You know, I've been thinking that I should help out all of those no-talent authors out there. I've seen so many Fanfics asking for characters, and I think that maybe I should give a tutorial on character creating and everything. Goodness knows how many characters are in this story. I could give the story behind The Hilanov Prophecy, and hopefully that would help people out at least a little. I write it as a chapter to the Hilanov Prophecy, and it will kind of be one of those "feature" things that you can get on DVDs-yeah, that works out! Author's commentary, you know?

NO! Beyblade V-Force just had to go and ruin all things perfect! Oh, I should have waited to watch Beyblade, V-Force, and G Revolution before I went and started making all these technical things of the story! I was watching the V-Force episode a week or two ago where the Bladebreakers were deciding who would be on each other's teams in the final tournament, and Hilary suggested using their star signs. It turns out that Max is the youngest on the team and Kai the oldest. Tyson is a Virgo, not a Taurus and Kai is way off from the star sign I originally gave him; Scorpio. He's actually an Aries! Then, my friend tells me that there are repetitive Bit Beasts. There is an equivalent to Sarah's Fovular, or fox spirit. (I didn't see the episode, and still haven't even though they're repeating the season). Apparently there's some kid who has a fox Bit Beast and the guy's name is "Foxy". Hm...Look that word up in the dictionary and you'll see that its general meaning doesn't exactly fit the rating of Beyblade... And then there's King and Queen, who I found out about. They both have repeats of Elvin's Bit Beast, a ram, and King's is almost similar in name, even! Elvin's is Ariamar, while King's is Arial! It also turns out that Tyson has a secret relation that we aren't informed of until the very end of the third season. I won't tell you any more about it, though, or I'll ruin the odd surprise (Tch, it would be pretty unfair since Tyson doesn't know about it himself-don't ask me how).

22. Death of An Angel

Kai looked around the rocky area. There were mountains in every direction, and no sign of Rhea from this area where he had heard the scream come from. Just then, another yell rent then air. Though, it wasn't Rhea's-it sounded more like that of Samson's.

A "Kieran! Why are you doing this? Ah!" confirmed his suspicions.

Kai ran forward towards the small mountain towering before him and turned to the right as he came to it. When he came to the side opposite the one he had been facing before he saw an assembly of sharp rocks jutting upward out of the dusty ground underneath a ledge. The ledge reached out some ten metres from the rocky mound itself and a natural ramp made of rock led up to the ledge.

Kai scaled it with ease and came to the top to see a whole throng of both Goadbwa and Biovolt deploys. Gilepse stood near the ledge's edge with his arm around Rhea's neck and holding a knife to her throat. Boris stood some metres away, ready to move but apprehensive. Also near the edge were Samson and Kieran, Kieran cornering Samson to the drop.

"Make a move, Balkov, and I slit her throat," Gilepse called out to the man in the green coat.

"Kill her, if you must. For then I'll have nothing to lose," Boris replied, almost tauntingly.

"No!" Kai yelled, causing everyone to turn to him.

"Kai!" exclaimed Boris. "What are you doing here? I told you to stay at the Abbey!"

Kieran turned around and made an amused chuckle. "It seems that little Hiwatari can't follow simple rules."

"It's no wonder you're not trusted by anyone, Boris. Your trainees can't even obey you!" added Gilepse.

Kai ignored their jests. "Kill her, and you'll have to kill me first."

"Kai! Get awa-ow!" Rhea cried as Gilepse jerked his arm tighter around her neck.

Gilepse smiled. "Talking tough, are we? Let's see if you can back it up. Kieran!"

Kieran pulled away from the position he was cornering Samson with. He advanced towards Kai with a dirk in his hand. Kai didn't move away from him, but stayed still and swayed away slightly. Kieran lay the flat of the blade against Kai's chin.

"So sorry. Gilepse's orders."

"You're such a mindless puppet."

"Maybe I should tell you, Kai, I don't fall for mind games."

"Maybe, but I'll bet the traitorous Toutalis does." Kai reached in his belt and pulled out his dagger so fast that it was a blur to everyone that watched. He thrust his arm forward and slashed for Kieran's side.

But in one quick reaction, Kieran moved the dirk from Kai's throat and blocked the dagger with the blade of the dirk. He struck the blade away from his body and with such force the dagger flew out of Kai's hand and cluttered to the ground below the ledge-too far for Kai to get to.

