who used his two blades to block the buckets to the best of his ability. One managed to get and hit the side of Darwin's armor on the side of his visor, irritating the AI. After a grueling struggle to block bullets, Darwin managed another clash with his foe as both were sliding with their metal legs against the buildings side.

"Sorry about this Unit 00, but I need you to fuck off now!" Said Blackjack as he broke their clash and shot Darwin in the shoulder, forcing him back up in the air a bit.

With a quick chuckle, Darwin's foe holstered his guns and pushed off the buildings side a little so he could fly towards the ground again. After making his quick recovery, Darwin noticed something bursting through the glass. It was an arial vehicle for three, codenamed Specter. Blackjack quickly got inside one of the open passenger seats and gave Darwin the middle finger as he started to fly away with his accomplice Grimlock.

"Heads up Darwin!" Said Eve over the radio com.

Darwin looked further down the building to see another Specter burst through the buildings side. The AI quickly kicked off the side of the building and got into the passengers seat as the two took off after their attackers. Shortly after, Dante flew up towards their vehicle and dropped the professor into the passenger seat and grabbed onto the wing, sitting on it while holding on.

"Don't lose them! They have some important stuff we need to get our hands on!" Said Dante.

"I know! Eve! Double time it!" Said Darwin.

"Roger!"

Eve pulled the handle further back as they began to speed up, getting closer to their targets.

"They're on our ass Grimlock!"

Grimlock growled a bit before typing in an autopilot command code and un strapped himself from his chair, hopping on the tail of the vehicle to join his accomplice. The Specter's soon began to close in on each other until they were side to side. Dante and Darwin instantly spring into action, jumping on the enemy Soecter and beginning their fight. None of the four fighters used their weapons, only their hands and feet, knowing that if they accidentally hit the vehicles, it would be over. Grimlock and Dante engaged in a rapid hand to hand fight to which the teen considered to be a game of tag since he was dodging all of his foes attacks.

"You're fast Black Knight..."

"Not so bad yourself..." Chuckled Dante as he began his attack.

This time when they engaged each other, Dante was making all of his punches and kicks while Grimlock calmly tried to do the same, managing to get the teen to raise his hands or feet a few times to actually block. After managing to get Dante off guard for a moment, Grimlock tackled the teen into one of the buildings, leaving only Darwin and Blackjack on the Specter. The two were locked in fierce combat, punching and kicking at each other with ferocity that was inhuman. Every now and then in their conflict, one or the other would land a hit on the other but would still continue to fight. A minute had passed and Darwin was in trouble. He was having a hard time keeping up with Blackjack, who kept nailing him with punches. Professor Everest saw this and was not pleased at all. What had gone through his mind currently was stupid and would possibly get him killed right now. But he needed to do something. Everest quickly grabbed the handle off of Eve's thigh and had the bladed tonfa form as he jumped from his Specter to the next, charging Blackjack who was about to possibly deliver a final blow to Darwin. But it did not happen. A loud sound of metal piercing metal was heard as Blackjack looked down to see Eve's tonfa sticking out of his abdominal area. He growled as he quickly looked back at the professor and landed a solid punch at his chest, making the professors heart stop for a moment or two due to the strength of the punch. He could've also sworn his sternum was broken as he fell back into the passenger seat of the Specter Eve was driving.

"Filthy maggot!"

Blackjack drew his gun and pulled the trigger, shooting professor Everest in the chest three times. Darwin looked up in horror to see his enemy standing over his maker, gun smoking and the professor bleeding profusely.

"NOOOOO!"

Darwin then pounced on Blackjack with a feral roar, knocking the two off the Specter.


Dante and Grimlock continued their fight on the side of the building they crashed into, both leaping around with great agility and striking at each other with great force. They both clashed for five seconds before pushing each other back. Dante stood on the buildings side while Grimlock's hand dug deep into the buildings stone. Before the two could attack each other, they heard a shot ring out. Both heads jerked up in surprise, looking towards the area the shot came from.

"That idiot!" Shouted Grimlock.

Dante looked back at Grimlock confused.

"If you're wondering what happened...tch...I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen..."

"What the hell did you bastards do?!"

