(A New canon is approaching. Hunter and Noel Vermillion clash against each other. Just what is going to happen next?)

Warning: There will be some bloodiness in this chapter. You have been warned.

Bold = English Conversations

Bold + Italics = Japanese Conversations

Canon 35

Previously on Canon Distortion…

Sora Minakaze had made his way towards the top of the NOL Building. He had hoped to find Noel Vermillion somewhere above and much to his luck, he found the person he was looking for. However the bad news was that Noel Vermillion was not being herself and had tried to kill him in the process. Before she could however, Hunter Long made his appearance, stopping Noel from doing so as the two lovers were face to face with each other in combat…

And now the continuation of Canon Distortion..

The first thing that could be described when people look at the skies was the mysterious parting of the clouds, separated by a blue and red light. Look closer to that, You can see two people are engulfed in that light. One a being fully engulfed in flames that should have immolated anybody at this point. The other, armored in the most important places despite the skimpy nature of her armaments. The two apposing being cannot look so different yet at the same time, they have their own stories to tell.

One is the skimpily clad girl, or Noel Vermillion to me and you. She is normally not so bold as to wear an outfit like this of her own choice but has been instead turned into what Hazama called a God slayer. What is the role the God Slayer has to play? No one knows, but it involved reviving the side of Noel that she had heavily suppressed, the side known simply as Mu-12. Right now, Noel is nothing but a cold feeling machine, anger and hatred being the only fuels to her fire.

The other one, the man bathed in flames, He is simply known as Hunter Long. He is known by various names but long ago, he was a simple man and the woman he is currently facing against is in fact his lover. He too is not fighting her by choice but of a grim truth he recently discovered. The scream he made almost sounded inhumane as the clash the two had was soon broken, the two pushing each other back as the flew right back at each other, slamming hard into each other as Hunter's mind could simply think of one question…

...Why...Why did it have to come to this?..

FLASHBACK

Hunter did not rest well. He hasn't for the longest time and not even now as he rubbed his face on the comfy bed he rested on he still didn't feel like he had rested properly. The last thing on his mind was simply his encounter with Sora or to him, a mere stranger yet his heart felt a pain… as if he was sad about something yet didn't understand why. However, he did not feel like resting at that moment as he got off the bed and began to prepare himself to leave.

"Leaving so soon?" A voice boomed as Hunter felt the wind around the room part for a bit before turning his head towards the direction, looking at Rachel Alucard making her appearance to him as he sighed and slowly started to put on his shirt as his bare lean scarred chest was exposed to her. "Yeah… I don't exactly have the time to waste just sitting around here and doing nothing." Hunter said, being very blunt with the rabbit as he was familiar with her to a degree and appreciated the kindness she had shown him, Yet at the same time he didn't waste both his time and her time lingering any longer than what he deserved.

"Why the rush though? You should be resting right now instead of risking yourself like this." Rachel questioned as Hunter paused hearing that before continuing to put on his shirt as he reached out for his black duster coat. "I know I need to rest… but I can't do so. I need to get going right now and not waste the time given to me." Hunter answered as he was soon prepared, grabbing the Maw that he often carried off the table it laid as Rachel sighed.

"I honestly do not understand men like you. You know the risk of pushing yourself hard yet you choose to continue on regardless. Tell me, Why do something as foolish as this?" Rachel questioned as Hunter knew that she was his ticket of getting out of here as he stretched his worn out bones before looking at his hands. They shook a little despite his desperate attempt to keep them still even if one of them was a prosthetic.

"I guess…. The reason why I keep on moving the way I do is because I have to get back… I have to see her again." Hunter said, his hand reaching towards the final item on the bed which was a simple silver locket. He picked it up with his remaining human hand as he gently stroked the metal piece in his hand before clicking on a button, releasing the latch to look at the picture of Noel Vermillion in it as he stroked the picture gently before closing the locket.

"I can understand that reason enough Mr Long… But I feel responsible for telling you information that is very important for you to know." Rachel said as Hunter looked at her realizing that she was serious about what she had said as he paused for a moment, looking at the locket before nodding his head and taking a seat on the bed, gesturing for her to take a seat and tell him what he needed to hear from her. "Please make it quick Rachel… I don't have much time left and I don't want to waste it anymore..." Hunter said as he slowly put the locket on his neck and making sure that it was safely tucked away.

"Could it be because you wish to see Noel Vermillion once again?" Rachel said as Hunter froze a little bit hearing that. Hunter would like to feel shocked by Rachel's knowledge about Noel Vermillion giving that he had never told her about Noel before yet at the same time, Noel seemed to had become quite the popular topic these days so he didn't feel as surprised as he should have been as he sighed and nodded his head.

"Tell me… What do you know of Noel Vermillion?" Rachel questioned as Hunter couldn't help but feel a sense of growing impatience within him as he had to show some restraint with snapping at the girl and decided to oblige. "She's an orphan found in the rubble of Ibukido… adopted by the Vermillion family without any memory of who she was… That's all I know." Hunter said, speaking with honesty from his heart as Rachel nodded her head at that.