Kieran and Kai both looked at the blade lying on the ground before turning back to each other, Kai surprised and Kieran with the unfaltering smile on his face.

"You were saying?" he asked quaintly.

Kai growled and leapt back as Kieran was tackled to the ground by Boris, but not before Kieran's flailing arm caused the blade of the dirk to scrape across Kai's right cheek. Kai stepped back, tripped and stumbled to the ground, all the while holding the area of his cheek closer to his eye. He curled himself into a ball, holding both hands over the wound and hiding his face. The pain was unbearable, and he found it hard to hold back the tears. He heard footsteps advance on him from behind and he felt a hand rest itself on his shoulder, but he didn't look up.

"Kai! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Anya interrogated emphatically.

"Just...Fine!" Kai managed to growl.

"Let me see your cheek!"

Kai opened his eyes and his tears ran down his cheeks, stinging the wound even more painfully before. He flung his hands back to the wound and curled into an even tighter ball.

"Kai, you have to let me see!"

Kai clenched his teeth, wiped at his eyes with his glove and raised his head to look at Anya. She stared at it for a moment before untying one of the ribbons in her hair. She reached out to the wound with it, but Kai pulled away.

"This is the closest thing I have to a bandage!"

Kai continued to look away. "I'll be fine."

"You can't continue to fight like this! You have to know when to quit or you'll pay a greater price than you bargained for, Hiwatari! You can't only think of your parents, you have to think about yourself, Rhea!" she yelled.

Kai turned to her. "'Rhea'?"

Anya pulled back and looked to the ground in embarrassed anger. "Sorry. You're just like your sister-always so stubborn and willing to fight at all costs. I often yell at her about it, but she doesn't listen. She battles in her own way."

"As much as I love sentimental moments, could we please get on with your annihilation?" Kieran taunted from where he had landed on the ground with Boris. Kieran had his foot on the comatose man's back so that he couldn't get up.

Anya rose steadily. "Why you- Who do you think you are?" She began walking towards him, calmly, and using her hands to assist in her speaking.

"First, you come to the battlefield with us when you're told to go with the snipers, then, when we get to the battlefield, you betray us by going to Goadbwa's side. Third, you drag Samson, Rhea, and I up to this secluded spot and obey all of Gilepse's orders! And if that's not enough, you had to go knock out Boris and injure Kai, too! What is your deal?"

Kieran simply smiled. "My deal? You ask?"

He reached forward at breakneck speed and grabbed Anya's neck in both hands. He squeezed tighter and tighter, Anya stretching onto tip-toe and grabbed his wrists in an effort to pry them away. There was silence among the group as they watched the scene, and Anya was becoming blue in the face.

Kai leapt to his feet and snatched the dirk that Kieran had dropped in order to strangle Anya. He let go of his cheek and slashed with the dirk between the two. Anya exhaled deeply and fell to the ground. Kieran had a look of slight surprise on his face as he stared at his arms, or what was left of them. He looked to the ground where both gloved hands lay, having loosened their grip on the girl's throat. He brought the ends of his arms to him. They had been severed right in the middle of the forearms. He smiled at them and let his arms rest at his sides before turning to Kai.

"Well, it seems you've rendered my arms useless."

Kai was more surprised himself than Kieran was. He gawked at the bloody stumps of flesh where Kieran's hands had been before looking into his smiling face. Kai backed away, this seemed inhuman. Not a hint of expression, no tear of pain, no clenched teeth to try to suppress the agony of the feat. Blood dripped freely from the sharp ending.

"Kieran!"

Kai turned and Kieran peered over Kai's shoulder to see a mortified Eva, hands clasped over her mouth as if she were about to be sick. She made to step forward but Kai extended his arm to block her way.

"He's not your brother anymore."

"He is my brother! He always will be!" Eva countered, ready to knock Kai out of the way if he didn't give in verbally. She raised her head on hearing a scream.

Marduk had Rhea's wrist in one hand and a knife in another. He was holding the knife so that he was poised to hack off her hand as Kai had done Kieran. Gilepse began yelling something at Rhea, though it wasn't aimed at Rhea, exactly.

"Come on out, Crucis. We know you're in there. If you don't come out freely, I'll get Marduk to liberate you by force. If you come and join Goadbwa, you can kill and eat all the souls you want."