"Him. Not me. My job was simply to distract you. Blackjack's job was to simply capture the professor...damn him..."

"No...he shot him?!"

"Like I said, I apologize. There's no point in furthering our fight. We both failed our objectives."

"And why should I let you go after-?"

Grimlock grabbed a case off his lower backside and tossed it to the teen.

"Compensation for what happened." Said Grimlock, cloak flapping in the wind as he sheathed his swords.

"You're smart enough to back down from a fight...but answer me this. Why are you stupid enough to work for someone like him?"

There was a short silence between the two, Grimlock staring at the sky for a few seconds before saying "I don't know..."

He then removed his hand from the buildings stone side and fell past Dante, then began flying away as thrusters appeared from his back. Dante looked at the case in his hands, then dematerialized it as he kicked off the buildings side and dashed through the air towards Eve's Specter. After a minute of flying, he managed to catch up and saw Eve in the back holding someone. The teen landed inside the air vehicle and approached her to see Everest in her hands, bleeding and breathing heavily.

"Professor?" Asked Dante.

"You're here...thank god...listen...you...you have to stop...stop Aincrad..."

He slowly reached into his pocket and grabbed Dante's hand.

"Dante...Listen to me...listen to me carefully...don't...don't leave him alone...don't ever...leave...him...alone...I'm...sorry...I'm sorry for all we did...for all we did to you..."

"What?! What are you saying?! Do you know me?!"

"I'm sorry Dante...but...I'll finally pay...for...for all my sins..."

As he finished, the professor closed his eyes. Dante grabbed him by the collar and shook him.

"Don't dare die without telling me! You know me don't you?! What do you know?! Tell me!"

Dante stopped shaking the man after he saw him. His soul was gone. His body was empty of the life that once flourished in it. Dante dropped him, but then looked to his hand. A memory unit sat in his hand.

On the back of the black unit was etched "For Darwin, after I have long passed."

Then teen began to remember his words.

Don't leave him alone...don't ever...leave him alone.

"I know professor. I know..."

Dante bowed his head for a second of silence then got in the drivers seat of the Specter. He heard a few explosions coming from the direction the vehicle was facing and zoomed off.


Darwin and Blackjack were engaged in intense combat as they made their way towards the downtown part of the city, shooting destructive bullets at each other that were either blocked, or missed and hit buildings and cars, causing massive destruction as the two rapidly moved around the city. Blackjack managed to lodge a few more billets into Darwin's chest, causing him to stumble and fall after running so fast. He gave a triumphant laugh as he turned to run, but heard the sound of thrusters coming his way, not knowing Darwin had just grabbed his cloak.

"Don't you understand the meaning of fuck-?!"

Before he could say more, Darwin pulled his foe towards him and landed a solid punch to his face, sending him tumbling into the streets while destroying some of the road. Blackjack got back up angry.

"Alright! Enough bullshitting! This time you're dead!"

He pulled off his cloak to reveal his entire metallic body, two glowing blue eyes glaring at the AI the were soon covered by a full helm visor. His guns soon extended into swords that had barrels on the blunt edges.

"Are you ready to be added to the garbage heap Unit 00?!"

"SHUT UP!" Shouted Darwin as he charged in roaring madly, causing Blackjack to back up as he kept shooting at Darwin, who kept blocking his bullets.

"Fuck you!" He shouted as he kept shooting.

Darwin got close enough to uppercut his opponent in the air, which was the followed by a spin kick that sent his foe through a few stores where people were either cowering in fear or running for their lives. As Blackjack got back up, he nabbed a nearby child and formed his guns word back into its gun form.

"Blink...she dies..."

Darwin growled as he touched a nearby lamppost as it crackled with white electricity. The electricity seemingly traveled to the post near Blackjack and electrocuted him without harming the child, which was let go when he was feeling the energy course through his body painfully. As he slouched down a bit, he looked up to see Darwin punch him square in the face, sending him into a pile of ruble while bouncing off it. As he bounced off the ruble, Darwin kicked him in the chest and sent him in the ground, forming a small crater. The AI soon landed on Blackjack by punching him in the face, then stood over. He gave a quick roar as he began to rapidly punch his enemy in the face multiple times. After punching him twenty or so times, Darwin grabbed his face and tossed him into another pile of ruble. As a car with a mother and her two children passed by, Darwin grabbed the car, raised it over his head and threw towards Blackjacks direction. Before the car could even move ten feet, Dante appeared in front of the car in a blur of black energy and grabbed the car while moving backwards a few inches or so.