"I see you know the basic information… but have you ever stopped to ask yourself why she was found in Ibukido despite the disaster that wiped out the population of Ibukido completely?" Rachel said as Hunter could feel a sense of urgency take over him as he was getting sick of the way she was clearly holding back information despite knowing very well he was busy. "No… Of course not. I have thought about it but I figured that it was luck and that there was nothing else..." Before he could finish his sentence, Rachel decided to raise her hand to stop Hunter from further speaking as she knew what she needed to do.

"Can you really call what she had survived and lived through just pure luck? Surely you cannot be satisfied with just an answer like that." Rachel said as Hunter did not know how to feel when Rachel suddenly interrupted him like that. "What are you trying to get at Rachel. Isn't it just enough to..." Hunter's words were soon interrupted when Rachel made manifest from her hands a small portal for her to put her hand through and extracted an item from it.

"Why don't you take a look at this?" Rachel said as she tossed from the portal a small pad as it landed right on Hunter's lap. The pad was old and dusty as he wondered what could be the purpose of this device in the first place if Rachel had gone her way to retrieve it for him. The least he could have done was open it but now that he thought back about it, if he had the choice to not open it...he wouldn't have as when he did he immediately dropped the pad out of shock, causing a loud thud to happen as the image he had seen was now visible to Rachel herself.

It was something she had managed to extract from the ruins of Ibukido itself, after Makoto had left on for her journey. It was a tablet, left behind in the ruins of the Ibukido laboratory that Rachel had restored with some magic to a barely functional state. The image on display on the tablet was the image of what appeared to be Noel Vermillion, resting in what appeared to be a test tube surrounded by various scientists.

"W-What on Earth am I looking… Why...Why is Noel..." Hunter's mind began to race with various thoughts, various questions as he questioned what he was witnessing, looking at Rachel for her to give him the answers he had desperately seek at that moment. "You see.. the truth is… Noel Vermillion is not an ordinary girl… but in fact a Murakumo. An artificial being created to be used as a weapon." Rachel told Hunter as he shook his head at that, unable to believe that.

"An artificial… No… that can't be!" Hunter said as he looked back at the picture, staring at the mark on the girl's chest that Noel had as well. This had to be a coincidence… there was no way that Noel could have been related… related to the white haired girl he had seen a few days ago. "But...But she's… So what then? What does her being this...Murakumo unit have to do with you keeping me in here!?" Hunter said, a voice of desperation starting to grow as his mind began to struggle to keep his sanity in check.

Hunter: Noel's still Noel! Regardless of what you call her! Noel Vermillion is Noel Vermillion!

Rachel:… Indeed she is… but it's only for now unfortunately.

Hunter: F-For now? W-What the hell do you mean by that!?

Rachel: As much as it pains me to say this, Our enemies for the longest time have been working… plotting to turn Noel back to her Murakumo self. When they do so… she will return back to her original role and the girl known as Noel Vermillion would be lost in the process.

Hunter:… You… You know what they are planning to do… and yet you still keep me in here.. and not let me go and see her!?

Rachel: I understand you are angry at me for my decision… But I did so because I wanted to show you something.

Hunter: Show me something? I am grateful you kept me alive despite me losing my medication but at the same time I cannot help but feel pissed by how you're just keeping me here and not letting me go and see her!"

Hunter could feel his blood boil. What was Rachel doing just sitting around and doing nothing when she knew that Noel was at danger of being turned into this war machine of death as she had said. Hunter wanted answers at that moment as he stood up and walked towards her, his mind simply confused as to what was happening but before he could approach her and demand for answers, his head began to hurt as his body suddenly fell to the ground like lead.

'What...What the...' Hunter thought as he slowly looked up to see that Rachel's red eyes were now glowing as clearly, she was using something that was not Ars Magus as normally Ars Magus would require her to activate a seal of sorts for it to activate as Rachel rubbed her forehead a bit. "I can understand that you wish to leave… but I don't do this now and allow you to leave without knowing the truth I cannot bear to keep inside any longer I would simply be irresponsible." Rachel said as Hunter couldn't help but become confused by her choice of words as Rachel knelt down and looked at Hunter in the eyes.

"What I am about to do… can be considered forbidden… But in order for you to understand my decision, It's important you know the truth." Rachel said as Hunter continued to look at her with confusion in his eyes as Rachel knelt down, allowing Hunter to stare into her eyes as she focused her gaze into him. Hunter didn't know what was going on but could feel Rachel slowly burrow herself into his mind, digging into his mind to allow her to show him what she wanted him to see.

"This...is the reason why I didn't stop Noel from being reborn into Mu-12..." Rachel said as Hunter's mind suddenly felt like it got expanded, a third eye of sorts opening up to allow him to see what was happening as Hunter took a very deep breath, shocked by what he was experiencing. What he saw was simply unbelievable. It was the image of Noel emerging from what looked to be a cocoon with Hazama's hands extended out, as if he was worshiping the birth of a god.

If that was the only thing he would see, he would have had questions. But the thing was this very image replayed on his head several times, the person witnessing this very sight being constantly replaced until it reached him as Hunter took a deep breath, gasping for air as he panted heavily, the experience nearly making him want to hurl as sweat dripped down his forehead. "What….What did you just…!?" Hunter soon could hear Rachel herself, in an almost undignified way, breathing heavily as she sounded like she had exerted effort when normally she would look effortless.

