Toh Shin Den II: Thicker Than Water

by Athena Asamiya

The Toshindaibukai tournament begins again one year later, and all its fighters are called back to the arena for a fight to the death...or whatever comes first. Memories resurge and old betrayals return as the battle continues...Based off of Toshinden 2.

13. Chapter Twelve: Revolution

- TOH SHIN DEN II: Thicker Than Water -

a Battle Arena Toshinden 2 fanfiction by Athena Asamiya and Kasumi Todoh

CHAPTER TWELVE: Revolution

Translations:

otousan - father

oi, ko-musume! - hey, little girl!

baka - idiot

shimatta - dammit!

minna - everyone

ganbatte - good luck

Byakko...chikara o kashite - Byakko [White Tiger]...lend me your power

mo ii - enough

ara? - oh?

are - what

matte--! - wait--!

chikusho - dammit

daijobu ka? - are you alright?

ee - yes

kisama - bastard

chigaimasu! - you're wrong!

iya!! - no!!

Kesshoku no Tenshi - Sho's side name; literally, "Blood-Red Angel"

Akai Hitomi no Seitenshi - Cupido's side name; translating to something along the lines of "Blood-Eyed Spirit Angel"


***************

In the midst of the silent darkness, lit only by the flashing, gaudy coloured lights from the many-buttoned panel that was prominent in the room, two shadows crept. One of them reached out and fluidly hit a number of the buttons in rapid succession. When the figure finally removed their hand, a blood-red light flashed on the screen, and the two looked at each other, nodding in unison. They disappeared off into the cover of shadows again, leaving only the large red numbers, counting down on the screen, to illuminate the room.

Thirty minutes left.

Thirty minutes until the beginning of the revolution.

***************

"So then..." The Master gracefully descended to the ground, in front of the group of five, eyes closed. "Shall we begin this fight? I'm very busy, you know, though I suppose I can't expect you insolent mortals to understand that...or...if you would prefer..." She waved a hand out to one side, and a light was illuminated on one corner of the arena. On a little blond girl whose face was streaked with tears. "OTOUSAN!!!"

"Naru!!" Kayin, without thinking, dashed towards his daughter. Eiji gasped when he noticed that the Master looked perfectly calm about it--in fact, was she almost...smirking? "Kayin-chan, DON'T!!"

The warning came too late. When Kayin reached for Naru, he touched a huge, invisible barrier made from Master's psychic power. There was a loud noise followed by a bright flash of released energy, and Kayin went flying backwards with a yell of pain. From inside, Naru cried out, "No, Otousan, you can't get in!!"

"Uuuugh..." Kayin staggered to his feet, clutching a shoulder which had started to seep blood, thanks to his previous injuries. "I think I can see that..."

"Kayin, are you okay?" Ellis ran up to him to make sure the wound wasn't critical, and after examination, she sighed in relief. "You'll be fine, but I'll have to look after it to make sure it doesn't get any worse--"

"There will be enough time for that later, Ellis." Sofia slowly sauntered past them, whip ready, eyes on the Master. "We have other things to take care of."

"Damn straight! We've gotta kick this bitch's ass!" Stepping into a comfortable battle stance, Tracy was more than ready to start fighting, her violet eyes flashing cockily.

Eiji had his sword out in an instant. "Oi, ko-musume! You really think you can take all of us on at once?" His overconfident streak flared up quickly, and he smirked. "Don't make me laugh."

"Dammit, Eiji, you don't want to piss her off," muttered Kayin, glaring daggers at the silent girl. "I don't know how, but she's got a hell of a lot of power in her."

Eiji looked over at his best friend, smiling. "You think we'll lose?"

Kayin locked eyes with Eiji for a split second, before closing his eyes. "If it's my daughter's life on the line, then there's no way I'm going to lose...don't think I could say the same about you though."

Shaking his head, Eiji sighed. "Baka."