He gently put down the car and said "Sorry about that miss. He's a little crazy right now. Have a nice day."

The woman speed off as Dante looked to Blackjack, then Darwin, who menacingly walked to finish what he started.

"Hey!"

Eve had landed with the Specter and got out, walking towards Dante. Darwin ignored him.

"Hey!"

Darwin was about to pass Dante, but the teen slapped the back of his head.

"Hey! Tinman! What the hell was that?!"

"Don't you dare stop me!" Growled Darwin.

"You don't do shit like that! We're here to save the city from assholes like him! Not destroy it!"

"I don't care!" Said Darwin pushing Dante.

But the teen held his ground. He grabbed Darwin by they shoulder and turned him around.

"You go cool off and regroup with Eve! Now!"

"I don't follow orders from you! If you won't help me takedown Aincrad, then I'll make my stand alone!"

"I didn't come here with you to takedown this guy so you could be an asshole like him! I won't let you go on any further right now." said Dante using his finger to push Darwin.

"And I won't let you stop me. Move aside."

"Darwin please-"

"Shut up!" Shouted Darwin as he turned his head to Eve before he turned it back and stared down Dante.

Eve took steps back towards the Specter as the two backed away from each other slowly and began to circle each other. Soon Darwin stooped as he drew his handles and formed his swords. After that, Dante moved his right hand to his side as his black long sword formed in his hand after the black, fire-like energy that surrounded it disappeared. After a few seconds of glaring at each other, Darwin charged in first roaring, swords glowing hot white while Dante simply charged in roaring. The two got close enough to each other and clashed blades, making a quick and momentary clash to the normal human eye, but for the two, it was as if time slowed for a moment. After breaking off their clash, a loud metallic hum sounded through the air as both slid away a distance from each other while staggering a bit. As soon as they recovered, Dante charged back in with a few slashes and hacks that made Darwin go on full defense so he wouldn't be hit. After a few slashes, the teen abandoned his sword and grabbed Darwin during his midair attack, spun him around twice and tossed him into the ground, causing Darwin to barrel roll a bit before he recovered, his back facing Dante who stood behind him a few feet away.

"Don't do this..." Said the teen.

Darwin only growled and got back up as he readied his sword. He charged in once more, this time putting Dante on the defensive. For a minute, it seemed like Darwin was besting Dante, but he was just toying with him, which made Darwin even angrier. After dodging Darwin's blades, he gave the AI a swift spin kick that sent him tumbling backwards. After skidding to a stop, he got back up and rubbed his chin.

"Just give up and stop this."

Darwin looked to his sword while still rubbing his chin, then disappeared in a blur of white electricity.

"Never."

Dante lashed out behind him to find Darwin had already teleported and could see streams of white electricity flying around him. Darwin had reappeared in front of the teen and tried for a stab, but Dante raised his sword in time to block, forcing him to skid backwards as currents of energy were pushing him. After blocking the attack, Dante looked up to see Darwin above him as he struck down, and forced Dante back further. Dante tried for a side slash, but Darwin lashed out in time to disarm the teen. The AI made for a stab, but the teen quickly moved aside and pushed the back of Darwin's head, forcing him to hit the ground. The teen quickly grabbed his sword for the air and walked towards Darwin, who turned around to lash out at Dante, but found his sword arm pinned before he was kicked in the face and sent sliding away. He got back up slowly, his body crackling and twitching as he stared down an unscathed Dante. Soon after, Darwin's body began to violently burst with white electricity. The teen growled, gritting his teeth.

"Just stop! It's over!"

Darwin raised his sword to attack, but Dante had straight tossed his sword at his blade, removing both out of the picture. Darwin raised his right fist as electricity amassed around it.

All out huh? Well...

