Author's Note: After quite a handful of chapters we return to Ryu, Pegasus, and Zane.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Blood for Blood

Ryu then gave a nod to Pegasus, who drew for the turn. "Ah yes, perfect. I'll discard another card to bring out the second Blue Eyes Toon Dragon(3000/2500) and then I'll summon on my own a Toon Masked Sorcerer(900/1400)."

Two more cartoon monsters popped out of the pages of the Cartoonist, completely filling all five of Pegasus' monster zones. "Since toons are special summons, I'll tribute Toon Masked Sorcerer to summon Toon Summoned Skull(2500/1200)!"

A crazed cartoon version of the demon monster popped out of the pages of the Cartoonist, joining the other monsters that he had already gathered. "Like my other monsters it cannot attack this turn. However, my first two toons can and will!"

A beam of white light shot from the toon dragon's mouth, while two beams of red energy shot from the hands of the elves. Zane sneered and snapped one arm out to his right, causing the trap that was there to reveal itself. "Shield of Blood! By sacrificing a Blood Puppet while being attacked directly I can negate that attack!"

Two of the Blood Puppets threw themselves in the way of the attack, detonating into a shower of blood that rained over the field. Pegasus frowned, having burned his hand in that turn, just like Ryu had. "Very well, I end my turn." (PLP: 3500)

"Why did your life points go down? I didn't do anything to damage you." The game creator sighed, looking very bored as he explained.

"As long as Toon World is in play, which it is with my Cartoonist in play, I can have my toons attack directly. But some of the stronger ones, like Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, require a five hundred life point cost to attack. That's what happened." Zane's eyes widened as he contemplated receiving a direct attack from each of those toons. He was lucky to have his trap card.

Zane drew, but despite the fact that he held only one card in his hand he seemed supremely confident. "Let's start this turn off like clockwork! Blood Spear!" Ryu groaned as once again he was covered in blood. (RLP: 1200)

He smirked, taking a brief glance down at his set card. "I'm going to turn this duel supremely in my favor by bringing down all of your paltry defenses. And I'll do it with one card alone. Reveal set card, Tribute of Blood!"

The Blood Puppets shivered and shook, and then a large group of them went flying at Pegasus and Ryu's monsters. "Tribute of Blood allows me to sacrifice Blood Puppet tokens to destroy monsters on your field, so I sacrifice seven to blow away everything you've got!"

One by one the monsters on their field shattered into a million pieces, leaving them only with the few face down cards they had. "Heh, that was too easy. I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

Ryu drew and smirked at the card he had drawn. "Looks like you made a bit of a mistake. I'll prove it to you by playing Monster Reincarnation, discarding one card from my hand to pick up the Emerald Dragon in my grave."

He held up the chosen monster and moved to place another card on his duel disk. "I summon Emerald Paladin(1300/200) to the field, and when he's normal summoned I can special summon Emerald Dragon(2400/1400) from my hand to my field!"

A dragon with green skin flew down onto the field and let out a ferocious roar. It was accompanied by a much smaller warrior who was wearing emerald green armor. "Now I union Emerald Paladin to Emerald Dragon, increase my Emerald Dragon's attack by three hundred and giving it a trample ability!"

Emerald Paladin jumped up onto Emerald Dragon's back, and the dragon roared in triumph as its attack points pumped up by three hundred. Then it lowered its head to gaze at the set monster on Zane's field. "I see what you want Emerald Dragon, so go get it! Emerald Burst Stream!"

The dragon peppered the face down defense monster with a wave of green flame. But as it was burned away Ryu noticed that Zane didn't look bothered. In fact he looked delighted, which led Ryu to one conclusion. 'A destruction effect!'

"Heh, your eyes say you see what's coming. Yeah, the monster your big old dragon killed was Blood Gatherer(700/1200). When he's destroyed in battle I can produce a number of Blood Puppet tokens equal to the total level of the monster that killed it. So I get six more tokens!" Six more of the little floating crimson puppets appeared, almost completely replacing the monsters Zane had previously sacrificed.

Ryu ground his teeth together, ready to just pound that jerk in the face, until he realized something was amiss. "Hey wait a second! Emerald Dragon gains a trample effect from Emerald Paladin, so you should have lost twelve hundred life points!"

