"NDS: Book 12—Neon: Chapter 91: Atonement"

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Good, then I can have my bloody finish like I want. Let's move on then to this final battle and put Book 12 in the past. Well, no, next chapter is the last Book 12 chapter, but, well, it might as well just end here.

Oh, and I know that the exo-suit is also the same as the manga Excel Saga, but if you make it one word it sort of sounds different for some reason.

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Jet stood before Ken who moved the behemoth, Excelsaga, around to face the foolish young man. Jet was weighing his options though as he came up with some sort of plan. This thing could just as easily move and drop on him and his whole life would be over.

"Without the Raven's Wing…I won't have much…" Jet noted as he realized based upon earlier battles that the only thing that works well is his Lion's Rage Punch. "But it'll be enough to destroy someone like you."

"I have no clue who you are, but you are a human, and friend to Clive, so that is enough to warrant your death." Ken arrogantly remarked as he decided to get rid of the current threat that was Jet, while Clive was busy trying to fix the Hammer Fist. "You might as well just sigh the death certificate yourself."

"I may have no strong attacks, but," Jet immediately darts at the large automaton and readies himself to use the Lion's Rage Punch, but he miscalculated how fast Excelsaga would move, and while mid-air is thrown aside to the right side of the roof. Just as soon as he was thrown aside by the large right arm of Excelsaga, the same arm was firing bullets at the young man. Taking a few minor attacks, Jet quickly handsprings away from the shots and lands to recover some air. "He's faster than Dynamo was. Of course, he is part human in there…at least in reflexes." Noticing that the panel on Excelsaga's back had burst off Jet had a bad feeling about what was coming out, and decided to move. It was a good thing being that a hail of mini-missiles came flying out for him. He was able to be one step ahead of each impact so that he wasn't hit or thrown aside by the explosion. With one strenuous jump Jet launched himself for Excelsaga's chest, where Ken was. "Lion's Fist!" Using his right hand in a fist, Jet pounded upon the exo-suit with a quick, half-powered, version of the Lion's Rage, but only left little damage upon the metal exterior. Still, the force of the attack was enough to push the behemoth backward, opening it up to another attack. "Rage Swipe!" Using his other hand in a similar fashion to the previous attack, Jet aimed and his the same spot, but it was only dented inward.

Jet failed to see the incoming fist of Excelsaga's left hand, and when he did it was too late as he was thrown aside. It was like the Hammer Fist and was wire-guided so it not only hit Jet away, but impaled him into the roof as the material shattered against Jet's back. The fist was retracted by Ken as Jet laid prone on the ground. Slowly, Jet picked up his battered body as he hung his head low. Standing taller he spat blood aside and wiped what was left on his mouth with his sleeve. He was left to figure out a new plan. Excelsaga made Ken too strong to fight, and none of his attacks had worked well. Excelsaga was too fast due to Ken's reflexes, and that meant he had no time to use his Lion's Rage Punch, or Positive Cannon, and without any runes, there was no chance of even trying arcana, and his ARM might be better used as scrap metal. His loss of a boomerang against Dal also left him without his beloved tool. He decided he also could not rely on the Raven's Wing…but then he realized he could.

With a grin Jet drew the Raven's Wing as it turned heavier in his hands and changed to it's zanbato form. He ran at full-charge towards Excelsaga who deflected Jet's sword attack with a beam sword that came from his left arm. Excelsaga thrust forward as it swung it's blade, as did Jet, and the two continued to cross swords five times. On the final attempt, Jet changed his tactics, and pierced the gauntlet on Excelsaga's right arm, tearing all the way through and making the arm useless. As Jet backed away from his attack though, Ken made sure to give Jet the same treatment, but was only able to slice off a layer of skin on the young man's right arm.

As Jet reeled back in pain he pulled his hand away from his wound to examine it. To his surprise there was "No blood?"

"The heat my sword produces makes it so I only deal wounds, and not such foolish things as blood." Ken chuckled. "Blood only shows who is weak and who is not."

"I think you underestimate the power of the human heart. Human's aren't just biology!" Jet soon realized as he grasped the Raven's Wing with both hand that the attack given to his right arm hurt him worse than he thought. He couldn't hold the sword's hilt or a terrible pain would hit him, and that would weaken his hold, so when he assaulted Excelsaga, it was all too easy to parry the attack. In this moment of weakness the vernier lit up on Excelsaga and it's body slammed into Jet sending the carpenter to the ledge of the northeastern section of the roof that he started at. As Jet tried to recover, the last hidden panel on Excelsaga's back sprung off and the last of his missiles attacked Jet who had no time to do anything. Within seconds the missiles hit the roof portion, and in the ensuing destruction, the northeast roof portion broke and begun to fall to the ground in a cloud of destruction. In the pillow of smoke however, burst forth Jet with the Raven's Wing now sheathed. The surprise attack offered Jet a chance to pull of his attacks. "Lion's Rage Punch!" The force of the attack sends the whole mechanical being backwards, noisily scrapping against the roof materials. The second dent in the chest armor was Jet's reward for pulling off the attack as his body landed on a stable piece of roof. His clothes were a wreck, and his body was covered in blood and dirt, but such things didn't matter in these circumstances. That was what you had to deal with afterwards.