Dante raised his fist as black energy amassed around it. Darwin's vision was filled with static, making it hard to see. Not only that, but some of his servos were malfunctioning, causing him to stagger. Everything was also quite, giving the AI the assumption his audio sensors were disabled. He couldn't hear himself, but he was screaming loudly as he charged Dante with his fist of white electricity. Dante did the same, but the AI couldn't hear him. Time moved oh so slowly for the two, moving at an agonizingly painful flow. Soon, they were close enough to root their feet into the ground and unleash their punches. As they were mid punch, Darwin seemed to slow down to Dante, the white electricity disappearing from his fist. For Darwin, he only saw Dante's punch getting closer before he shut down. Dante noticed the usual glow from Darwin disappeared and halted his punch, creating a massive gust of wind that passed by Darwin. The teen sighed as he lowered his fist a drubbed the back of his head.

"Damn idiot...giving me trouble all the time..."

He looked back up at Darwin's metallic face to see something white drip downwards beneath his visor...almost like "A tear..? Did he just...cry? Aw man..."

"Is he alright?" Asked Eve.

"Yeah...he's...uh...he's fine. Just...need to get him back home." He said picking up his metallic friend and slinging him over his shoulder.

Sorry Darwin. Just wait a little longer. We'll make sure Aincrad pays for this...


"You damn fool! You were supposed to bring him in alive!" Said Aincrad kicking a still injured Blackjack, who slid away from a kneeling Grimlock.

"Our apologies your royal assness...I thought it'd be just for me to swat a fly that dared buzz around my head."

"You pull another stunt like this and disobey my orders, I will dismantle you personally! Are we clear?!"

"Crystal..." Said Blackjack getting up and leaving towards maintenance.

"Idiots...how tiresome..."

"Forgive my ignorance sir, but did we need Everest in the first place? The way I see it, you're more skilled int the field of mechanics than he is."

"No. I'm not. I will always be a pale shadow in comparison to Everest. His mind worked differently than most. An out of the box thinker if you will. It both infuriated me and inspired me."

"One more question...what of our army?"

"They will go as planned. We will attack New Wellington. But first, Siphrus city must be made an example for all to see."

"The Black Knight will not stand idly by. He will come for us."

"I know. I'm hoping he does. As well as Darwin."


Darwin's visual sensors blinked on as he moved his head around the room. What concerned him was the fact he was being restrained by electronic locks.

"Insurance in case you decided to jump back up and punch me once I reactivated you."

"Why did you get in my way?"

"Why? Heh. Simple if you ask me."

"Not so simple if you were to ask me."

"Darwin, you were about to throw a minivan full of kids and a mother at your enemy, probably even killing them all if I didn't grab it in time. My issue is that you got so pissed off that you were about to kill other people to exact your revenge. That's not what we do. That's not why we're here."

"Then why are we here then? Why did we even come here if not to kill Aincrad?"

Dante growled softly, knowing Darwin was right about their true intentions.

"You might be right about that, but we didn't come here to kill innocent people."

Dante typed in a few command codes as the electronic locks holding Darwin down were disabled.

"Get up and let's go. We have a funeral to attend in two hours."

Darwin rubbed his wrists as he said nothing to Dante, leaving the room while not even greeting a passing Filia.

"Hey Darwin-" she was completely ignored.

Dante sighed while looking towards the holographic screen as Filia walked behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry about mr. Everest Dante."

"Don't sweat it. It's not your fault. Only our fault."

"Our?"

"Darwin and I."

"It's not your fault either. It's those meanies faults."

"Heh."

"What?"

"You said meanies. What are you, four?"

"What are you, five?"

"Sometimes." Said Dante, receiving a laugh from her.

"I'll be up in a minute. You go and get ready and stuff."

"What about you?" Asked Filia.

"I've got a bit of work left to do here. I'll be up in a minute or two."

Filia kissed Dante on the cheek and walked up the stairs as the teen stared at the blank screen.

He knew me. He knew who I was. That look in his eyes before he died...they were sad eyes. Eyes of regret. He said he was sorry for what happened to me...what did he do to me? Was he the reason I lost my memory? And did he saw we?

He looked away from the screen, pondering and questioning.

How much could Aincrad really know? Was he involved somehow? This could be an opportunity. I can figure out who I really am for once. Wait...