To his surprise Pegasus shook his head. "Sorry Ryu-boy, as long as Shield of Blood is in play the life point damage from battle with monsters with 'blood' in their name is reduced to zero."

Knowing that there was nothing else his dueling partner could do, Pegasus drew for the start of his turn. He sighed dramatically and placed the card face down. "Oh woe is unto me! So little that I can do…and my partner is hopelessly reckless as well! It seems all I can do is end my turn!"

The dragon user kept his face blank, even though he realized that Pegasus was warning him against being reckless. Zane flicked his eyes between the two, considering what hidden meanings that declaration might have had. "I suppose I shouldn't worry what you two try and say, since I can't lose to you two."

He added a card to his hand, and pointed to one of the remaining Blood Puppets. "I sacrifice a Blood Puppet to deal even more damage to the weak dragon punk. Blood Spear!"

To Zane's surprise absolutely nothing happened. He held up his duel disk and shook it, looking frustrated. Pegasus chuckled and gestured broadly over his field, indicating his now face up trap card. "My continuous trap card Mask of Restrict prevents monsters from being sacrificed for any purpose. Poor boy."

"Fine! If I can't sacrifice any of my Blood Puppets I'll just set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Zane wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, because he knew what was going to happen shortly.

Ryu chuckled after he drew. He checked the card, and then pointed at Zane's set monster. "Alright Emerald Dragon, attack that face down monster with your Emerald Burst Stream!" An explosion of green flame engulfed the set monster which splattered apart under the force.

"I throw one card face down and pass the turn to Pegasus." He gave a thumbs up to the dueling master, who smiled happily as he drew. As soon as he saw the card he put a hand to his mouth and giggled like a little girl.

"I play Monster Reborn to special summon Bloodstone Dragon(2900/1500). This cuddly little monster will attack your life points directly!" Zane was almost immediately swallowed up by a huge blaze of flame from the mouth of the dark skinned dragon. The intense heat started to melt the ground and Zane's body was nowhere to be seen.

Pegasus sighed dramatically and tapped a button on his duel disk. "I activate Bloodstone Dragon's effect, paying fifteen hundred life points to double the damage it deals. So instead of dealing you twenty-nine hundred damage, it will deal you fifty-eight hundred damage, enough to defeat you." (PLP: 2000)

The flames died down, revealing at last Zane's body, which was slightly charred from the intense attack. But as they watched his skin healed up, empowered by the second stage of Blood within him. "Yes…strong, the power of Second Level Blood is extraordinary!" (ZLP: 1100)

Pegasus and Ryu shared a look, each one thinking the same thing as they saw his life points and his field. Ryu decided to articulate it after he was certain that even Zane's magic and trap cards were gone, leaving only his Blood Puppets. "You sacrificed your three cards with Emergency Provisions to give yourself three thousand life points before you took the attack. So you got hit with fifty-eight hundred damage while you had sixty-nine hundred life points."

"Yes, that's right. Although I had to give up my life restoring trap cards and my shield it was worth it to stay in the game. And since there are no more monsters on your field there isn't anything else that you can do." He brushed some dust off his now fully healed arms and then folded them across his chest.

Pegasus brushed some stray hair out of his eyes and shrugged at Ryu. "I suppose that's all I can do. Really it's a pity, I was hoping to do more this turn, but if that's all then that's all. Your turn Zaney-boy."

Zane grimaced as he drew, glaring heatedly at Pegasus. "You're an annoying man, did you know that?"

"Yes, I had been told that before, but nobody has ever bothered to offer me proof." Pegasus smiled in that same self-amused way that he always did, and Zane felt his blood boil even further.

Watching Pegasus' taunting manner from the outside Ryu could only feel glad that he wasn't on the receiving end this time. 'There's no way that Zane can beat Pegasus. I'm not sure that I could beat Zane, but with Pegasus on my side the game is already decided. After all, only Yugi Moto has ever beaten Pegasus.'

Ryu felt his heart pounding in his chest for some strange reason despite his confidence. Perhaps it was the fact that Zane's eyes were growing redder by the minute, or the fact that he seemed to be overloading with power, but either way the situation felt…wrong. 'Come on, two on one with Pegasus on my side…it'll be over soon. No amount of power can change that.'