The struggle could be seen on Rhea's face as if she were trying to hold back something with great difficulty. Finally, she gave in and exhaled deeply as she lowered her head. Her body went limp and sagged in Marduk and Gilepse's grasp for a moment. Her hand flexed and stretched in a couple of interluded spasms before she was dead still. She then raised her head slightly, so that she didn't look so lifeless, yet her face was hidden by her bangs. She spoke, her voice raspier than normal and sounding like she had multiple voices.

"This girl has lived eighteen years too long. She needs to be my guinea pig to demonstrate to the Hiwataris just how foolish they were those generations ago." She raised her head to full extent, though still allowed her arms to flop in Gilepse and Marduk's grasps. Her eyes were glowing bright red, and blood was beginning to dribble from her mouth.

"Twenty years ago, I was killed by that blasted Kaji Hiwatari. I was blamed for Celeste's death, even after it was confirmed that she had frozen. The Abbey had a death penalty which Kaji took upon himself to fulfil. I was innocently finishing up an assignment when he came in, said something about responsibilities and then pulled the trigger on me. I had to repay his incongruous cruelty somehow. He lost himself, and now he shall lose his only daughter."

"My father wouldn't do that," protested Kai, sounding only half-sure about his statement.

"You say that, but you don't mean it. Even you can tell that," the unearthly Rhea replied.

Eva curled into herself and moved right behind Kai in self-defence. "What's going on, Kai?"

Kai lowered his head but kept his eyes on his sister. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough."

All of a sudden there came a fleshy gurgling sound and the tearing of some sort of cloth material. Gilepse and Marduk let go of Rhea, having felt a sharp jolt of electricity run through her arms. Gilepse looked back to her as he massaged his hand. Her uniform around her shoulderblades was torn and from it protruded two white stumps. Blood secreted from the breaks in the skin where the white had appeared.

Kai, Eva, Kieran, Anya, Samson and a couple of Goadbwa and Biovolt deploys watched as Rhea threw her hands to the sides of her head and screamed with her eyes screwed shut before lowering her head to her knees and screaming again. She coughed and viscous blood spattered on the ground in front of her.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed.

"Stop fighting me and it won't hurt as much," scolded the raspy voice.

"I don't want you to inhabit me anymore!" she yelled and she sank to her knees, keeping her head down and writhing in her position.

She curled into the tightest ball she could before throwing her head back and letting out another shrill cry. She threw her head down again and shook it, blood pouring from her mouth again as tears from her eyes mixed with it. The white stumps pushed themselves out further, drying themselves of the red liquid as they made more contact with the air. Rhea kept her head down and on her knees as the white stumps extended to stick-like protrusions approximately a metre long. The last drips of blood trickled from the tips held in the air as everyone continued to watch in silence.

Then, the stumps extended, as if unfolding. Slowly, but surely, each one peeled apart to either side of Rhea, each sticky feather pulling apart with a squelching sound. When these wings had spread apart, Rhea stretched them to full extent, and as if exercising them, drew them inwards and outwards once more. She drew them close to her crouched body like a cocoon and then slowly raised her upper body, though she remained kneeling.

Her head was uncovered, and they watched as the left side of her head began to mutate. They couldn't see what was happening to her face, though the change in her hair was certainly noticeable. The shade of her hair darkened, its original light blue now becoming a dark navy blue like Spica's or half of Kai's. It then grew long, growing to just below shoulder- length. All this happened to her left side while her right remained untouched and perfectly normal.

She then started to raise her head and upper body. She rose to a sitting position, still kneeling, as if pausing for her comrades to glimpse upon her new face. One eye glowed bright red, the other bright green, a blank but angered look on her face as she stared at the empty space in front of her. As she stood up, they could see that not only her head had morphed to this strange being, but her whole body was a half of some other female none of them except Kai knew.

"Those...Those wings...That face, the hair, the eyes... I've seen that girl before. But who is it, and how do I know her?" Kai muttered to himself, still completely stunned at the possessed soul standing before him.

"Rhea! No!"

At that moment, Kai whipped around just in time to see Samson running forward towards the creature of a dark angel.

****

"Contact completely lost with subject number three, ma'am!" one of the technicians informed as the screen went blank and was covered in electrical snow.

Lori sighed and lowered her head to her hands. "Oh, Ophelia... If only you were here. I don't know what to do without your leadership-none of us do. Come back to us, Dr. Seki..."

"Lori, bad news... Extremely bad news..." another technician vociferated, the horror and sadness clearly showing in his features and voice.

Lori rushed over. "What is it?"