The teen quickly grabbed the briefcase Grimlock gave him and forced it open with his hands, seeing a memory unit inside it that would fit in the console in front of him. Folders began appearing on the screen, one of them being particularly interesting to him labeled video logs appeared.

"Access denied?"

The teen sighed furiously as he exited the folder and came upon another. After reading its contents, he was less than surprised. He expected to see a plan like this somewhere. That's what he was up to. And that's why we saw no real resistance from his side. His robot army is secretly being kept outside the city, but just close enough to have it in attack range. And after he finishes with this city, he's planning to move on towards New Wellington. The teen soon borough up his own Holographic screen and went to his contacts to find Blanc. After a few seconds of hearing the dial tone, Blanc answered.

"Good to see you my friend. How goes the hunt?"

"Not too good, but we're more or less getting to the end of things here."

"What happened?"

"We found Darwin's maker but...he died."

"I see. I assume you're calling because you've discovered more of their plans?"

"Pretty much. Just be careful. In case thing don't work out here in Siphrus City, be ready for anything when they reach New Wellington."

"I'll stand on guard then. Good luck my friend."

The teen pressed the end button to finish his call and leaned back in his chair.

I need to find out what Aincrad knows before Darwin kills him.


The rain fell down hard on those who wielded umbrellas. But the hearts of those who had known Everest fell harder and deeper than the rain. Darwin and Dante where in the front of the casket while Sienna's two head guardsmen where in the back, also carrying the casket. After placing it in the ground, the priest gave the last rite while Eve stood crying next to an emotionless Darwin. Dante stood with Filia across the two, her arms around Dante while Sienna and her guards stood next to the two teens. As the priest finished the last sentence of the rite, he closed his bible as all stood in silence. Dante's head soon jerked up to see some sort of plasma bolt land a short distance away, sending the people scurrying. Dante, Filia and the rest took defensive positions as they all readied themselves for a fight. Blackjack stood upon an extremely tall mausoleum laughing maniacally.

"Well well well...all the little flies in one location. Perfect."

He took aim and shot, but Dante lashed out with his sword and deflected back to his enemy, who simply turned his body to dodge the bolt of energy. He simply scoffed afterwords and took off, causing Darwin to start a run but was soon halted by Dante, nodding his head in a certain direction. They all looked around in the black of night to see glowing red eyes trained on them.

"Damn him..."

"Go on."

"What?" Asked Darwin.

"You and Eve go on and take that bastard down. We'll stay here and keep them off your back while working our way up to you."

Darwin moved to leave, but still found Dante's hand on his shoulder. Confused, he looked up to his friend.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Without responding to Dante, Darwin took off with Eve close behind him. As the two ran after their target, robots began hailing down from the sky, getting in their way. This did not slow them down however since they were slicing through them with ease as they continued. They eventually made their way closer, seeing Blackjack from yards away. Before they could even dare move on, a Titan mech jumped in front of them and gave off a mechanical roar, causing them to skid to a halt.

"Go on Darwin! I'll keep it busy!" Said Eve as she jumped towards the mech and kicked it in the face.

Darwin charged up his legs with massive amounts of white electricity and dashed at incredible speeds towards his object of vengeance. The AI eventually reached an open area and skidded to a halt, looking around slowly until he was in his visual sensors.

"Here we can play around all we want! But sure enough I'm going to dismantle you for the beating you gave me!"

"Which is nothing compared to what I'll do to you!" Shouted the AI as he charged in, swords glowing hot white.

Monsoon Battle theme from MGR

Their fight was intense, each was dodging the others attacks, blocking rarely while confidently slashing at each other's exposed bodies. It was like a game of tag, one that meant serious trouble for the other that was tagged. After a few minor cuts that were landed on both, the two AI's came to a clash. Sparks fly around them violently as Darwin kept pushing against his foes gun swords. Blackjack only noticed at the last second that Darwin's blades were seeping through his own and kicked Darwin away. Darwin tumbled backwards, but flipped and recovered instantly. After making a mad dash towards his opponent, Darwin sent his swords spiraling after him, then whipped out his pistols and began firing at Blackjack, who shattered the swords and started dodging and shooting at the bullets coming his way. Once they were close enough to each other, they began a close quarters fight using only their guns. Bullets and shell casings littered the yard as the two kept pulling the trigger over and over and over again. After a short and rapid series of attacks, the two pointed their guns at each other's heads and fired, ripping away whatever armor covered it. After doing so, the two immediately punched each other in their mechanical jaws, chock full of electricity that sent them skidding on their backs. After quickly getting back up, Darwin saw Blackjacks gun blades form into their bladed form.