As Ken was shocked he let out a surprised gurgle from the back of his throat as the Excelsaga continued to move out of his control in reverse. "What the--?"

"Hammer Fist!" Clive's attack hits the dent Jet had just left in the suit, and the Hammer Fist burst through the strong armor. In doing so the innards of Excelsaga burst forth from the hole as Clive's new fist retracted to him. The dark gray smoke pillowed out from the automaton. Clive and Jet regrouped at the entrance to the skyway ramp Clive had come up earlier. "You okay?" Clive wondered as he took in Jet's battered appearance.

"I'm bleeding, out of breath, and have a weak arm, plus that all hurts mind you, but…I can finish this off." Jet grinned. "I wouldn't stop until I'm dead."

"Another minute and you will be." Clive grimly noted remaining with his cool, and calm, stoic appearance.

"So would you." Jet replied.

"Listen, you have a fiancée, so go to her and leave this to me." Clive announced. "She's lost enough people already, so I'm not going to be pinned as the one who killed her betrothed as well."

Jet defiantly shook his head. "I would never be a coward and run, and I definitely wouldn't leave someone I love behind." Jet declared. "Besides, I promised Sakura that I would save you and bring you back."

Clive and Jet looked to Excelsaga which was slowly beginning to recover as the smoke thinned out. "Jet…I understand." Clive gave an abrupt nod. "We should leave here and leave Ken to die in the explosions."

Jet nodded. "Okay, I can go along with that."

The two Maxwell Gang members turned and ran down the skyway ramp, a lot faster because it was downward slope. They were easily halfway through before the large Excelsaga began to chase after them. It's body just small enough to fit, but touching the sides and roof in the process. Due to his vernier and his mass, as he moved full-speed after the two friends, the glass surrounding the ramp shattered and fell to the ground. The platform weakening under him as he passed. Using his last firearm that was in it's head, being that Jet destroyed his gattling cannon right arm with the Raven's Wing, Excelsaga was able to shoot ahead at the two, but Clive and Jet were able to dodge the predictable shots. But that did little for the glass around them and the floor which was battered. The glass shattered and the floor up ahead where the ramp would meet the building broke away. All that was left ahead of them was a gaping hole in the floor, and the two wires that held up the ramp on that end. If they made a good jump, they could still make it, but the ten feet of air under them would make it a gamble. Clive turned to Jet. "Jet!" He yelled in order to make his voice be picked up over the louder sounds of destruction around them.

"What?" Jet loudly questioned.

"Just like you, before we fired at Nobuo-Eon, I have to say good-bye to you."

Jet shook his head strongly in disagreement. "We're not going to die here! Trust me! We can make it to the building if you use the Hammer Fist for us to climb over with."

Clive laughed. "All right." He paused giving Jet a smile. "That sounds like a plan. I was worried we were out of them. Let's go back to the others and live." Jet nodded and the two ran for the edge where the ramp would end ten feet short of the building, and as they ran, the glass around them would shatter more as Ken continued his desperate attack, but he was still half a skyway ramp away from them. As they stood there at the edge Jet was looking around and noticed the twenty floor drop to the ground, before he looked to Clive. "Jet!" He loudly said.

"What is it?" Jet wondered.

"I lied." Before Jet could question his response, Clive had already pushed him from the ramp. Jet's body fell backwards, as Jet watched Clive, and Jet was soon through the broken floor looking upwards to Clive who watched him plummet.

As Jet began to fall and was already a floor away, he spoke out to Clive. "Clive!" He had a million things going through his head, but they all came to an end. He simply lost all his anger when he stared into Clive's eyes from that distance. Though he was falling, it was as if time had slowed, and everything he was going to ask Clive simply was answered by their locked stare. It was like Clive's eyes were able to freeze him up. But time had not frozen, and so when Jet's head hit the glass window on the side of the building, the carpenter snapped to attention. It was too late, but he couldn't go back to Clive now. He simply turned to face the building in-air, and stuck his zanbato Raven's Wing into the metal portion of the building's side, slowing his descent as he continued to move further down. That was what Clive had intended for him to do after all. He knew Clive wasn't trying to kill him, but rather let him live. As he slowly slide down the building's side, now ten floors lower than he had started, he looked upwards at the ramp one last time. "I…understand it all now…" He grimly muttered as he waited to touch the earth once more.