He turned around to face her, fighting to hold back the tears. "I just received word from Spica, pretty much our last contact. She said they were resorting to the drastic measures of Plan B."

"Which are? Why is this?"

"The reason we've lost contacts with Kuiper is because he isn't there to respond..." Ryan's voice now quavering.

A look of confusion and unhappy prediction crossed Lori's features. "What do you mean by that?"

Ryan paused to choke back the tears. "He... He is... Spice said we must Prospice... look forward, and not dwell though it may hurt and defame us..."

Lori's eyes were now tear-filled, too. "Oh... You mean...? Surely, no," she said as she pulled away and hugged her arms to her chest. She turned away violently and buried her head in her hands once more. "Oh dear Father, why have you forsaken us? Our real evil lurks behind Gilepse, not that poor innocent boy. It was the same for Hans! Why..." she paused to sniff back her tears and blow her nose with a handkerchief. "Why do all of us live this way?"

"Uh, Lori... I hate to make a bad situation worse for all of us, but... We have also lost contact with Ophelia, and we have that reason from Spica, too," Josh whimpered soberly.

At this point, Lori sank to the floor and wept. The other four in the room who weren't already crying began now. They all stopped and looked up on hearing the sliding doors whoosh open. In barrelled men in armoured black clothing, guns held out in front of them.

"We're commandeering the Castle," Victor ordered. "Hand it over and move out quietly and no one shall be hurt."

"The Biovolt Corporation will set you free. We plan to take no prisoners," another one added.

"Take whatever you want! I don't care anymore!" Lori screamed at them, pounding her fists on the cold tile floor and crying even harder than before.

"Hang on," countered Josh, rising angrily form his seat. Who do you think you are just barging in here and asking of our surrender? How low can Biovolt go? Sending a team to take out the opposing side undercover and to shoot all of the contacts?"

"We weren't planning to kill you," Victor replied calmly. "Our strict orders were to evacuate this building and demolish it, but if you want to die with it, I'm sure Boris will have no qualms about that."

"You can't just kick us out!" Kerry exclaimed.

"Look, if you don't argue, you don't die," explained Victor, raising his machine gun and poised to shoot.

***

"Dr. Tate! Director Langley! Dr. Romanov! Mr. Langley! Come quickly!" Kenny yelled.

Judy was the first to arrive and almost threw herself against the keyboard in her urgency. "What is it, Kenny? Is the news good or bad?"

"I wouldn't say so. There's a lot of radio interference on Rhea's censors! Her vision is impaired and her brainwaves irregular. There was also a major jolt to Kieran's trauma area of the brain, and Nikita's recorded a massive amount of blood loss from him-practically fatal! Things aren't looking good for what we have on Tala, either. I was told that his senses are receiving an overload of fluid and may shortcircuit the system!"

"What is the fluid?" Nigel asked from behind, having appeared.

"We're not sure. We don't have direct contact with him, and so we're unable to tell," Kenny replied, now less frantic.

"I'm running a system scan for foreign matter," Lutka answered as she typed something madly onto a nearby computer.

"Let's hope it's not an aneurysm," Irina voiced. "Blood in his mental CPU could bring down his whole functioning system as we know it permanently.

"Well, it's not blood, but appears to be water," Lutka reported, pulling away from the keyboard.

"What do we have on Samson, Anya, and Boris?" a new voice asked, having only entered the room now.

They all turned to see Mr. Dickenson standing solemnly in the doorway, his brow sweaty and hat missing. He had also taken of his suit jacket.

"Nothing much, sir. Boris is currently unresponsive, but measures of thought from Samson and Anya conclude that he's unconscious," Kenny replied.

"How are the return trainees?" inquired Judy.

Mr. Dickenson lumbered over and flopped down on a nearby chair and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face. "Not, good, not good. It's tiring work trying to tend to them all at once. They all require so much and there aren't enough of us up there. But it's not too much to worry about-only a couple have critical wounds, while a quarter have lost souls, so we don't have to watch them too much. Some have had strange curses placed on them, which the Abbey priests and nuns are trying to rid them of. The rest of them will be up and about in a day or two if all goes well."

Kenny and Irina looked at each other. "What kinds of curses?" they questioned in unison.

"To be honest, I'm not quite sure. It seems to be some sort of devil- pact, or of something just as evil. They're perfect and good as gold one minute, but then begin screaming, running around and wreaking havoc the next. They become unpredictable and seem mentally ill in its truly worst form. So what do we do about those three?"