"That all you got Unit 00?! Disappointing! No wonder the nutty professor died!"

"SHUT UP!" Said Darwin smashing his fist into the ground, creating a massive shockwave of earth that flew towards his foe.

"What?!"

Through a quick movement, Blackjack sliced apart a nearby mausoleum and used it as a counter object to Darwin's attack, creating a large cloud of dust and ruble that quickly settled. Darwin was out of sight for a moment, causing Blackjack to turn around in surprise to receive a swift kick to the head that sent him spiraling. Darwin's foe got back up laughing madly, sparking and crackling.

"Alright then! That's how we'll play!"

He turned to a nearby spiked tower and grabbed it with both hands, currents of red energy crackling around him as he roared and tore off the colossal stone monument from its place. Darwin turned to his left to see something similar near him, only made of metal, and tore it from its place, placing it on his shoulder. The lightning storm grew violent around them as the two were glowing in the darkness of the night.

"Get ready to die Unit 00!" Said Blackjack jumping in the air.

Darwin simply spun around once, roaring as he straight tossed his tower of metal towards his enemies own tower.

"Shit!" Screamed Blackjack as the metal tower passed through the stone tower, destroying it and nearly Blackjack himself.

After opening his visuals again, Blackjack saw Darwin bursting through the smoke and soon after saw the AI's leg buried in his stomach, forcing the two into a wall. Darwin gave a few vicious and rapid stomps to his foe before grabbing him by the neck and tossing him into the ground. After doing so, Darwin jumped back down towards Blackjack, grabbed him by the leg and smashed him into the ground, then tossed him high into the air, jumping after him. After a quick spin around, Darwin lashed out across Blackjack's body with enough force that he created a wave of air that sliced through the stone behind his enemy. The AI did two flips in the air before landing on the ground and turning his head in time to see his foe fall to the ground, split in two.

"Good riddance..." Said Darwin.

As he said this, the Titan mech that he faced before crashed a few feet in front of him broken and beyond repair as Eve stood up slowly.

"Is he..?"

"Dead." Said Darwin passing her.

Eve looked to Blackjacks remains, horrified of what she saw. The torso half of Blackjack had its arm raised at Darwin, a strange gun in his hand that started to glow red. Eve looked back at Darwin, unsuspecting of what was to come next. As the bolt of energy fired, Darwin turned his head in time to see Eve falling towards him, catching her as he fell to the ground with her. He was as horrified as she was previously when he saw what was happening. She was falling apart. Literally. Parts of her body were slowly turning into silvery dust.

"No...no...no no no no no no no!"

"Darwin..."

"Not you too!"

"Darwin please..."

"Don't...don't leave too...don't leave me alone..."

"It's okay Darwin...it's...it's my time...and...you won't be alone...you have him...and you have his friends...keep them close Darwin...keep them close as you did with us..."

As the rain poured down around them, Dante and the rest ran upon the scene, the teen skidding to a stop as he looked, closed his eyes and turned his head away. Filia gasped in disbelief, tears forming at the corner of her eyes while Sienna and her guardsmen silently watched in sorrow.

"I love you Darwin...don't ever forget..." were Eves final words as the rest of her body turned into silvery dust and disappeared from his hands.

He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. All he did was hold his hands as they were while they were wrapped around Eve previously. A soft grunt was heard as Dant elicited his head to see a surprised Grimlock arriving on the scene.

"What the hell..?"

He looked over at Blackjacks remains before walking over and removing the gun that was used to murder Eve.

"The Deconstructer...this weapon was supposed to be scrapped...no doubt Aincrad had it secretly remade!" He said as he crushed it in his hands.

"And no doubt he gave it to Blackjack for a reason."

Dante was trying to think on Grimlock's words. More importantly why he was here.

"Why are you here?" Asked Dante.