"Um, guys?" Ellis broke in. "I hate to break up this little rivalry of yours, but if we're going to beat the Master, I'd like it to be sometime in the near future."

"So I'd think." Kayin tightened his grip on Excalibur, glancing at Eiji as he took up the fighting stance that they were both taught years ago. "Ready to do this, Eiji?"

Eiji grinned, before doing the same. "You better believe it, Kayin."

For a few seconds, all five of the fighters just watched the stoic Master, who only stood there, eyes closed. Tracy watched confusedly as Eiji and Kayin narrowed their eyes, both seemingly concentrating hard at something. "Yo, guys--what's she doing?"

"Gathering her ki. Shimatta...it's more than I expected," Eiji murmured. "Well, nothing to do now but try our luck...alright, minna, spread out and circle her. We're going to attack her from all sides, and there's a chance she may not be able to defend."

Tracy raised an eyebrow skeptically. "How much of a chance?"

"You really want to know?"

"Okay, um, never mind. Fine, we'll wait for your first move, then follow up -- let's fight our way through this!" With that, Tracy led as she, Kayin, Ellis, and Sofia circled Master while Eiji stood his ground, clutching his katana. With his eyes closed, he ran a gloved hand down the flat of the blade, until it started to glow a dim white. Sofia observed this display curiously. "What is he--"

"Eiji knows what he's doing." Kayin's words came from her left, and Sofia nodded, satisfied. Ellis gripped a Dirk, face set in determination. "We have to believe in Eiji-kun, and ourselves. Ganbatte, minna!"

And Eiji's eyes opened slowly, flashing a dangerous shade of red.

Byakko...chikara o kashite.

In a blur of white and red, Eiji flew in, his sword ignited with crimson and orange ki-flames. In the instant that his foot left the ground, Master raised her right hand, and a giant sword, twice as big as Gaia's massive broadsword and made entirely of glowing blue ki energy, appeared out of thin air above her fingertips. She flung her hand down towards Eiji, and the mystical sword exploded right into the surprised adventurer's midsection, sending him sprawling backwards.

"Eiji-kun!" Ellis took two steps towards him, but Eiji coughed and yelled out, "No, don't worry about me--ATTACK HER!!"

Tracy crouched low to the ground, spinning one tonfa. "So we let you get the first hit on us, and now I'm gonna exert maximum force on you!" She charged towards Master, who simply conjured up another psi-sword again, and smacked Tracy away with it. She was flung backwards, nearly losing her grip on her tonfas. "Damn, that didn't quite work out the way I planned..."

Sofia ran forward, heels clicking against the hard stone floor, before leaping up and launching a Thunder Ring downward at Master. With her eyes still closed, Master dodged it and hit Sofia out of the air with another sword, stabbing it upwards. While her back was turned, Kayin snuck up and threw a Sonic Slash. Master simply stepped to the side, letting the energy fireball pass by her and hit Tracy, who was attempting to get back on her feet. Then, calling "DELETE!!", Master spun around and threw several consecutive psi-swords at Kayin, one after the other, followed by ki-blasts. He managed to roll out of the way once, but it was obvious the pain from his wounded shoulder made it hard, and he eventually was hit with the energy. Master then hovered a little higher in the air and swung a sword straight down, trying to stab Kayin with it. Fortunately he saw this coming, rolling out of the way and back onto his feet again, if not a little slower than before. Eiji was up again, taking to the air and executing a flame-exploding Ryuseikyaku. Just as he bore down on her, however, Master brought up an invisible forcefield which shocked Eiji with psi-energy, sending him back to the floor. Casting a glance at Eiji first to make sure he was all right, Ellis flipped into the fray, Dirks sparking with golden ki. But even she wasn't able to get even close to Master, as she just lifted her hand, and tossed a ball of ki-sparks at the unguarded Ellis, throwing her backwards and burning off a few petals of her chiffon skirt. Tracy tried to hit her with her Jackpot, only to have it blocked and countered with a few quick - but powerful - kicks. Sofia attempted to catch her off-guard with a Rattlesnake, but that also failed. The five fighters painfully regrouped, keeping a wary eye on the still-unharmed Master, who laughed coldly. "Is that really all you've got? What a pity...I was expecting more."