Judy glanced sideways at the screen Kenny had been staring at before. "Well, Kieran has betrayed the Biovolt and BBA side for Goadbwa-he's taking orders from Gilepse. As for Rhea, we can't get through to her at all-she won't listen to anything we say. She either can't hear or she's ignoring us while Tala... should be fine."

***

Tala fought to hold his breath, since he hadn't caught one before going under. He was convinced that he had to be suffocating her, since she was clutched so close to his body. Tala opened his eyes, and though they stung from the pondwater, he could see the goings-on above. The smoke from a recent explosion hovered overtop the surface of the water, and soon another shell penetrated the surface.

Tala held the surely unconscious Sarah in one arm and used his other to paddle out of the way of the bombshell sinking towards them. He paddled his legs frantically to the other side of the pond and reached it just as he began to feel dizzy.

With a thrust upward from impact against the bottom of the pond, his head went above water, and he jerked the passenger body up from the depths. He felt shockwaves move through the water and heard a muffled boom. He heaved Sarah up onto the shore and then pulled himself out tiredly. They were out of Telesto and Spica's sights so he decided to sit and catch his breath a moment.

Tala leant against the large rock that provided them shelter. He glanced down and saw her lying face down, so he reached out and turned her over. She was blue in the face. He sighed in between panting.

"Oh...come on! Don't tell me you need mouth to mouth again! I... was never trained!"

As if his comment were enough, she coughed up a mouthful of water and struggled to sit up. "You...should have just...let me get hit..."

Tala caught the last of his breath and jumped forward onto his hands and knees, a shocked look on his face. "What do you mean? Why?"

She coughed again and her eyes became watery. "You saw what happened. I'm a murderer!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes I am!" she sobbed. "All the morals I had have been ignored. I don't deserve to live! I killed Kuiper! Spica and Telesto were only showing me my wrong-doings!"

Tala leant back on his haunches and scratched his head as he groaned in annoyance. "Oh, for... Look-we've had this talk before."

He took her hand in his own and squeezed it tightly. He gazed intently at her with a longing and pleading look as he leant forward to try and make her look at him. "There are certain times where we have to disobey our morals. It's either their life or ours-survival of the fittest-a dog eat dog world out there-blood for blood-!"

"You can stop with the metaphors."

"Sorry-I just... Never mind. My point is that in some rare cases, it's okay to kill people. If he killed you, a lot more lives and souls would be lost, whereas when you killed him, all those souls and lives were protected. You catch my drift?"

"That doesn't make me feel any better. If we could have persuaded him not to do such terrible things, we wouldn't have to resort to such terrible acts in the first place..."

"Some things can't be worked out! Get that through that thick, pacifistic head of yours!" Tala yelled at her, raising his voice louder than he had intended to. "If you can't be aggressive, you'll find that you'll only be taken advantage of in life! Wrong can also be right!"

"You didn't think you could hide forever, did you?" a voice taunted from behind them. Tala turned around and Sarah looked up to see Spica. Telesto emerged from behind her.

"Honestly, Tala, if you don't want to be found, you shouldn't make your voice so loud. I would've thought you'd have more sense than that!" Telesto jested.

Tala leapt up and out of their way while Sarah stayed put in her sitting position on the ground. "Get up!" he ordered. She kept her head down, ignoring him.

Spica looked to Telesto with a smirk on her face. "Care to do the honours?"

"My pleasure," he replied as he drew his gun from his belt and placed the end firmly against the side of Sarah's head. "Too bad it has to end this way, Sarah. You were a pretty, young thing."

Telesto leapt back as the handgun flew out of his hand, having been knocked by something. He looked up to see Tala with his launcher still out, the ripcord held firmly in his outstretched arm. His Beyblade spun to a stop, having got caught in the thick grass of the field.

Telesto reached into his belt again and pulled out his Beyblade and secured it to the launcher strapped on his arm. "Oh, so that's how you want to play, eh? Then let's get this show on the road! Let it rip!"

Once launched into the grass, the blades attached to his attack ring scythed at the surrounding area until the Beyblade had created a sizeable ring for the two to battle. Telesto bent down, picked up Wolborg, and tossed it to Tala.

"See? I'll even be a good sportsman for you," he quipped.

Tala caught the blade deftly and kept his eye on Telesto as he fit it to his launcher and fired it.

***

"Rhea, no!" Samson yelled as he charged forward at the creature.

