Chapter 157 - Coming Back

Whelp, he had predicted the thing about his instructor being a sadist about teaching.

The moment that he had stepped into his Inner World, Nico had been greeted by the Archdevil Arm in its manifested form that he'd seen during its… birth, he guessed. They didn't so much as exchange pleasantries, as Ouranos simply grabbed him and dragged Nico into where he usually resided within Nico's Inner World… apparently, that little world he had found himself in before fighting Ouranosd' manifestation? Tht world was said home for the Archdevil Arm, like a little pocket world as part of the main one in his Inner World. He guessed it made sense, since they pretty much WERE connected by their souls, so their Inner Worlds being connected didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Still, that little discovery made him wonder if Erebus had her own Inner World… and if his future Devil Arms would have their own once they ascended. The teen couldn't help but shudder at what could happen if EREBUS dragged him into her own little world of darkness… he kinda feared for his life there. At least she seemed qquite intrigued by his Ghoul Persona though, so he'll guess he'll leave him to his fate.

He was a bastard, he knew.

'FUCK YOU, KING! I'LL FUCKING RIP TEAR AND SHRED YOUR ASS TO PIECES, I'LL REND YOUR INNARDS TO STRANGLE YOU WITH THEM...!'

For some reason, Nico got the reason that someone somewhere was insulting him...

Meh, maybe it was nothing.

'...DFNAFLACNDSL;CISA;FOI;SD?! HDOHPADJKSNCAI;OSJI...!'

...Yep, definitely, definitely nothing...

Right now, Nico stood before the Hellgate, a determined expression on his face as he held Soul Edge in its default form in his right hand. The mighty demonic blade coursed violently with raw energy, supplied to it through its own reserves as well as the large amount of twisted Demonic souls trapped inside, fated to be tormented for eternity to fuel the blade's might. Someone might think about the ethics of using such a blade, but if Nico were frank, he didn't mind it as much. A monster needed a monstrous weapon after all. 'Now… its finally time…' the teen thought.

'Indeed, the previous events have certainly been most advantageous for us…'

Nico couldn't help but agree with his Demon Persona, mentally nodding with a small smirk as he held Soul Edge up horizontally at his eye level, allowing its sole eye to gaze back at him. Its eye showed nothing but mindless hunger, a desire to rip, tear and shred through his enemies and claim their souls as its own, leaving nothing but desolation and ruin in its wake. Though, thanks to Nico's own willpower the blade had been calmed and controlled, especially given what had been happening as of late.

In any case, just as Nico had expected, that training he had with Ouranos? It had been a nightmare, though thanks to prior experience he had the means to adapt to it pretty quickly. Ouranos had been one hell of a strict instructor in having Nico develop the mastery of the first part of the Skill Extreme Mirage Lightning: Hidden flowing Lightning. According to him, this Skill was more for concealing one's presence in a given area dependent on the user. It was a stealth based Skill, so it wasn't technically Nico's forte since he preferred the way of the warrior to the assassin. However, thanks to the constant number of hours in the Inner World he had spent training under Ouranos to finally learn it, he managed to master it just before coming here. Aside from that, the second part of the Skill had not been touched yet, but Ouranos wanted to give Nico a small break from training, which in their language meant that he'd likely not be having a peaceful sleep tonight.

Shiver...

Though, Nico hadn't spent ALL that time just training that one Skill. No, as during his training Biko had to interrupt them due to Urthemiel having reported a large amount of Demons, about at least 80,000 of them, encircling the Volcano he had been hiding in. Apparently, they had sensed something had happened to its resident Purgetory Flame Demon and wanted to experience the pleasures of tearing the flesh of its killer apart with their own hands. As thus, it had been only natural for Nico to emerge from his Inner World, Soul Edge in hand before he and Urthemiel worked together to eliminate them swiftly, leaving no survivors and taking their souls.

Good thing they hadn't been he Demon Prince's lackeys, otherwise he'd be way worse off.

Apparently, that had been a wise move on his part, as not long afterwards Biko had determined that the level of power needed to operate the Hellgate had been reached. According to him, if they hadn't taken out that army of Demons, then Nico would have had to use MULTIPLE Archdevil Arms worth of Demonic Power to open the Hellgate and return to Gamindisustri. Sure, that meant that if he had opened it sooner, then he would have lost the usage of Erebus and Ouranos or a time till they regained their power. Though, thanks to the training in the way of the sword he'd done, Nico didn't think he'd be all that helpless without them as much anymore.

As a result, he had spent only a day in this world, training his backside off in his Inner World on the Hidden Flowing Lightning, the only other training he had done being to fuse with the Golden Crow Blood within him, having taken the time to come out the Inner World to do so… and getting it to 55%. Seriously, that thing would be taking a LOT of work to get it right… but goddammit would Nico get it done, no matter what! He won't let a bloodline of a divine beast beat his ass, nope, no way no how! If he could do it, then so could Nico! Hell, it'll be thousands more satisfying to have achieved that state than to just have gained it like that!