"I...Merely gave you...a peek into the rabbit hole… to the possibilities… You are never meant to witness." Rachel explained as she took a few deep breaths, taking a seat as she released the magic that she had used on Hunter, allowing him his movement once more. "I simply used an ancient Alucard technique my father used…. I can only use it very sparingly and it's very taxing. But with it, I allowed you a simple peek into the very fabrics of the possibilities itself." Rachel continued as Hunter looked at her, puzzled as to why she would do such a thing in the first place as he soon understood why she showed him this image.

"You...You tried to stop her before she returned to being a Murakumo...didn't you." Hunter said as Rachel simply nodded her head at that. "Then...Then you must be showing me this because you know of a way to stop this from happening right? You know of a way I can save her...RIGHT!?" Hunter said, a sense of desperation grew within him as he began to crawl towards Rachel. He wanted to believe, he wanted to know if Rachel did indeed had a solution to save Noel. He didn't want to believe that Rachel would show him such a bleak future without even showing him a possibility of saving his loved one.

Rachel however, maintained her stoic face. She didn't want to say it but she knew she had to do so. All she simply did was point her hand towards Draco as it shook on Hunter's hip. Hunter looked at the direction Rachel had pointed as it was clear to him what she was asking him to do. "No….No…." Hunter simply muttered as crawled even faster towards Rachel, staying on his knees as he lowered his head towards this girl who looked significantly younger than he was.

"Please Rachel… Anything...Anything but that!" Hunter despaired as he didn't want to believe Rachel's solution. He didn't want to believe the only way he was going to be able to save his loved one was to end her life with his own hands. Tears began to drip down his face anguish began to manifest itself on his face. "Please Rachel! You...You can be serious about this!" Hunter shouted, his voice bellowing in agony as his hands touched Rachel's shoes, prostrating before her like a broken man as Rachel simply remained quiet, agonizing over the sight she was made to look at.

"I… am afraid that the solution I propose is the only way we can save Noel Vermillion… I am sorry Hunter Long." Rachel Alucard said as Hunter began to cry all over Rachel's shoes as she looked away from the man, pained by the expression he was making at that moment. While normally Rachel Alucard would show signs of not reacting to the sight in front of her, She couldn't help but for this one time show some sadness in her face for the man she caused pain towards…

...As Hunter Long cried out in agony over the duty entrusted to him by the world..

FLASHBACK END

As Hunter's thoughts soon turned to reality, he realized that something was off. For some reason, he had felt his body move out of the way to dodge a shot from one of Noel's...no...Mu's steins as his wings formed a shield in front of him to block another shot. 'Boy. Wake up this very instant.' A voice calmly spoke inside his mind as Hunter soon felt his body react to a Steins performing a suicide charge towards him with a swift thrust to disable the steins in question, hurling the destroyed stein towards another to destroy it.

'Draco...I….' Hunter thought as he was speaking to the Nox Nyctores he was wielding directly. Nox Nyctoreses are unique because they possess personalities of their own and can influence their users's emotions in various ways. Draco is even more unique past the normal well known noxes because for some reason he had managed to not only develop the personality needed for a Nox Nyctores to be classified as one but also a will of it's own. This very will allows Draco to directly communicate with his users directly, forming a kind of symbiotic connection with Hunter.

'I….I can't kill her….Draco… Even if it's not her...she's still...' Hunter continued to question the choice he had to make. Was killing her really the only way to save her? 'I can sense your hesitation boy. That hesitation is going to get us killed if you do not act right now.' Draco thought as Mu surrounded even more steins around him, trying to finish him off with multiple beams coming from her steins lasers.

'Tch! Your hesitation is going to get us killed.' Draco said as he had control to a certain degree the movements his master makes as he pointed Hunter's hand down and formed an Ignition seal right at his palm, blasting himself right into the sky to cause the Steins to collateral against each other before he dashed right towards Mu, revealing the maw as he quickly deployed out a blade from it, dashing towards Noel with a powerful thrust ready.

"Origins." Mu calmly said as a gigantic barrier surrounded her, easily protecting her from Draco's attempted attack as Hunter soon realized what Draco was doing as he quickly seized control from Draco to swing right back at the Origins barrier, causing him to create distance between him and Mu. "What are you doing boy?" Draco questioned as Hunter couldn't help but start panting out loud as he used his metal hand to grab tightly his own wrist.

'NO….Draco… I won't let you control me.' Hunter thought, trying to seize back control from Draco as the Nox could sense the conflict that lingered in his master's heart as he couldn't help but be confused by why he wouldn't just let him do this. 'I...I need to do this… I need to see for myself the decision I make to the very end… even… even if it means...' Hunter couldn't finish his sentence but Draco knew where Hunter was going to go as Hunter suddenly felt control of his body return to him once more.

'Then go on and fight… I won't take control of you from this point forward. Just show me some resolve in those hands of yours.' Draco said, Hunter feeling the Nox slowly rest back into his subconscious as his eyes continued to keep looking at Hunter from what seemed to be his mind's eye. As soon as Hunter regained control of his body, he had little time to react with Mu's attacks as she had realized how dangerous of a close range opponent she was facing and kept on summoning steins to create distance between her and him.