Tracy growled, checking the large, bleeding gashes on her upper leg. "Apparently she can fight us all at the same time. The hell are we supposed to do if we can't even get close?"

"I am certainly open to suggestions," Sofia added while rubbing a burn mark on her thigh.

Eiji opened his mouth to speak, but Kayin beat him to it. "She's on the defensive, so whenever Master finishes executing an attack, she leaves herself open for a few seconds. We have to use those few seconds to our advantage."

Eiji looked dubious for a second, but finally nodded. "Yeah, I guess that'll work."

"You GUESS that'll work??" Kayin shot his friend a dark look, voice rising. "Eiji, it's all we can do right now. Don't you see that??"

"Kayin, calm down!" Ellis got her small frame between the two, in an attempt to deflect what was looking to be another argument. "I know you're worried about Naru, but we have to try and beat Master first!"

"Ellis is right, you two," Sofia interjected. "We have to keep fighting."

Kayin took a deep breath, letting it out in what almost sounded like an exasperated sigh. "All right, all right. Let's get back to it."

"Remember," Eiji reminded them, "go in for the attack right after she tries to hit. If we can avoid her attack, our's might work."

The group turned back to face Master, ready to give the fight another shot. Master just smirked. "All your silly strategies are useless against me." In an attempt to prove her point, Master launched several more swords at Ellis, Sofia and Tracy. The latter two dodged in separate directions while Ellis flipped back, and Master didn't notice Kayin and Eiji coming towards her up through the middle until it was too late. Kayin swept through the hole in Master's defence and lifted her upwards in a Deadly Raise, and Eiji followed suit with a Hishouzan to hit her while she was still hanging in the air. Master fell back to the floor, but quickly floated to her feet again, a look of minor annoyance on her face.

"That won't happen again, I can assure you." With that, she hit Kayin with another sword, straight out in front of her. Before he had a chance to regain his breath, he received another hard smack across the face and wound up on the floor again as Ellis tried her Lollipop from behind. A bit of it caught Master in the back, but then she turned around and blocked the rest. She then unleashed on Ellis a series of fast punches in rapid succession, finally letting up when Eiji tried to slash in from the side. While he was distracting her, Sofia jumped in from behind, spinning with an aerial Aurora Revolution. This too did some damage, but not enough to get Master down -- and all five ended up scattered back on the ground again.

While they all struggled to get back up despite their injuries, Master almost seemed to smile, eyes still closed. "I must say you five are getting rather good at this. It's been a long time since I've fought warriors as strong as you. But even if you do manage to land the odd hit, you will still never win. All I have to do is destroy the five of you, and there will be no one left strong enough to stand in my way." A full, cruelly triumphant smile broke across her face. "My Himitsu Kessha will rule over everyone and everything!"

"You think it'll be that easy?" Tracy shouted, trying to stand up. "We're not letting you or your organization get the right to rule our world!"

"You mortals are too pathetic." Suddenly Master began to glow and sparkle as she gathered her ki, something that continued for several moments.

"What is she doing?" Sofia muttered.

"Be careful," Eiji cautioned, clutching his sword. "Keep your guards up."

Suddenly Master crouched low to the ground, spreading her arms out, and released a powerful explosion of glittering ki directed at the fighters. Even though they tried to block, it did little to lessen the damage. The clouds of ki-sparks honed in and slammed into the five already-wounded fighters, stinging them like bullets and knocking them down.

Ellis painfully tried to stand. "She's even more powerful than Uranus was!"

"And we beat Uranus," Eiji growled, gritting his teeth at the sight of the Master, smiling at their pain. "We can do the same to her."