Zane raised the card out level to his chest and sneered at them as his body was engulfed in a red aura. "The full power of Second Level Blood is really starting to kick in, and it even boosts my dueling capability. Watch, I play Blood Payment!"

Pegasus turned to Ryu and explained. "Blood Payment costs a thousand life points, but it lets the user draw five cards. I often feel that despite its rarity it was too powerful, so I eventually stopped its production and released cards to substitute. Unfortunately it appears it didn't do much for us." (ZLP: 100)

Next Zane drew his five cards and fitted two of them into his duel disc. "First off I activate the magic card Buffer Removal, which will remove any limitation on a single type of target for this turn. Can you guess what my target is?"

Ryu gritted his teeth when he began to understand. "You'll remove the limitation on the Blood Puppets so you can tribute multiple ones during your turn. I bet your second card will get rid of Mask of Restrict so you can start your tributing."

"Right you are! My second card is Heavy Storm which you should both know destroys all magic and trap cards in play! Say goodbye to all of your life points!" A heavy gust of wind swarmed over the field, shaking their cards up. Pegasus closed his one good eye and dropped his head slightly.

"It's a pity, it really is. I thought I could enjoy this duel a bit more, but I suppose that's not an option. In this case I'm going to have bow out and let my trusted companion continue in my place." Even Ryu couldn't believe his ears. He knew Pegasus said that he had potential, but what did he mean that he was going to let Ryu handle it?

"I activate my trap card Damage Paralysis. This negates all effect damage to one target for the duration of the turn and lets that player draw a card. So I think I'll prevent Ryu from taking any effect damage this turn." Pegasus smiled with his usual humor even as Ryu ran up to him, looking furious.

"You're the better duelist; you're the one who created the freaking game! I'm not the one who can beat this guy, it's you! Why would you place it on me to beat him? Are you insane?" Pegasus placed a hand on the younger duelist's shoulder and shook his head, still smiling that same way.

"Ryu, I trust you completely to defeat Zane. In the coming battles it won't be me who is able to step up to the challenge, but rather you. If you keep relying on others then there's no way you can step up to that challenge, so I'll force you to accept that burden by stepping down." Zane snorted and rolled his eyes at the display.

"I'll get this over with and get Pegasus out of the way by tributing ten of my Blood Puppets. Blood Spear Ten Fold!" Pegasus shoved Ryu aside and stood tall and proud as one by one the ten Blood Puppets slammed into his body. Almost in slow motion he stumbled backwards and then collapsed. (PLP: 0)

Zane chuckled and flipped around one of his three remaining cards. "Since I did damage this turn I'll play Blood Transfusion. This increases my life points by the amount of damage I dealt. That means two thousand life points for me." (ZLP: 2100)

"Last but not least I'll set my remaining cards down on the field. And now that Pegasus is out of the way, this duel won't last more than a few turns total. Against me, there's no way you can win." Ryu didn't respond, instead he looked at Pegasus' fallen body.

It was just like his double duel with Autumn against Taichi. At that time he had been protected as well in a very similar fashion with trust placed in him to win. 'Yet I couldn't win, despite my desire to. I couldn't pull off victory against Taichi. This time I can't let the outcome be the same!'

"Zane, don't count your chickens quite yet, because nothing has hatched so far! First I draw one card from Damage Paralysis! Then I draw one card for the start of my turn!" He drew two cards in quick procession. He snapped them up in front of his eyes to decide on his next move. There couldn't be any screw ups at this juncture.

"Ha, I'll crush you faster than even you thought! Activate trap card, Blood Rage! This forces one monster on your field to attack if I have a monster with 'blood' in its name under my control. Emerald Dragon now attacks me!" The green skinned beast opened its jaws wide and unleashed that familiar stream of emerald flame at Zane.