Kai reached out to hold him back, but missed. "Samson! Stay away from her!"

Samson ignored him and stopped short when he was just a metre from the stolid figure. He stared in disbelief straight ahead and into her blank eyes. "Rhea?" he whispered, a quiver in his voice.

He took a few slow steps closer until he was a foot away. "Rhea? Tell me-what's wrong?"

"Samson! Get away!"

He blocked out Kai's frantic yells. Samson reached out to touch her. "Rhea?"

"Samson! Don't touch her!" Kai scolded yet again, but to no avail.

Samson's hand was an inch away from her cheek when her hand whipped up and grabbed his wrist. She twisted it rapidly at an odd angle, and with an ominous crack, his hand flopped to one side of his extended arm, broken. Samson yelped in agony and pulled away from her instantly, but she followed him as he backed away.

"I told you to stay away, but did you listen, to me? Did you?" Kai reprimanded.

Eva heard some moans from behind her and turned to see Boris stirring. She hurried away from Kai and knelt beside Boris. "Are you okay, Mr. Balkov?"

Boris pushed himself up and rubbed his head ruefully. "I think... What happened?"

"Your precious trainee is turning on you, Boris," Gilepse said with a smile as he watched Rhea follow Samson slowly. "Just think-in a little while it will all be over. Once she's finished taking care of Samson, she'll get Anya, and then your end is evident."

Boris made to get up but was stopped by Eva. "Don't Boris. It's only a waste of your time."

Samson continued to back away until he collided with Kai, who was reluctant to move out of the way. Rhea stopped in her tracks and stood staring at the boy at her mercy. She spoke.

"Why do you run when it was you that came to me first? Why are you afraid of me? Help me, Samson," she said softly in her normal voice, extending her arm innocently. "I'll heal your broken wrist, I'm sorry I hurt you in the first place."

Samson had moved beside Kai. He continued to gawk in fear at Rhea's outstretched hand for a moment before looking to Kai, wanting his confirmation. Kai had been right before, he'd probably be right now, but Kai was keeping his eyes fixedly on Rhea, deliberately not turning to Samson.

Samson looked back to Rhea fearfully, still holding his wrist. "Are... Are you sure? I..."

A smile crossed Rhea's lips, though her eyes remained the same. "It's okay. I won't hurt you again."

Samson cast one last glance at Kai before extending his limp hand once more.

"No, don't!"

Samson whipped his head to the right quickly to see Kai extending his hand to push his arm out of the way. Rhea's face suddenly turned back to the creature's and instead of grabbing Samson's hand as she had intended to, she grabbed the next closest thing; her brother's.

Kai yelled and struggled with both hands to get away, but couldn't. He writhed about, fought Rhea, but se kept an unmoving grip on him. Kai finally stopped moving after a while, but he stood with his legs straddled and his upper body sagging to the floor like a toy doll that had run out of batteries, his arm handing limp in Rhea's and his other arm hanging, brushing the ground. A silence hung about the throng, Samson staring in horror at what could have happened to him.

"Kai Hiwatari," the raspy voice of Crucis uttered as Rhea kept holding his wrist.

Kai jerked a little, then was still again. Slowly, his dragging arm curled into a shaking fist and he raised that arm to his hidden chest. Without warning, he raised his upper body violently and yelled again. The look on his face was crazed, yet full of pain, and still, Rhea held his wrist, unmoving. From Kai's chest pushed some light, as if reluctant to come out.

The blue form eventually did manage to force itself out, the figure shooting upwards to the sky and creating a continuous beam for a few seconds as Kai continued to yell. The beam finally flickered and faded, and along with it, so did Kai's voice. He choked, and the yell diminished as he closed his mouth and eyes and went limp again. He fell to the ground when Rhea finally released him from her grasp.

"What... just happened?" Samson questioned, truly petrified now.

"Kai's soul was taken-the last one he had," explained Boris.

Eva looked at the body on the floor. "Oh, that's right... Kai had multiple souls, didn't he?"

"He just used up his last life line..." Anya added. She rose angrily from her kneeling position on the ground and stormed over to Samson, who cowered before her. "To save your stupid tail, you moron! You didn't even listen to him when he was shouting at you to stay away from Rhea! Did you listen? NO! He shouldn't have sacrificed himself for you! You weren't worth his agony if you can't even listen one measly time, Samson Langley!"