Hunter knew he had to close in but the steins she was summoning proved to make things much more difficult as using one of his flame wings, he swiped away the lasers the Steins created and shielded himself with his massive wing from further retaliation. This allowed him to close in to Mu, hoping to speak to her as he used Draco to destroy a stein before it could fire. "Noel! Noel I know you are in there!" Hunter yelled out, extending out his hand to try and restrain Mu.

"Barrier!" Mu shouted as she formed the origins barrier once again to block Hunter's hand as a sense of frustration grew in him. "NOEL LISTEN TO ME!" Hunter yelled as he formed a seal in his hand and slammed it right into the barrier, creating an ignition seal right on the origins barrier for Hunter to punch the barrier with. Though it was not successful in completely shattering the barrier in two, it was enough for Hunter to use his mechanical arm to reach in and grab Mu's collar.

"Noel! It's me! Hunter! PLEASE TELL ME YOU HEAR ME!" Hunter shouted as Mu for a brief second flinched. Hunter had thought his voice had somehow managed to reach her as Mu froze for a bit. "….Hunter…." Mu softly said, Hunter nodding his head at that as he hoped that it was enough for Noel to realize what was happening. "...Resuming combat measures." Mu coldly said as Hunter saw mu about to create another origins barrier to try and sever Hunter's mechanical hand, prompting him to retract it as he was pushed back in the process.

"Steins!.." Mu commanded, forming more steins behind her as they fired at Hunter while he was attempting to retreat. This prompted Hunter to try and form a barrier but he had underestimated the speed of the steins fire rate and was soon struck at his left shoulder, causing him to groan in pain as he used his flame wings to shield him from the rest of the barrage as he groaned in pain. He knew what he was doing was suicidal but he needed to be sure, he needed to make sure that he had no choice but to end her.

"HHHHRRAAAGGHHH!" Hunter yelled, releasing out a beast like roar as the flames surrounding him quickly formed itself around his left shoulder, reconnecting his whole arm forcibly back to his body with just the flames as he pointed the Maw right at Mu. "BLAZING FLARE!" Hunter yelled as instead of a massive wave of flame it normally would emit, Draco's maw released out a concentrated beam of flame right into the barrier itself, causing one layer of the origin's protection to immediately shatter as Mu could feel the impact of the blazing flare despite being inside a protective barrier.

"RAGING BULL!" Hunter yelled out as with a thrust motion, he stabbed Draco right into Mu's origins barrier and with his wings, he began to charge her towards the cauldron which had allowed Noel to be reborn as Mu, cracking the origins barrier with sheer force as he struggled to push Draco through the barrier to shatter it. Mu, staggered but not disturbed by this instead focused on creating a second barrier to reinforce the origins barrier, making it more difficult for Hunter to break.

"Noel! PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME!" Hunter shouted as Mu created more steins that floated themselves right behind Hunter's back as his flame wings struck them off the sky before they could have even thought of firing as Hunter twisted Draco's blade, allowing him to slice off the original barrier that Mu had created before he firmly gripped Draco with two hands and slammed them right into the barrier, immediately causing cracks to appear in the process as he resisted the urge to do a second swing out of fear he would break the barrier and accidentally kill her in the process.

"Noel….If you can hear me… None of this...None of what you are...EVEN MATTERS!" Hunter yelled as he could see Mu form yet another origins cocoon to continue protecting herself as Hunter tched and slammed his way through her old barrier once more, trying to ensure she didn't get comfortable and try to summon steins to get in his way. "I don't care about any of that you hear me!" Hunter shouted as Mu looked at him with a straight face.

"Target is becoming agitated… emotional levels are rising." Mu coldly said as she did not understand why her opponent was becoming so emotional. Was Hunter being sad because he too had been harmed by the world? That brief thought lingered in her mind for a few seconds before vanishing as she simply focused on her task, forming even more steins to surround Hunter as no matter how many times he swiped them away with his flaming wings, the steins stubbornly kept on appearing as Hunter decided at that moment to simply shield himself from their laser barrages with his wings.

"I don't care about what you are! or Who you have become! To me… You're still Noel Vermillion dammit!" Hunter shouted, deciding that keeping himself restrained like this was not worth it anymore as he smashed the hilt of Draco right into the Origins barrier, causing several cracks to form before in one swift strike, he cleaved through the Origins barrier completely as he gripped tightly on her collar once again with his metal hand.

"So please...Please! COME BACK TO ME! NOEL!" Hunter yelled as his wings fluttered, blowing away all of the remaining steins in the air as he glared right at Noel not in an angry manner but in a softer manner as he pulled her in closer to look at her. "I...I don't want to kill you." Hunter said as without any warning, he kissed Mu, catching her off guard as she could feel emotions...emotions other than hatred and anger flow into her as her steins briefly stopped firing as Hunter held her in, not wanting to let her go as he soon parted from her.

"Please… let's just stop fighting...and let's go home already." Hunter said, a voice tired from fighting could be felt as Mu paused for a moment, processing the actions Hunter had done as he had thought he managed to finally calm her down as he could see her eyes briefly flash with life, giving him hope that Noel truly was in there as the image of the girl he loved ringed true in his mind as his hand slowly drifted away from holding her collar to holding her hand.