"Reverse card open! Death Cylinder destroys the attacking monster and deals one thousand damage to the opponent's life points!" Emerald Dragon tilted its head back and screamed as its body was blown apart, spraying scales at Ryu. He defended himself with his arms, but it didn't change the damage. (RLP: 200)

"Since Emerald Dragon was destroyed I now special summon Emerald Paladin(1300/200) to the field in defense mode!" The green armored warrior jumped out of the flames and landed in a crouch on the field. He wrapped his arm around himself in a vain effort for protection, which would prove even more worthless considering his weak defense.

Without another pause Ryu slid one of his two cards into the graveyard. "Pot of Greed lets me draw two cards!"

He snapped up another two cards, and after a quick glance slid one of them into his duel disk. "One card face down, and end turn!"

Zane smirked as he drew, his red aura expanding even farther. Ryu noticed that he looked slightly crazed with his eyes glowing red. "I sacrifice another Blood Puppet! Blood Spear to end it!"

Calmly Ryu extend one hand and the Blood Puppet that came flying towards him shattered a few feet away, doing no damage. "My face down Hallowed Life Barrier lets me discard one card from my hand to negate all life point damage to me this turn."

He discard one of the two cards he was holding, and smirked at Zane. "You're so cocky Ryu, I'll prove that you're weak! Prince of Blood(1700/1500) is summoned, and he gains fifty attack points for every Blood Puppet I control. That means his new attack is twenty-eight hundred and fifty!"

A regal young man with blonde hair stepped out onto the field, holding a spear coated in blood. His white and gold robes were also daubed with blood, giving him a semi-insane appearance. "Even though I can't deal damage I'll still crush your monster. Prince of Blood attacks!"

Prince of Blood stabbed his spear into Emerald Paladin's stomach, twisted the weapon around, and then yanked it out. Emerald Paladin coughed up blood as his stomach was opened to the air, and then collapsed on the ground. Moments later he vanished. "You've done your dirty work for the turn. Now, it's my turn Zane."

Ryu drew, then set his previous card into his duel disk. "End turn."

Zane snorted as he drew, actually looking bored. "If that's really all you can do, then this really won't be any challenge for me. You're barely hanging on, there's no method for you to survive at all."

"We'll see Zane. I've made my promises, so I'm not going to declare who a winner is until one of the two of us actually loses all their life points. Or maybe you think a duel is determined before that point?" Their eyes met, and seconds later Zane looked away.

"It doesn't matter, the conclusion is inevitable. Now, I'll show you! I sacrifice another Blood Puppet to destroy all of your life points!" Another one went flying at Ryu, but despite the danger he was unworried. Instead he pointed at his face down card and it flipped up.

"Trap Cloning lets me pay half my life points to copy a trap in any player's graveyard, so I'll replay my own Hallowed Life Barrier. By discarding the last card in my hand I'm completely protected this turn once again." Again the oncoming Blood Puppet exploded before it could reach him, and his life points were safe. Except of course from the life point payment. (RLP: 100)

"You…you're just barely hanging on at all. Why not make it even more hopeless for you by sacrificing my Prince of Blood in order to summon Blood King(2000/1500) who gains two hundred attack points per Blood Puppet under my command!" In place of a young blonde man coated in blood there was now an older man with gray hair and a gray beard, also covered in blood.

Ryu didn't seem phased even as Blood King's attack power skyrocketed to sixty-four hundred. "You look so confident Ryu, I'll strip you of it next turn. You can only delay me so long. Now, I end my turn and during my end phase Blood King's effect generates a Blood Puppet token, further increasing his attack points."

The dragon duelist drew without hesitation, a smile on his face. "I don't know the outcome of this duel Zane, there's no way for me to know something like that yet while the duel is still going. In fact, I can't make any promises to anyone about winning. All I can do is keep fighting like I always have."

"Keep fighting? You're not fighting, you're just running away from inevitability! Each turn you've only prevented me from finishing off your life points instead of actually attempting to inflict any damage on me. How can you expect to win like that? Your time for defending is over! Fight back or die!" Ryu placed his drawn card into his duel disk as Zane spoke, and then pressed the activation button on his duel disk.

"Sorry Zane, but you're wrong. Time isn't up yet, because I have the magic card Time Slip! This sends all monsters in play into the future, and once per turn we can bring back our removed monsters, though they can't attack that turn." Zane slammed his foot against the ground, his raging power cracking it. Despite his rage there was nothing he could do to stop all of his monsters from being pulled into a swirling vortex overhead.