"Blackjack up and vanished for a while after his repairs were done. I tracked him down to here and...well..."

"That's not all to it though...is it?"

"Meaning?"

"You're here for another reason. Your an AI. You don't usually do things without involving an ounce of logic and reason. And it's definitely not reasonable to be in a crowd of your enemies."

Grimlock sighed as he looked from the still kneeling Darwin to the sky.

"I don't like what he's doing. Waging war against people...and for what purpose? For his own personal gains? To use us and throw us away later? Everything he's been doing has been wrong. And all I ever did was sit and watch."

"I assume you handed in your letter of resignation?"

"Me being here is my letter of resignation. Listen, I'm not one to fight a pointless fight. And I'm definitely not one who enjoys fighting on the wrong side. If you and your people are as good as I've heard about, then why fight a meaningless battle?"

"But that's not the only issue is it? You have your own morals. Your own sense of honor."

"Something of the sort. I've decided to help you."

"And how can we trust you?! After this?!" Shouted Filia.

"Filia..."

"No Dante! He shows up right after Eve gets killed and wants to join sides with us?! Isn't that the least bit suspicious?!"

"Easy there. He just offered us his help."

"He might backstab us!"

"He has his own morals and his own justice. He doesn't believe in what Aincrad does. He literally put his life in our hands coming here. That's nearly enough to have me trust him. But to be sure..."

He walked over to Grimlock and grabbed his left hand, going through previously memory data within the past two days in text format, all in a few seconds.

"Nothing. The only thing he discussed recently was what happened a few hours ago. Aincrad has no idea he's here."

Darwin slowly got back up cuasing everyone to look at him. Within a second, he drew his swords and slashed at the ground around him, obscuring their sight. When the dust cleared, he was gone.

"What the hell I she doing?!"

As if he just realized something, Dante looked back to Grimlock.

"Check your data files to see if they were accessed right now."

"An outside source just accessed them! They got the data file for the location off the base we have set up outside the city!"

"Son of a-! Damn idiot! Sienna, take Filia and your guards back to the city and keep it in lockdown until you hear from us. Grimlock? Got any flying functions on you?"

"I have the latest MK201 thrusters customized for my usage, the same thrusters used for the fastest planes on the planet."

"Alright. You're gonna guide me to that base so we can hopefully stop Darwin from killing himself and stop Aincrad."

The teen soon turned to Filia, gently grabbing her hand.

"I'll be back later. Stay safe."

"Can you really trust him Dante?"

"Yes."

"I'm being serious."

"Either way, it's not like he can do much against me if he decided to. Relax. Once all this blows over, we'll have a nice time in Siphrus City. Okay?"

"Okay. Be safe. And don't-"

"I know. I know. Don't be smart about it. Wait. Stupids the right word right?"

She only gave him a short smile.

"Bring back our friend Dante."

"You know I will."


The rain stopped, but the skies were still dark. He landed on the lush and grassy field, then soon began a menacing walk towards the compound that was nestled away in the mountains. He stopped for a moment looking in front of him to see what lied ahead. He did a quick scan of the numerous robots and mechs in front of him. By his count, there were two hundred MK 900's battle robots and ten mechs. Next to the enemy count was his survivability count. Zero percent chance of winning this fight. He didn't have a face, but he simply smiled at his odds. The pure white glow that was emitting from Darwin's highlightings simply stopped glowing, leaving it hollow and empty. One and one thought only rang in his mind over and over again. Destroy Aincrad.


Yeah...unfortunately for those who passed away this chapter, that's how the cookie crumbles. How is any of this relevent to Dantes life? It'll be further explained in time. Just a little something to keep you all busy with. What will become of Darwin and Aincrad? Tune in next week people. As always, please feel free to leave a favorite, follow and a review. The more the merrier! Before I forget, I may have to move scheduled updates to a chapter every two weeks for now. Call me crazy or insane, but I have a feeling that some of the teachers at our school are trying to screw us over with grades before we get our awesome break. My evidence? Think of seven quizzes and three tests this week as just a warm up to what's in store next week. No, my grades aren't in trouble or anything, they're all actually where I want them to be, which is at A+. That's all for this week! Have an excellent weekend/week and see you all next time!