As his metallic hand drifted towards Mu's hand, the memories Hunter had of Noel began to flash in his mind. The happy times he had spent with her as first her butler, then her classmate in the Academy and finally her lover near the end of their short time in the Academy and the NOL. The only solace he found throughout the years of solitude he had to bear as it felt like it his long journey was going to come to it's end and he was going to be rewarded for it.

"That's right Noel… Now let's..." Before Hunter could finish his sentence, he immediately felt a sensation strike him from out of nowhere. He briefly reacted at first in surprise, looking at where his robotic hand was as he turned around to see that a steins had managed to fire a shot, severing the metal prosthetic hand that he had been using this entire time. The shock of what he had experienced was enough to make him look at Mu once more as her eyes returned back back to their lifeless form.

"Exterminate...the...target." Mu coldly said as without warning, Hunter felt several steins fire right at him, hitting him at a few spots such as his leg as he felt his left foot get blown off while a few more managed to hit him at non vital areas before the flame wings surrounded him to protect him from further fire. At that moment, Hunter felt something within snap as at first his mind had to register the fact that he had been shot… and that Noel, despite his passionate plea… ignored him and fired anyways was enough to make his heart sink.

"Aaaaa….AAAHHH..." Hunter moaned as he held his head painfully. The pain and sadness he had felt at that moment came bursting into the surface. The mental image of the girl he loved cracked into several pieces before shattering as with his might, he released out a bellowing roar that caused Mu and the people who were watching to bear witness to his great sadness as Draco deep inside could feel the sadness that bloomed in his heart.

As soon as he let out that bloodcurdling yell, A huge heat wave emitted itself out of Hunter as on the ground, Sora and Hazama could feel the heat hit them with a heat that cannot be explained. "OH? So that's what is going on." Hazama mused as Sora looked at him confused, cuddling Makoto closer to him as his instincts were to act as Makoto's shield should any of the attacks be aimed towards her.

"Do you know? Nox Nyctoreses are pretty infamous for giving their users immense power. But I bet they don't tell you of the side effects about said weapons huh." Hazama said as Sora looked at him even more confused by that. "Well you see… Nox Nyctores are actually living things on their own. So they will do anything and everything in their power to ensure their user is as strong as they can be." Hazama continued as Sora decided to allow him to continue in order to comprehend the raw display of power that was put in display in front of him.

"So what Nox Nyctoreses do is that they influence their user's emotions. They either remove or amplify certain emotions to ensure their users are able to use them to the greatest of their abilities." Hazama explained as Sora was quick to understand that info as Hunter panted heavily in the air, his wings flapping heavily emitting smaller puffs of fire in the process as Hunter's whole body at this point had surrounded itself in flames, barely able to see the visage of the human being beneath it.

"And if my memory serves me right… since Draco was considered to be the Lost Nox Nyctores, I wouldn't be surprised if Draco himself is amplifying the boy's current emotional state to the levels we are seeing right now. Not that would actually help him at this point since he's nothing but a broken wreck." Hazama concluded as Sora couldn't help but become worried by Hazama's words. At first he was glad that Hunter was coming in to help with Noel but now he was starting to worry if Hunter was going to let his emotions get to him.

"Target power level rising… Heat levels rising." Mu commented as Hunter glared right at her, his focus now fully on her as he knew what he had to do. "Noel...Please forgive me… I...I promise to make it painless for you." Hunter said as Draco's runic blade burned away, forming nothing but pure flames as it sharpened itself into a blade even sharper than it's physical form as tears emerged from Hunter's eyes. "Full Power.. Flame Works."

"Destroy until even the nothingness burns, I will become the fire that consumed the sun!"as soon as Hunter completed the chant, the runic symbols that once manifested themselves all around the blade of Draco now made themselves appear right onto the flaming blade of Draco as Hunter gripped Draco tightly with two hands, this time fully intending on killing Noel if that meant saving her as Mu could sense her foe has now become even more dangerous as she prepared herself for his next attack only to see a puff of flame appear in front of her face to blind her temporarily from seeing what Hunter was going to do next.

As soon as her vision cleared, Mu was left immediately on the defensive by forming a barrier to protect her from further harm as Hunter sliced with his sword with even more force than before, blowing Mu's barrier out of the way she summoned a stein to block the next attack Hunter did as Mu noticed the steins itself get engulfed in flames before it burned away completely, preventing her from trying to use it once again as this alarmed Mu.

"HHHRRAAHHH!" Hunter yelled as with a firm grip, he swung his massive flaming blade like it was a light knife, effortlessly slicing the air itself as Mu formed double the barrier in order to not stagger and stumble like she did from the first attack. She soon noticed that her barrier had managed to catch on fire as Hunter was not hindered by Mu's defense and instead focused on attacking with even more ferocity as Mu reflexively blocked the next attack, allowing Hunter's blade to come in contact with the flame itself.

As soon as Mu felt the very heat of the blade touch her barrier, She immediately recoiled heavily back in shock. She couldn't believe what had just happened as she saw the hand that was holding the barrier in start to bleed as the flame that manifested itself on her barrier came right back, growing even more intense in it's heat as Hunter performed a dashing thrust to strike the barrier once again, causing Mu to recoil even more than she had expected as she soon realized that the flame on her barrier was constantly reigniting and was acting by extension as an ignition point.