"But Anya-" he protested. "You don't understand-you saw-he leapt in front of me-I didn't tell him to-"

"So what? The fact is he did it, and look what happened to him!" She screamed as she pointed to the body lying in front of Rhea. "He saved and protected that many innocent that are in this world, and what have you done? Nothing, zip, nada! Is this your thanks?"

Samson remained quiet, too afraid to speak.

"Well? Answer me, Langley!"

Samson lowered his head, and Anya saw him start to shake. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Kai... I'm sorry everyone... it was all my fault." He raised his head to yell at Anya. "There! I'm sorry! I'm truly sorry! I should be that soulless body on the ground, not Kai! Who am I? What am I to watch so intently and do nothing to the one that tried to save me and has!" Samson took his unbroken left hand and sank to the ground, covering his face with it. "I'm a terrible person, and I deserve this broken right hand! I deserve to die!"

"That's right, Samson, you-" Anya started, but she was interrupted by Eva.

"Don't fight! Look what we're doing to each other!" Eva cried, having rose to separate the two. "We're sweating the small things, which will only hurt us in the end and already is! We should be focusing on how to fight Rhea and Goadbwa!"

"Eva's right, children," Boris agreed. "We must concentrate on the task at hand."

Anya sneered at Samson before turning to Rhea. "Okay, then, missy! Come get me!" Anya pulled out her Beyblade and aimed it, ready to fire.

Rhea held out the palm of her hand, and Anya stared at it quizzically. "What's that supposed to do?"

A white form began to emerge from the palm of her hand. It was her Bit Beast, Moel. Moel's long, thin body snaked out and towards Anya, who lowered her launcher to step back in fear and disgust. Moel exerted its armoured head right into Anya's face. Anya stepped backward and tripped over a rock, making her vulnerable to an attack from the spirit, when suddenly, the eel retracted into Rhea's hand and Rhea drew away from Anya, a dazed look on her face.

Anya looked up, and at her side stood Kieran, watching his Bit Beast Monray as it spiralled around him in the air before diving towards Rhea again.

"Kieran! Why the change of heart?" Anya exclaimed, relieved. "Not that I'm complaining, but..."

"If we are to defeat her, we must work together as a team," was his simple reply. He lowered his head to look at her and extended what was left of his arm to help her up.

She stared at the darkened flesh and reddened bone, and thought better of it. "That's okay, I'll help myself up, thanks." Which was what she did. She made to fire her blade once she had got up, but Kieran advised against it.

"No. It would be better for you to fight with your Bit Beast instead of commanding it. It makes for a stronger presence," he explained.

"Okay, but how do I do that?" she asked, taking her blade from her launcher and putting the launcher away.

"Believe, and Molphin will believe with you," Kieran said, closing his eyes.

Anya glared at him for a moment before closing her eyes and concentrating. 'Come on, Molphin,' she thought to herself. 'We can do this...'

Her stomach felt queasy for a moment, but then she opened her eyes to see her dolphin Bit Beast rise from the blade in her hand and join with Kieran's Monray in the air. Both Bit Beasts circled around each other and then dove down at Rhea. They both headed straight for Rhea's stomach, which they both penetrated at the same time. Rhea gave a small scream as they went through her stomach and came out her back, but she held out her palm and Moel shot out again, this time leaving her hand entirely and charging straight for the two spirits. Moel and Molphin split apart and then went straight for each other.

"No! You guys are supposed to go for Rhea and Moel, not each other!" Anya exclaimed.

"It's okay. They're merging," Kieran explained.

Anya looked to him. "What's that mean?"

"It means that they're becoming one, and shall therefore be stronger when they fight."

Sure enough, in a flash of red and orange light, the two formed a figure that was a cross between a manta ray and a dolphin just as Moel charged at it. The eel was deflected back into Rhea's hand.

Samson watched in fear as a spirit began to leave the Beyblade that Gilepse had been holding surreptitiously in his hand. The figure was green and appeared to be a woman. It soared slowly through the air towards the spirit that Molphin and Monray had formed, its hands outstretched as if ready to strangle the figure.

"Samson! If you want to prove yourself worthy, then get Kai's soul back now while everyone is distracted," he heard a voice say from behind him. It was Eva, and she was kneeling behind him.

"Right," he agreed. He dug into his pocket with his left hand and pulled out his purple Beyblade. He held it up to the clouded sky. "Moark, go forth into the heavens and retrieve the lost soul of Kai Daimyo Hiwatari!" he said with a firm determination.