Kayin groaned a little, noticing all the blood that was seeping through his red jacket. "In case you haven't noticed, she's the one kicking our asses."

"This time I have an idea. If we fake an attack, we can catch her off-guard."

Sofia shook her head. "But that is too simple. She will see right through it."

"It has to work!" Leaping off the floor, Eiji charged towards her again, sword held out in front as if he was about to perform a Hishouzan. And Master only smiled, faintly. Just as Eiji reached her, he quickly dropped and slid forwards, calling, "SHUGEKIDAN!"

But all of a sudden, Master wasn't in front of him anymore.

Eiji's eyes widened when he heard Ellis yell, "EIJI-KUN! Behind you!!", and he whirled around -- but not fast enough to avoid taking a psi-sword right in the gut. Eiji was propelled backwards, where he skidded to a halt and slumped on the floor, spitting out some blood in the process.

"Ha." Master crossed her arms, levitating herself off the ground a bit for emphasis. "You actually thought that plan would work? Simpleton. I am the world's most powerful psychic. Why wouldn't I see right through it?"

Ellis, who had run over to Eiji in concern, stood up angrily. "Stop this!! Why do you think you have to destroy everything??"

"My dear girl." The tone in Master's voice was chilling, as was the small smile that danced across her face.

"It was what I was created for."

***************

"Ne..." the woman commented, glancing away from the ongoing battle on the monitors in the control room to look at the red numbers, which then shifted to show four minutes left. "Is this where we come in?"

"It appears so." Her partner readied his sword, turning away and nodding. "Saa...jikan da."

***************

Silence rang throughout the room, until it was almost deafening to hear. The only sound that could be heard in the arena was the crackling of the blue fires that lit the pillars' torches lining around the outside of the ring. As the five fighters came together again, bruised and heavily beaten, not a sound came from any of them, nor from a shocked Naru in the corner or from the composed Master who stood before them, her diminutive figure illuminated by the flames burning behind her.

"Jesus Christ," Kayin swore. "We can't beat her, and I sure as hell can't get over to Naru with her in the way."

Eiji winced momentarily at a sharp pain through his right arm, and spoke. "I have a strategy."

"Great, just great," grumbled Tracy. "Your last one nearly got you killed." Sofia nodded, and even Ellis looked a little subdued. Eiji sighed. "This one might work, alright? Listen up. Four of us are going to jump in and attack Master. Kayin-chan, you're going to go to Naru-chan as soon as we distract her, and try to get her out."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? I tried already, remember?"

"Yeah, but this time try using some kind of energy-based attack. It might be enough to short out the force field, because I can feel that Master's power is getting low and it might not hold up. If you can get Naru-chan out of there safely, then that's all we really need to care about right now."

Kayin thought about this for a second, then nodded. "You've got a point. Okay, I'll try it, but if this doesn't work..." He let his voice trail off, as the group of them exchanged looks, all knowing clearly what would happen if this didn't work. Eiji exhaled slowly. "Right. Let's do it."

Shakily, Sofia, Tracy, Ellis and Eiji all took up their stances once again, preparing to attack, while Kayin got ready to bolt for Naru. Eiji's heart raced as he felt the large flux of power that Master was collecting. "She's summoning her power. As soon as she leaves herself open, everyone jump in and attack." "NOW!"

The four fighters took to the air, weapons ready, bearing down on Master with the last of their strength as Kayin dashed out to the side, running straight to his daughter. Their tactic would have worked, except that it was right then that Master lifted her arms up, and pushed them straight out to the side, calling, "LAST JUDGE!!". A huge cloud of ki-sparkles appeared around her, surrounding her in a barrier of energy. And there was nothing the four could do against the wave of power that arose. They all struck the barrier and were blown away by its massive amount of energy, scattering them in all areas of the ring where most of them lay, hardly even moving or breathing. Master lowered her arms, and the ki dissipated. Kayin hardly noticed this, as he was intent on reaching his daughter. He didn't even notice Master turn her head over her shoulder slightly, murmuring, "Still playing games, are we..."