"Current Tactics ineffective… must switch." Mu soon realized if she had kept up using her current strategy, she would end up losing more than just this battle as she swiftly created several steins but these were different from the ones she had been summoning at this point. Their beams were already ready to fire as without hesitation they fired a much stronger beam than what Hunter was experienced to take. This however did not disturb him as with a strong flap from his wing, he was able to immediately burn away the lasers that were coming to him before they could even come close.

"Increasing power." Mu quickly said, taking into consideration the intensity of the flames that her steins need to fire through as she began to simply barrage Hunter with steins fire, forcing Hunter to quickly take into the air as he arched his back a bit, his flame wings following his movement before he swung down, cleaving through the steins that gave chase, causing them to simply melt away from the pure heat Hunter was generating as Mu could feel she was getting pushed back.

'Amazing...to think I would get to see this level of power once again in my life...' Draco commented, as he noticed that Hunter's laser focus on the current task. His current stone like demeanor not matching the storm that was in his heart as Draco was both amazed and fearful of his master's current power. Amazed because he was able to use his power in a way he has never been able to but fearful because it required him to fall down to emotional depths that most men never recover from.

It was from these depths he decided to peer into his master's current mental state and see for himself what currently made him so focused in his current task. Normally, for individuals this focused, it's due to shouldering the weight of mankind in their hands and trying to give their all for the sake of everyone else. Hunter Long was different. He was shouldering the weight of wanting to save his love no matter what. A truly selfish desire one would say is only befitting of that of an evil man but it's on someone who wears their emotions on their sleeves. 'Truly mankind...is a complex race...' Draco mused as he continued to observe the battle for himself.

'But… just like all complex beings… things must soon come to their destined end.' Draco continued as Hunter formed a claw shaped flame hand over his missing arm as he grabbed Mu's freshly formed Origins barrier and tried to crack it with sheer pressure. "NOOOEEELLL!" Hunter yelled as he smashed his flaming fist right through, grabbing Mu by her head as he zoomed right towards the orb, slamming it with force and causing one of the horns on Mu's head to break.

"Battle proceeding dangerous levels. Must finish quickly before systems become critical." Mu said as she formed an origins barrier to push Hunter off as she decided to pull out one last desperate finishing move as Mu summoned a gigantic blade behind her as she made it separate to two different pieces as Seithr began to gather right in the separated halves of the gigantic blade, forming what seemed to be streaks of lightning as Mu began to focus, making the blades begin to circle as an orb began to take shape.

Hunter knew he needed to end this fight as well as he allowed the flames that surrounded him before to swirl into the blade itself, stripping him of his pure flame coating and exposing his whole body to those who were watching. Sora could only stare in shock as he saw what appeared to be 3rd degree burns all over Hunter's bruised and battered body as only his pants remained, his top clothes having been burned away and his coat completely fused to his skin.

The only thing sustaining him in the air was just the flame wings, now stripped bare and looking skeleton like as Hunter raised Draco into the air. As he did so, the flames that Draco had collected now swam down his remaining hand, engulfing it into flames as Sora could see the very flesh holding onto Draco burn away and reveal nothing but skeleton as Hunter pointed Draco right towards Noel, the maw opening to reveal the accumulated flame energy ready to explode right towards Mu.

"Blazing...FLARE!" Hunter yelled as he was the first to fire, blasting out a gigantic beam of flame right towards Mu as the flames were hot enough to cause the winds to part away in the process. "Observe the Sacret Jewel… Magatama." Mu calmly said, unlike the expressive emotion that Hunter had as she fired her own beam, formed from the orb that had been accumulating from the blades as it shone like a bright light across the skies.

Soon both attacks collided with each other, the resulting heat from both striking Hazama and Sora as it was simply unbearable, immediately making both sweat as Hazama couldn't help but look at this sight with utter glee. "DO YOU SEE THIS ERROR! THIS IS THE SIGHT OF THE POWER THAT THE WORLD TRIED TO KEEP A SECRET!" Hazama yelled as Sora couldn't help but continue to stare at this awe inspiring sight as random sparks of plasma and fire struck the ground like how a lightning bolt would, grazing the ground and charring it black.

The cocoon Noel was born in was not spared, the heat from the clashing beams causing char marks to first appear on the surface before the heat got so hot that the cocoon looked like it had started to melt. "TO BEAR WITNESS TO THE POWER OF BOTH THE GODSLAYER AND THE HARBINGER! AS MUCH AS THIS IS SUCH A WONDERFUL SIGHT! KILL HIM ALREADY KUSANAGI!" Hazama ordered as Mu promptly obeyed as she used a series of steins to act as supporting beams for the Magatama.

This proved to be the best method as Hunter could feel his beam clash start to push back as the flames crawled up from his hand to begin consuming his arm exposing the flesh in the process as He simply gritted his teeth and endured the pain he was feeling. He soon let out a roar as the flames began to crawl up even more of his body as his own beam began to push back Mu's. Draco himself could feel Hunter pouring his own life to this one attack, as if he was going to throw away his life to save the love of his life.