"Sad to say that tokens when removed from play for this card can't return, so all your precious Blood Puppets are gone for good. But since I've got no other cards and since I didn't remove any monsters I can't do anything. So, guess it's your turn." Ryu smiled happily at his opponent, who drew with his eyes blazing.

"Blood King(2000/1500) is returned. And since I can't do anything else I'll just end my turn. Of course Blood King produces a new Blood Puppet, raising his attack to twenty-two hundred." Ryu nodded and reached for his deck, still seeming to be happy. But for what reason Zane couldn't be sure of. There didn't seem to be anything to be happy about.

He slid a card off his deck and then discarded it from his hand. "The reason I'm not worried is all a matter of strategy actually. People keep thinking that I'll just throw it all out there and use brute force, but my deck has strategy, and my strategy is about to beat you."

"What are you talking about? And why did you just discard the card you drew?" In response Ryu pointed one finger above his head, and Zane followed it. He jerked back in surprise when he saw a dragon glowing blue descending from above.

"During the turn after Time Slip has been activated I can discard a card from my hand to special summon Temporal Stone Dragon(0/0) from my deck to the field. When he's summoned I get to special summon other monsters from my grave or deck to the field, none of which can attack for a total of three turns. If the only monsters removed by Time Slip were my own then that effect is negated. So now, I begin my summons!" His field began to warp as one by one new monsters appeared on it.

"Sapphire Dragon(1900/1600), Ruby Dragon(1600/1300), Diamond Dragon(2100/2800), and Dragon of the Merger(700/900) are all summoned!" Four dragons appeared next to the weak time manipulating dragon, one a beautiful dragon with blue scales, another an almost identical one with red, the next a much larger dragon with diamond scales and a horn. Last amongst them was a small dragon that's wings seemed to be pulling in everything around it and pulling it into itself.

"When Dragon of the Merger is summoned I can add a union or fusion related card from my grave or deck to my hand. This card is my choice." He held up a simple easily recognizable card, and Zane just shrugged.

"So you've added a Polymerization card to your hand. Instead of summoning dragons stronger than my Blood King you summoned weaker ones. Even if they can fuse, so what? If you don't finish it this turn my one Blood Puppet will end you with its Blood Spear. What can you do now?" In response Ryu held up his Polymerization, and his smile dropped away, leaving him with a look of focus.

"You act like my card can't accomplish anything. That's far from true, because it's going to summon one of the strongest monsters in the entire game, which is surpassed by very few. Even the legendary Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon bows its head before this monster, one of the grand dragon rulers. I'm not just fusing a few of my dragons, I'm fusing all five of them!" Zane felt a tingle run up his spine as the four other dragons were pulled in by Dragon of the Merger's wings. When the dragon's shape shifted and began to grow insanely huge he knew that there was trouble.

"What…what in the world is that monstrosity!" The full form of the newly summoned monster was at least sixty feet in height with an enormous body stretched out behind Ryu. Instead of just one head this monster had five, each one representing a dragon of a different element.

"This is an ultimate dragon who can only be fusion summoned by using five dragon sub-types together. This is a monster I was given by Pegasus himself in order to push my power farther. This is your destroyer, Five God Dragon(5000/5000)!" The five heads roared, and suddenly Zane felt incredibly small. Despite the power of Second Level Blood rushing through his veins he was no match for this beast.

Ryu squeezed his outstretched hand into a fist and Zane felt the younger man's gaze nearly rip through him with its intensity. "Five God Dragon, attack with God Dragon Flames! ANNIHILATE!"

Zane didn't even get a chance to complete his scream as the massive combined attack of Five God Dragon blew away his Blood King and vaporized his body. The Darkness Game faded away and the blast continued, slashing through the side of the building. "Thank you Five God Dragon, you saved the day." (ZLP: 0)

He turned away as the dragon faded, and found Autumn waiting for him, already helping Pegasus to his feet. "Guys, let's call the police to clean this place up. But while they're on the way, let's search this place and see what we can find."