Kayin lifted his sword, and started to yell, "SONIC SLA--"

--But he was cut off as Master struck him with a psi-sword to his back, which sent him gasping and stumbling to the floor. He lay still.

"Otousan!! Otousan, wake up, please!!" Naru banged on the barrier with her small fists, desperate to try and rouse her foster father. Kayin groaned, reaching towards her and whispering, "Na...ru...", before slumping back down on the ground, motionless.

"OTOUSAN!!!"

"Hm." Master floated back down the arena floor, surveying the damage she had done to the group of warriors. "That's all you have left? What a shame. I was almost looking forward to a challenge."

And the silence dominated the room once again.

Eiji groaned, struggling to sit up, but he could barely move. He looked around at his fallen friends, all lying nearly unconscious on the floor. He knew they couldn't keep going, not now -- they were all too hurt to even stand a chance anymore. "Sofi-san...Tracy-san...Kayin-chan...Ellis-chan..."

God, don't let it end like this...

Gritting his teeth against the waves of pain, Eiji yelled, "Mo..ii...Master!!"

"Ara?" She turned her head towards him in mock-confusion. "You're still alive? I shall quickly remedy that. Say farewell to your life and your precious world, Eiji Shinjo." She leapt into the air above him, holding back a huge psi-sword, ready to swing it down for the final blow.

But as psychic as Master was, even she didn't foresee Eiji closing his eyes and rising off the ground, his body surrounded by bluish-white sparks of ki.

"What??" The sword disappeared as Master landed short of her target, dropping out of the air in surprise. She watched as Eiji turned his head towards Kayin, who, sprawled out on the floor, could just barely nod in agreement. He too stood up and became surrounded by ki-sparks, only his were flaming orange and red. With renewed strength, Eiji and Kayin stood back to back, holding their swords straight up in the same manner so it almost looked as though each was the mirror image of the other. Then, in one singular motion, they both whipped their swords back and shot towards Master in unison, ki exploding off their bodies and their yells echoing in the air.

"HELL'S INFERNO!!!!"

"BYAKKI-MOSHUKEN!!!!"

Even Master could not fully guard against the dually executed attack in time. The two swordsmen tore savagely into Master with their blades, slicing the exact same way and using every powerful kick at the exact same level, as was how they were taught to when they first learned this desperation attack. To finish the massive team assault, Eiji exploded upwards with a hyper-powered Hishouzan, carrying Master up into the air, and Kayin flew forwards into an equal Deadly Raise, sending Master back to the ground in an arc. The two landed safely on their feet, while Master crashed into the floor away from them. She lay there for a second, until her whole body started to glow with a bright blue aura. Eiji and Kayin tensed, ready for what looked to be another onslaught. Master's body slowly floated back up into an upright position, surrounded by a ball of blue light. Her eyes snapped open at last, and they glowed a pure, frightening hue of azure.

"You...DARE...to strike ME??" Her voice seemed to resonate both out loud and through their minds, due to her psychic nature. "You shall see who is the more powerful warrior!!"

Inside the ball, Master lifted her hands upwards, with a mystical wind whipping strands of hair through her face and causing her robes to flap violently around her. She opened her mouth in what sounded like a primordial scream, and the blue light formed a dozen psychic swords and ki-fireballs that circled around her body -- all of the swords pointed straight at the two surprised swordsmen. She thrust her hands forwards, and the swords and ki-blasts shot towards Eiji and Kayin, intent on making their mark.

Except...

"REKKUZAN!!!!"

What resulted from the clash of the two energies was an explosion of monumental preportions. Eiji and Kayin crouched and held out their swords, attempting to block the power aftershocks, until they were nearly on their knees. When the wind and the sound finally died down, the two looked up at the figure standing in front of them. And Eiji's eyes widened. "Are...niisan...??"