As soon as Jet was out of his sights, Clive slowly turned to Excelsaga who had now been close enough to him. Excelsaga was out of all of it's weapons except it's body, the wire-guided fist, and the beam sword, and Clive knew that. "Hammer Fist!" Clive shot off his fist which caused Ken to stop the Excelsaga when it hit him back. As the fist returned to Clive, Excelsaga landed, rocking the ramp a bit under the weight of it's body.

"You do not run like your friend?" Ken shouted over the sound of destruction around them. The city was sputtering out balls of fire and smoke in some places now that the self-destruction count was coming to an end. The buildings around them were bursting in bright orange, and spewing glass and metal all over the city.

"Your plan was destined to fail, Ken." Clive noted loudly over the noise. "You intended to lead me here, play with me, and then kill me with the Excelsaga. The only flaw to your plan…"

"…Is that you came here to die." Ken realized in a shocked voice. He had not thought of that possibility. It would ruin all of his plans. "I won't allow you to die before I kill you!" Ken vehemently yelled.

"It is my fault for the drones, Neon City, and everything about it is all due to me." Clive announced. "I must atone for my sins! It is my job, and my only reason to live, in order to destroy my sin and purge Filgaia of it!" Clive seriously shouted. "You've destroyed all the workers, the medics, scientists, data, drones, and even this city!" Clive declared. "You've been doing all of my work; I've been using you!" Clive chuckled with a grin.

Ken remained quiet in denial. "Im-Impossible! How…how…" But Ken realized it was the truth. Clive had been using him all along. All of his plans, were pointless. If he hadn't killed all the scientists and medics, and the city, Clive would have. Anything that had to do with Clive's sin had to be destroyed.

"My sin dies with you and I!" Clive announced. "I must see this to the end."

"I won't allow it!" Ken declared. He quickly made Excelsaga fly at the green-haired man in front of him.

"Hammer Fist!" The attack missed Excelsaga and continued past.

"Ha! And now you're mine!" Ken declared.

"Not so!" It was in that moment that Clive's Hammer Fist tore out the support and floor on the other side of Ken. The ramp shattered, and begun to plummet on Ken's side, due to the weight of Excelsaga. The two floated in the air as the ramp began to swing for the building Clive had pushed Jet towards. The Hammer Fist returned to his arm.

"What?" Ken shouted, shocked and appalled.

"You and I will have plenty of time to settle this in Hell, but…" It was in that moment that the wires that held it on Clive's side snapped, and the two and the ramp began to plummet to the erupting city streets, as a manhole cover flew past them. "I win this battle in life." With little time left as they fall, Clive brought his new right arm upward. "Hammer Fist!" The attack breaks through the hole that Clive and Jet had made back on the roof, and the covers for the cockpit tear away leaving Clive and Ken face-to-face as the Hammer Fist remains buried in Excelsaga, just above Ken's head. Clive stared into Ken's eyes. "Humanity is the strongest…and without humankind…you wouldn't be."

Before Ken could noticed, the Hammer Fist had landed on him from above. "What are you doing?" Ken shouted in fear, but was only answered by the Hammer Fist wrapping it's fingers around his head. With little effort they shut close, cracking the man's human's skull, and sending blood bursting out like a crushed watermelon under the pressure of a mallet strike. Everything human about Ken Ninomara burst forth through the slim openings between the finger's of Clive's Hammer Fist, and in this moment, Ken Ninomara ceased to exist. All that was left of him was his crushed head that sat within the Hammer Fist he had so stupidly given Clive. Clive did not bat an eye at his ex-partner's death.

Clive began to float away from the Excelsaga body, but the wire attached to the Hammer Fist kept him connected to it. Floating in air as he looked down on the fiery ground that he was approaching fast. "Everyone…" He shut his eyes. "I'm sorry." And those were his last words as the ramp hit the ground. The Excelsaga body erupted and exploded upon impact, and the resulting explosions blew apart the two-block radius of it. Quickly following, the city itself blew, as Concord and Hawthorne slowly fell into the ground like all the other buildings before them. Their roofs erupting with smoke and bursts of fire. As the gray afternoon sky sat overhead of them, there seemed no end to the sky. With the smoke from Neon City being a similar color, it looked as it the sky had come down and hit it. Maybe someone who watched from faraway would say that it looked like the sky was inviting the dead of Neon City up, but that would be a foolish remark.

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So…uh…yeah…

Clive's dead.

Ken's skull was crushed alive by the same weapon he had purposely given to his enemy.

And the rest of the gang is safe, but of course, they are watching the City be destroyed from afar.

Next Time: The moment of silence…