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They had put their best efforts forth into getting everyone down from the meat hooks, but it wasn't a job they could accomplish on their own. Some of them seemed to have had their skin become so accustomed to it that it was almost impossible to remove them without causing further damage.

In addition the sheer volume of people present was too great for the three of hem to handle. It would take the police roughly another thirty minutes to arrive since this processing plant was so far out of the way, so now what was left was their search.

Currently they were in the control room, looking over surveillance tapes of the place and also any saved files. "Damn, these guys were careful. They didn't save any information that appears to be give any real information about who's in charge of this whole process. I know you say it's Paradias, but that doesn't tell us much."

Pegasus accepted that as he leaned forward to view the next video. His own resources pointed towards this factory having been purchased by an outlet group controlled by Paradias. But since he no longer knew who was in control of Paradias it didn't really do much for them. "Well now, this appears to be interesting."

The latest video tape was of this very office, and Zane was standing in the center at attention as someone came through the door. To their surprise it was a man in a wheelchair being pushed by an attractive blonde secretarial type.

Yet it wasn't the fact that the man Zane was meeting with was in a wheelchair that surprised them. Instead it was the fact that the man was also covered by a white robe that covered most of his exposed skin, including his face. His hands were wrapped in white gauze, so even that was covered.

The other thing that seemed strange was the look of fear in Zane's eyes as the man was pushed closer, rasping with each motion of the wheelchair. As they watched the man bound to the wheelchair reached to his side and picked up an oxygen mask. He placed it against the cloth and breathed deeply a few times. "Wow, that guy must be nearly dead or something."

Autumn slapped Ryu on the shoulder and held a finger up to her mouth. "Quiet idiot, it looks like this guy might be someone in charge. Look at how obedient Zane is being, and how afraid he is."

It was true, Zane had given a deep bow to the man in the wheelchair as soon as he was close enough. "Sir, production is staying on schedule. We've produced one hundred vials of Stage One Blood today so far, and should meet our quota of five hundred before the day is done."

The man in the wheelchair didn't seem to be looking at Zane, but still he responded in a cracking voice that seemed to come from a ruined voice box. "Excellent, then all is well here. This meeting isn't for a check-up though. Instead I've come to deliver the special guards I said I would bring."

Zane seemed to sweat at the sound of it, and automatically the three of them knew what this guy was talking about. He was speaking about those animalistic men that Zane had sent after them, people exposed to the pure form of Blood. "Ah, yes sir, I understand! Sir, I've been wondering something for a long time…how did you discover how to create Blood?"

A raspy chuckle issued forth from behind the cloth, and the bound man's shoulders shook. "I thought you might ask. I learned the process of refining the human form of it that we create in factories through trial and error, and through the effort of certain compatriots of mine who were willing to impart their knowledge to me after suitable coaxing. Blood itself comes from an entirely different source, which I could never fully duplicate."

Zane shot a quick glance down at the factory floor, where chanting men slashed at the skin of the hanging men and women that were their sources of the blood that they magically corrupted. "Sir, I understand that I'm being paid large sums of money for this, and I've been involved in plenty of drug operations before but…this seems unusual. You've had us give out so much of Blood for free that it seems bad for profits."

"Did it ever occur to me that if my intent was just to make money I could do it many ways better than simply creating a deadly drug and marketing it? There are far more significant things in life than money." Zane tilted his head up to look at his superior, but whatever he saw made him flinch away again, bowing his head.

"Sir, would it be too bold of me to ask what that purpose is? If not money, then why make Blood and spread it around like this? What's the real reason?" There was dead silence both in the room in the video, and in the office as they watched the video. They were all waiting for the wheelchair man's reaction, but so far he was completely silent.

Finally after nearly a minute of waiting, in which the man in the wheelchair took several more deep breaths from his oxygen mask with the aid of the blonde woman, the silence was broken. "My experiences in life, everything I have seen, it has all told me that mankind is to be despised. Mankind is brutal and incapable of unity of any kind. I intend to completely strip away all those false layers and expose the beast within every living human being."

The man wheezed, and his cloth covered hands clenched tightly on the armrests of his wheelchair. "The longer Blood remains in the human body, the more doses that are added, the closer it becomes to the original. Bit by bit mankind will be exposed to more and more of its own brutal nature, and within ten years the veneer will be stripped away leaving only the true nature of the demon that is humanity left."