Kayin was a little less receptive. "What the hell do you think you're doing??"

There was no movement from their former teacher. "It appears I'm saving my two ungrateful students."

"Damn you!!" growled the Master, clenching a fist. "I should have known to expect this from one of Uranus' cohorts!"

It almost looked like Sho was smiling. "So even the great psychic Master has a lot to learn. It really is misfortunate that you won't live past today."

And as if on cue, there was a deep rumbling, reverberating throughout the entire arena and what seemed to be the entire building. Cracks started to etch across the walls and ceilings, and numerous explosions could be heard echoing through the headquarters.

Eiji turned to Sho in confusion. "Niisan, what did you do?"

"Self-destruction sequence. This place should be destroyed within two minutes. I suggest you two and your friends get out of here as fast as you can." With that, Sho disappeared. Eiji gasped and started to shout, "Niisan, matte--!!" but he was thrown to the ground by a shockwave that shook the arena. Getting back up just as quickly, he turned to Kayin and yelled, "Kayin-chan, come on, we have to help the others!"

"No way!!" Kayin shouted back, stumbling a bit as the floor vibrated underneath him. "I have to get Naru first!!"

But this seemed to give the angry Master an idea. With a maniacal grin, she teleported over to the force field and snatched a struggling Naru, holding a psi-sword against her throat. "I'll kill you all, starting with this little brat!!"

"NO! Don't hurt her!!" Trying to regain his footing, Kayin was thrown back to the ground by a shockwave that resonated through the arena, sending all the fighters - except Master - to their knees.

Getting up (after some struggle) and avoiding a chunk of falling stone, Tracy whirled around and yelled, "Dammit, guys, we've gotta get out of here NOW!"

"Not without Naru!" Kayin snarled back, readying Excalibur in case he had to fight again.

But just then, there was a large rumbling from around the arena as the pillars that held the blue flame toppled over, setting the outside of the ring on fire. A large crack snaked its way across the ring's stone surface, right underneath the Master's feet. Before anyone could even blink, half of the floor gave way, crumbling into the roaring firepit. It was then that Master lost her grip on Naru as she stumbled and fell off the broken arena, but although she had overexerted her psychic powers and was unable to levitate, managed to grab on to the edge with one hand. Naru cried, "OTOUSAN!!" and tried to make her way to Kayin amidst the destruction that was going on, but an aftershock sent her small body flying over the edge with a loud shriek.

"NARU!!!!!" Foresaking his own safety and pushing all the wracking pain out of mind, Kayin ran to the jagged edge of the arena to try and save his falling daughter, but his reach wasn't long enough...

Desperately, Naru reached out for something to hold onto. And she grabbed something that held.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was clutching the end of Excalibur, and Kayin was leaning over the top of the edge, holding onto the blade's sharp edge with both hands. Blood was running down the tongue of the sword in rivulets.

"O-otousan..." she barely whispered, green eyes wide, as Kayin managed to pull her up safely, grimacing in pain from the cuts across his hands. As soon as Naru's feet hit the ground, she hugged her foster father fiercely. "I knew you'd come, Otousan, I knew it...they told me you wouldn't, but I knew you'd never leave me..."

Kayin smiled weakly, hugging his daughter back. "I never would, Naru. Ever."

But Master herself wasn't so lucky. She was holding onto the edge of the ring with one hand, dangling precariously over the raging fire below. Gritting her teeth, she tried to pull herself up, but didn't have enough strength left. "Chikusho!!"

"Master-sama!!" There was the rushed sound of tapping heels against the floor, and Cupido ran out onto the arena, towards Master.

"Is that...Cupido?" Eiji said, looking back in confusion. "Why is she--?"

"Ah, my Blood-Eyed Spirit Angel..." Master almost smiled in relief. "Still saving me..."

But things took a darker turn then, when a figure dressed in shredded black stepped in-between Cupido and Master.

Swinging out her halberd, Cupido's normally solemn face contorted in anger, flaring in her red eyes. "Don't you DARE stand in my way!"