From the Bit Chip surfaced the green shark Bit Beast. It flew out and towards the sky, forming a continuous light for a few seconds. Eva and Samson watched the area where it had disappeared into the clouds for a minute or so while the battle raged on between the other four. Finally, the clouds swirled and parted to let through Moark with the streak of blue that was Kai's last soul. The Bit Beast flew down towards them and into Kai's body, depositing the soul before returning to the Bey in Samson's extended hand.

Kai stirred and opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, Samson and Eva rushing over to see if he was okay. He groaned. "What happened?"

Eva was about to reply when she was interrupted by a yell from both Kieran and Anya. They looked up to see their Bit Beast charge for Rhea again, but this time, Moel and Gilepse's Bit Beast zipped in front of her to protect her. Rhea was pushed back from the explosion that the deflection caused.

Rhea was knocked backwards and into Gilepse, who had been standing at the edge of the cliff. Gilepse grabbed Rhea's wings to steady himself, but lost his balance, and as they weren't very strong, the wings were ripped apart from her body completely. Rhea screamed in pain and teetered at the edge of the cliff as black light shot from the two holes in her back. There were more screams, but they weren't from Rhea-they were from Crucis as the black light fled to the darkened sky.

Gilepse held on tightly to the edge of the cliff, on the verge of falling. The wings in his hand disintegrated. "No! Crucis! You said your soul was ours! Traitor!"

Boris leapt up from his position on the ground by himself. He ran to the edge of the cliff and towered over Gilepse. "Just like you were?"

Gilepse looked up and noticed that Boris' foot was suspiciously close to his single hand. Gilepse glanced to the many spikes below him that were made of rock and then back up to Boris. "No, Balkov-you wouldn't!"

Boris raised his foot to bring it down. "Oh, I wouldn't, wouldn't I?"

Gilepse's eyes truly held the fear of death in them. He lowered his head. "I know this won't alter your decision at all, but I'm sorry."

Boris continued to stare at the man and lowered his foot momentarily, a look of sympathy crossing his face. He could look at Gilepse's face clearly since he had lost his glasses in a previous struggle with the man.

"Well, if it's any consolation, Galsky," he began. Gilepse looked up and straight into Boris' grey, sinister eyes. "The place where you're going is better than here."

Gilepse gave a small smile as tears welled up in his eyes. "Tell my daughter about this."

Boris nodded and returned the smile as he raised his foot once more. He brought it down forcefully, and Gilepse was forced to let go, but not before Gilepse swiped upwards to try and grab Boris' foot in one last vengeful act. But Gilepse missed and caught a hold of the nearby Rhea instead.

Rhea was pulled off the edge of the cliff with Gilepse, but she managed to grab on the arm of Kieran, who had leapt forward in an effort to save her. In doing that, Samson had also jumped forward and caught hold of Kieran's other arm.

"You!" exclaimed Boris. "You were going to go quietly, but you're begging for a loud way!"

"There's no honour among thieves, Balkov. You'd better learn that!" Gilepse shouted back.

"Hold on, Kieran, I'll pull you up!" Samson cried, struggling to hold the weight of the three of them.

"Don't, Samson."

"What?"

"I said don't. You'll only waste your breath. It would be better for Rhea and I to just leave this world in peace and take Gilepse with us."

"But... But Kieran... Rhea! You can't-"

"Yes, it's okay, Samson. Crucis does not plague me for the moment, but I can assure you she will return so long as I live. Let go of us," consoled Rhea.

"I-I..." stuttered Samson. "What about Eva and Kai?"

"You can take care of them, Samson," encouraged Kieran. "Besides, they are now old enough to take care of themselves."

On hearing this, Kai got up and rushed over to the edge, Eva and Anya following suite. But before they reached, Samson lost his grip on Kieran's stump of an arm and the three plummeted to the rock spikes below. Kai and Eva reached the edge just in time to watch with Boris and Samson as the three split apart on the way down. "Goodbye!" all three shouted in unison just before Gilepse made contact with the point of a spike in the middle of the range.

Blood spurted from him as he was pierced right through the stomach and killed instantly. Kieran met the point of a spike head-first and the spike appeared through the side of his head. As for Rhea, she was the lucky one and hit the ground face down, so that her expression was unreadable. Along with Crucis' soul where before went her navy blue hair, and so now all that was left with Rhea's body as a reminder of the possession were the gaping holes in her back.