'Truly… this is human emotion.' Draco said to himself, able to feel the full expression of his master's emotions as he also feel his master pour in his very life into this attack, using it as the very flame to empower this attack as while Mu originally had the advantage, Hunter was quick enough to push the advantage back to his side as Hazama couldn't believe the sight he was seeing at this very moment. "Impossible… Kusanagi's being pushed back!?" Hazama exclaimed out in surprise as Mu's pauldrons began to smoke and char as she struggled.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT! FINISH HIM ALREADY!" Hazama screamed as he was simply in disbelief that Kusanagi was struggling the way she was against Hunter. He was already a broken man who was at his last legs. Why was she having so much trouble against what was essentially a crippled man. "Scanning...evasive options...None...detected." Mu said as one of her pauldrons blew off her shoulder as the metal shattered all over the ground as Hunter continued to apply pressure, slowly turning the flames that surrounded him into a pure jet black flame as Hunter was almost there.

As if sensing he was about to reach it, Hunter continued to push as Mu out of desperation to keep her life formed a barrier right in front of her as Hunter's beam inched closer to Mu, dangerously about to touch Mu's own beam and erase it to blast her apart. Sora, unaware of what on Earth was happening at this moment only knew one thing, Hunter was hell bent on killing Noel… and that was not alright.

"What is that idiot… HUNTER! STOP!" Sora yelled as his mind was able to click in the pieces as to what Hunter was trying to do with this beam clash as he got up his feet and stared at Hunter. "HUNTER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THAT'S NOEL YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL! THE GIRL YOU WERE DATING!" Sora yelled, hoping his voice would reach Hunter but it was as if they were falling down on deaf ears as Hazama could only continue to stare in disbelief at the power struggle that was even happening and how Kusanagi, the God slayer, was losing this badly.

"Did I miscalculate how weak Kusanagi is against the harbinger? Or is that boy literally out of his mind." Hazama said, trying to hide the fact that his plan had not gone down to what he had expected. Sora continued to stare at this situation as he tried to reach to Hunter with his voice. "HUNTER! WHATEVER YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING! IT'S NOT WORTH IT! IT'S NOT WORTH THROWING AWAY THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE FOR WHAT YOU THINK IS GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD!" Sora continued to yell only to grit his teeth when he realized that Hunter was too focused on his task to even care about it.

"I...I need to get his attention and force him to listen to me." Sora said, realizing he needed to act fast otherwise Hunter was going to kill Noel. The question was how? He couldn't just fly there nor did he had anything to throw...at…. It was at that moment his mind drifted towards Hazama and his coat, remembering the green haired man's balisong knives and how they would be perfect in getting someone's attention. He knew very well Hazama wouldn't just surrender something as a weapon to his enemy right now but maybe with some persuasion he could.

Sora: HEY! YOU SNAKE HEAD!

Hazama: Huh? What do you want?! I am busy watching my creation about to fucking die!

Sora: Give me your Balisong Knives right at this instant!?

Hazama: What?! You want me to disarm myself when I have enemies around!?

Sora: YES!

Hazama: You are a fucking moron! Why would I want to do that!?

Sora: Because your "Thing" is about to get killed and I don't want to see Noel get killed by her damn lover!

Sora knew he was taking such a big risk trusting a person that was his foe a few moments ago but he needed him to listen. The combination of his creation on the brink of destruction and seeing his other foe may actually have the plan forced Hazama to grit his teeth and do the one thing he hates to do, trust someone other than himself as he pulled out his balisong knife and tossed it right towards Sora without folding it as he had no idea about what he was going to do with a mere knife.

As Soon as Sora caught it, he gently laid Makoto on the ground as he looked right at Hunter in the air as he slowly unfolded the Balisong knife in his hand and focused. 'I don't need to hit him to wound him… I need to hit him to get his damn attention.' Sora thought as he took a deep breath and focused his gaze right on Hunter's thigh. Slowly, he assumed a throwing position as he tossed the knife into the air before catching it on it's bladed side.

"HUNTER! LISTEN TO ME DAMMIT!" Sora yelled as he tossed his knife with force. As he did so, unknowingly to him but something Hazama had managed to notice, a small trace of Seithr came flowing out of the knife as the knife soared through the hot searing air. Draco could sense the knife coming his way and tried to increase the heat in the air to melt it down before it could hit Hunter. However to his shock, the knife still remained true as Hunter soon felt a painful sharp pain strike him at his thigh as he looked to see his thigh had been struck by what seemed to be a balisong knife.

"What..." Hunter simply said in surprise as the balisong knife slowly started to melt away from his thigh as he looked down to the ground to see where the knife came from, his beam temporarily stopping it's clash against Mu and allowing her some space as Sora took a deep breath and looked right at Hunter. "HUNTER! LISTEN TO ME PLEASE!" Sora yelled as Hunter looked at the man and realized the person who did it was the man who dropped his medication and he had a fight over.

"You…. What are you doing here!?" Hunter questioned as Sora ignored his question and knew he needed to say something to save Noel and hopefully stop what Hunter was about to do. "It doesn't matter what I am doing here! Hunter you need to listen to me! That's Noel you're about to kill!" Sora yelled as Hunter shook his head, trying to ignore Sora's pleas and focus on finishing the grim task entrusted to him by everyone else.