Vermilion only snickered in a mocking tone, pulling out his golden pistol and turning towards the helpless Master. Cupido gasped when she saw this and lifted her blade, preparing to strike Vermilion down, but she didn't expect him to pull out his long shotgun as well -- aiming it at her.

He pulled the trigger. Cupido hit the ground, blood splattering the floor.

In a flash, her partner, the other "angel", was at her side. "Cupido-kun, daijobu ka?"

"Ee," she whispered, setting her teeth at the pain. "It's just my leg, but I don't think I can walk."

Eiji, who was helping Ellis up, was a little more shocked by this interaction -- and at the identity of the other angel. "Niisan, what are--??"

Sho glared at Vermilion. "Kisama. What do you think you're trying to do?"

"Isn't it obvious enough, boy?" Vermilion smiled. "Abel wants Master dead. This whole alliance was nothing but a plan to get rid of her. Of course, I had no doubt that your Master would see through it, but I was better prepared. And I should add thanks to the two of you for your treachery. I knew you would go through with it, Etranger, but I had my doubts about her, being loyal to Master before you showed up, after all. And it turned out that her previous binds were stronger."

"Chigaimasu!" Cupido cried, before lowering her eyes. "Despite the planned treachery, I never wanted to see Master-sama die...she is--like me..."

He ignored this, and turned back to Master, who was trying to keep ahold of the edge. "You would have been killed eventually anyways, Master...surely with all your psychic power, you would have seen the events ahead. You never would have lasted that long."

His rose-shaded glasses gleamed with a lust for blood, as the scarlet-marked Vermilion smirked, aiming his pistol at her hand.

"You shall be the first sacrifice to Agon Teos -- Master-sama."

There was a gunshot blast, and Master's hand let go of the edge.

"IYAAAAA!!! MASTER-SAMA!!!!" Cupido screamed, and Sho practically had to hold her back as she watched her Master fall, screaming, into the fiery abyss.

After that, the fire exploded and raged even higher, and the walls began crumble, flaming rock and wood falling all around them. "We have to get out of here!!" Kayin yelled to the five fighters, clutching Naru tightly. "Everybody, get out now! Eiji, LEAVE THEM!!!"

"I'm not going to leave niisan here!" Eiji snarled back. "I won't!!"

"And I'm not going to see you die here! So don't be an idiot and come on!!"

"Eiji."

Eiji looked up, wide-eyed, at the sound of his name, spoken in the voice he had known all of his life.

"Go."

"But niisan--"

"I said go."

Eiji could only stare at his brother, and Cupido. She smiled at him. "Go on, adventurer. There are greater plans ahead for you."

He still didn't move, until Kayin growled and grabbed his shoulder, pulling Eiji away from the scene and out the door. Even after the five had safely made it out of the room, Eiji's desperate calls could still be heard.

"Niisan--! NIISAN!!!"

Once the group, Eiji, Kayin and Naru, Sofia, Tracy and Ellis, had gotten out of the collapsing building, they made it to a small hill away from the building, turning around and watching it fall in front of their eyes.

And still inside the arena room, Master's two angels, the Kesshoku no Tenshi and the Akai Hitomi no Seitenshi, sat among the collapsing and burning wreckage of the arena, raining down around them. Cupido sighed as she watched the falling chaos. "It's not the end...is it?"

Sho shook his head, the flames reflected back in his red eyes. "No. It never is."

And with that, the Himitsu Kessha headquarters shuddered and collasped in a number of large explosions. The group hit the ground to avoid the aftershocks and the showers of falling debris, until finally, it ended. They all slowly got to their feet. Eiji Shinjo watched the remains of the headquarters burn, with nearly unseeing eyes.

He was only snapped back when in front of him landed a large, half-scorched iron plate. He looked down at it, reading the three Japanese kanji inscribed on its surface.

'Shitennou'.

**********