Zane shivered as the man lifted his head and stared up at his tall form. "You don't believe that human beings are like I say they are. That's what your body says, that's what your eyes say. When you see the guards I have brought for you then you will understand. The nature of Blood is that it removes all barriers of pretension and reveals the truth."

Ryu raised a hand and looked at the other two, briefly pausing the video. "Anybody else think this guy has some serious malfunctions if he's talking like that? I mean, it sounds really creepy and almost…familiar now that I think about it."

Autumn rubbed her chin with her right hand, still staring at the video screen. "I know what you mean. I keep feeling like I've heard stuff a lot like this before. And for the malfunction part, I think that aspect is obvious considering the whole nature of how he produces this fake version of Blood."

Pegasus pushed them aside and pressed the play button. "Time is of the essence children. We'll discuss what we've seen and heard after we depart and avoid questioning by the police. Now, let's finish watching."

"I understand sir…I suppose. Are you sure that the guards you're bringing will be enough to fend off any intruders?" Again Zane wilted under the unseen stare of his superior, and without a word the man flicked his wrist. The screen on Zane's wall, the one they were now watching, lit up with images of the guards they had faced.

They were battering at a solid steel wall, leaving heavy dents as they struggled to escape. "That's their temporary cage. What you see is the fourth layer of steel out of seven. They have already destroyed the first three. They'll handle whatever you might be forced to face. You'll be given a special gift to let you control them, but nobody else will be able to. Don't let them out without being around or they'll slaughter everyone they can reach."

Zane shook just watching them. They seemed to be monsters rather than men, despite their appearance. Seeing them he really began to believe what his superior had said about the beast inside of mankind. "I see sir. Very well, I'll begin work with them right away."

"Good, now I've expended enough energy here today and I have more guards to deliver at other processing plants. Perform well Zane, or you might not live to see the day when the truth is revealed to the world." The blonde woman turned the wheelchair around and pushed the man out of the room. Zane watched them go, and waited over a minute after they were gone before he slumped down in a chair, looking exhausted.

"That damned Nobuki…every time I've met him I got the feeling he would sooner kill me than look at me. I'm really working for a lunatic this time, aren't I?" He dropped his head into his hands and shivered, knowing that more was to come.

The tape ended there, and left Ryu, Autumn, and Pegasus all staring at the screen in horror. Ryu and Autumn turned to look at each other sporting identical looks of fear and surprise. "Nobuki as in…."

Ryu nodded, and rewound the tape and froze it on an image of the man in the wheelchair with his head lifted to look at Zane. On close inspection they saw that one of his eyes had no color to it, while the other was a very bright blue color, one that would be described as 'ice blue'. "That's right. The reason it sounded familiar is because the man in charge of this atrocity is Taichi Nobuki."

Pegasus rubbed his arms, trying to put warmth back into them. Although he hadn't experienced it first hand he knew all about Taichi Nobuki's exploits, and how he had become an insane and violent super powered minion of the god Eikyuu. "If Taichi is the one doing this, then there's no way we alone can stop him. I think it's about time we returned to your friend Dalin and told him what we've learned."

"Yeah, Dalin will know what to do. Let's go…the police will be here soon anyways." They left as quickly as they had come, leaving little trace of themselves. Yet no matter how far they went from the processing plant, the memories of what they had seen would forever be imprinted in their minds.

As would the knowledge that this was happening all over the world to potentially tens of thousands of people. There was just no way to ever forget that, or the fact that it was all caused by someone who had been a source of misery for them in the past.

Those cold eyes didn't stop watching them no matter how far they ran.

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Author's Notes: And now the pieces of the puzzle begin to slowly come together, bit by bit.

Next Time: The secret behind the creator of Blood has been revealed, and all three of them rush to Dalin to deliver the news. The groups are gathering together, yet Takuya and Kai are still far away. Kai now faces a deadly opponent on his own, with the threat of being absorbed into some bizarre collective hanging over his head. Can he defeat his foe and complete his mission, or will he become one with Eramoros?

See it all in, The Art of Not Becoming!