"So what if she's fighting us right now! That doesn't mean we just go killing our loved ones! That's both messed up and unforgivable!" Sora yelled, Hunter feeling like Sora was chastising his choice, criticizing him despite not knowing what he was going through. "Hunter...I know it's painful for you to fight Noel who you love like crazy… But killing her isn't the way! Even if she's not hearing us right now, She's still alive!" Sora said pleading with his friend even though said friend treats him like a stranger.

"I don't know who told you to do this… but can you even live with that choice!? Can you shoulder the burden of killing the person you love!? Look at you! You're literally burning away your own damn life just to kill her! Don't you think that's messed up Hunter!?" Sora screamed, hoping that his words give Hunter the sense he needed to see that what he was doing was simply according to human terms, just inhumane.

'If only you knew… If only you knew of what I know!' Hunter thought as at first he increased the power of his beam to try and finish Mu off, prompting Sora to get ready to ask Hazama for another knife to chuck his way hoping that would make Hunter focus his aggression on him instead of needlessly trying to kill his girlfriend. But the more he allowed Sora's words to linger in his mind… the more he realized that Sora was right in his own way.

Sure, he may not know that Mu right in front of him was in fact a weapon of war designed by mankind and that she had to be stopped… But at the end of the day, it's still Noel Vermillion at the end of the day. She may appear different and may of a completely different personality but that doesn't mean she isn't Noel Vermillion at the end of the day. Hunter was so ready to end her life no matter the cost but he never stopped to think if he was ready to bear that cross.

This made him look at what he was doing, seeing his arm which he had fully disintegrated at this point, all to empower the beam that was currently clashing against Mu… No… Noel Vermillion as the fragmented memories began to repair themselves, as if glass panes were being put back together as Mu noticed that the beam that she had been struggling this whole time start to weaken. "Unleashing Armagus!" Mu yelled as she began to push back at the laser, immediately covering ground.

Sora himself felt relieved to see the laser no longer try to kill Noel but soon realized what was happening. "HUNTER! GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY! IT'S COMING!" Sora yelled as he remembered that Hunter was in the middle of a beam clash and Hunter still had a chance to escape from it as Hunter simply remained silent, ignoring what he had said as Mu's beam suddenly started to get much closer to Hunter.

But Sora's words had fallen upon deaf ears as Hunter continued to stare at the flame hand as the flames began to die down, allowing his bony hand to finally disintegrate as the flame that had he had been keeping alive started to die down as he looked at the laser Mu was firing right at him. He could dodge the blow but he felt tired. Not tired as in the sense he wanted to kill himself but tired in the sense that he had enough of the current situation that he had been placed in and wanted to finally put it behind him.

"Hey...Noel..." Hunter said to himself as the beam suddenly got very close to hitting him, Hunter no longer trying to clash against Mu's beam in the first place as he simply closed his eyes and allowed the image of his loved one finally take over his mind as he felt his whole body get hit by what was simply put, a ray of light. "Will you forgive me… for trying to hurt you?" Hunter said as Draco couldn't believe what had just transpired as he was quick enough to furl the wings to protect Hunter from the full brunt of the beam but it was not enough as a massive explosion occurred that sent Hunter flying towards the ground.

Hazama couldn't believe what he had just seen. Sora couldn't believe what had just happened. Sora did everything in his power to stop Hunter from killing Noel but he did not expect this. Sora simply dropped down to his knees as he saw Hunter's body fall away from his field of view as Mu panted heavily, her body exhausted from the clear exertion of power she had. "Target… has been...neutralized..." Mu said as there was only one thing Sora could do.

…Pound his fist on the ground as he let out a simple yell of agony.

GREETINGS LOST SHEEP OF FANFICTION!? HOW IS EVERYONE DOING IN THIS FINE DAY!? I am doing fine despite the world we are living in thankfully. I have been doing some digging and I have decided that this story will be getting an M rating soon. I have come to the simple conclusion that I feel like I can finally develop the confidence to write stories that can be both mature and normal at the same time. I guess the reason why I have been kinda reluctant to go M in the first place is simply because I wish to make sure I knew where my story was going to go first so I knew what I was going to be writing.

That being said, I am going to institute some rules for myself and for you all reading from this point onward. I will be leaving the M rating on the story and if I feel like there should be a warning for something, I will leave warnings in the top of the chapter like how I did with this chapter. While I am going to be transitioning to an M story from this point onward, I know there will be content you guys may not be comfortable reading so if you want to continue reading on, you have been warned.

This will also include lemons. I have decided that I will probably start trying to write some lemons for my stories. I have noticed the amount of people that want to see my pairing for Sora X Makoto go more intimate and I have decided to start giving the people what they want. Don't expect them to appear in the next series of chapters though. After all, it's hard to get in the mood if body parts are flying out. I will not be immediately turning on the M rating for this story so there will still be time for you guys to do favorite/follow the story so it doesn't suddenly disappear from your feeds but expect by next chapter for the story to move on from the T rating.

SO WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!? WHAT IS SORA GOING TO DO ABOUT THE SITUATION HE HAD CREATED FOR HIMSELF!? WHAT WILL MU DO!? WHAT WILL HAZAMA DO!? WILL MAKOTO WAKE UP AT ANY POINT!? ALL THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE ARE LINGERING IN THE AIR AND ANSWERS NEED TO BE GIVEN… so stay on this ride if you want to know where the story goes from here.