'Alright, now that we've got enough power, its time to head back. I'd rather not have a Demon Prince breathing down my neck right now...' the male thought as he followed Biko's mentally transmitted instructions. The teen raised the blade, flipping the grip so he held it in a reverse grip like a knife, before plunging it halfway into the very base of the Hellgate's structure. The moment that it touched the demonic structure, Soul Edge's eyes bulged as veins spread across it, the entire blade beginning to emit a powerful, violent crimson glow with matching crackling electricity and scorching fiery embers along its form. As this happened, the Hellgate itself soon began to emit the same kind of phenomenon as the energy inside the blade, gathered from over countless souls held captive within it, got sucked into the structure like a vampire sucking the blood of its victims. It didn't take long for the Hellgate's front to soon become the same spiraling corridor, the same one which Nico had traversed to get to this damned place.

Finally, everything stabilized themselves, and Nico had a passageway safely back to Gamindustri, something Nico grinned to himself about since he couldn't wait to see his comrades again. Thus, Nico raised his hand to take his Devil Arm back into his hand, but the moment that he had been about to grasp Soul Edge's hilt, his hand stopped as Nico ceased all motion. An idea suddenly came to him, one which made Nico's grin turn all the more evil. 'Say... Biko, remember that time when you said that Soul Edge could destroy continents? And that thanks to my ascension, Soul Edge at full power destroys even multiple ones at once?' the male thought, getting a bout of confirmation from his Demon Persona. 'Good then, perhaps this world could do with some... remodelling.'

Before Biko or his Ghoul Persona could ask what he meant (although internally they nearly grinned-yes even Biko as well when they figured it out a second before it happened), Nico grasped Soul Edge by its hilt and pulled it out swiftly. But that wasn't the end, oh no not by a long shot, as the redhead swiftly spun around whilst gathering force and momentum for a horizontal swing, Soul Edge practically glowing with its own bloodlust. The moment that It was swung, a huge, and by huge we mean seriously HUGE wave of sheer power erupted from within the blade, like a centipede unleashing a mighty shriek which could rival that of bats. As a result of this...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

… The Forest, combined with the Volcano and anything caught within the vicinity, got reduced to dust. There was practically NOTHING which remained of what this land had once been, all of it having been decimated by Soul Edge's forceful swing. In front of Nico right now, would be nothing more than dust-covered flat land, some areas piling up more than others. If that wasn't enough, then the following second Nico clicked his fingers and the entire plains suddenly lit up in his demonic orangish red Hellfire, shooting countless fireballs into the skies above whilst countless formations could be seen from miles upon miles on end. If he were some ordinary mortal in this world, then he would have either long since suffocated instantly under this intense heat, or he would have been quickly roasted alive from his Hellfire.

'... NICE!'

'...I detect less stress built up inside of you, Nico. I believe that this was your way of... relieving it?'

The way Biko said that last part, made Nico realize that he already knew and had just asked for the sake of it. Though his Ghoul Persona's response had been pretty much guaranteed at this point. 'Pretty much yeah, though its also a little... reward, for the Demon Prince of this place to contend with. Now then, lets get back and destroy this damned Hellgate so those Elves don't have to worry about impending Demon attacks...' Nico thought, smirking darkly as he strapped Soul Edge (which only chortled in glee at the thought of more destruction) onto his back. Now that he had given this place a... taste of his appreciation for its hospitality, Nico decided not to waste any time. The Hellgate would be closing soon according to what Biko had told him about it, so he promptly turned to face it and jumped right through, the Hellgate closing right behind him.


A short moment of walking later, Nico finally exited the crimson spiralling passageway, hopping out of the exit, flipping through the air several times just because he could (if anyone didn't notice, Nico liked performing stunts, regardless of their danger to himself) and landing before Gamindustri's exit in a crouching position. The moment he had exited, Nico had found it to be night time, as evident by the stars and moon looming over the world of Gamindustri in the skies above.

Standing tall right afterwards whilst a low wave of dirt got blown from his landing, Nico idly glanced behind him at the Hellgate's passageway, the sole eye he had trained on it narrowing sharply as it slowly vanished, leaving nothing but the metallic flat surface which it would usually have. 'There… now that I've come bac, its time to blow this thing to kingdom come.' The male thought.

Right after doing that, the teen swiftly reached behind him and grasped Soul Edge's hilt, drawing the massive weapon and holding it above his head. Gathering its energy till it had a sharp, crimson glow to it, the blade's eye widening with bloodlust, Nico swiftly swung downwards and promptly sliced the entire structure in two…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

…right before it got blown to pieces by the pure force from his swing. A huge eruption of dust and dirt got left behind as remnants of the once mighty-looking structure which lead to another world, something which caused Nico's lips to curl upwards in pleased satisfaction whilst he hoisted Soul Edge onto his shoulder like a gangster. 'Whew… for a moment, I thought I might have overdone it and destroyred part of the Nature Elf Forest like I did over on the Demon World…' Nico thought, heaving a sigh of relief. Being able to control the amount of destruction Soul Edge could cause felt OH so damn good. He'd rather NOT destroy something which had been protecting such a race of creatures, otherwise who knows what could have happened to them.

'Nevertheless, now that the Hellgate has been destroyed so completely, those Demons from that word will have to wait a long while before they can startinvading Gamindustri again. You should probably do the same for any other Hellgates that you find, since each of them is connected to a Khornate Demon World. Bulwark is NOT going to be the last we see of them.'

'On that, we can agree, Biko…' Nico thought, his lips now set in a concerned frown as he twirled around and began making his way out of the former Chaos Camp, his boots creating audible stomping sounds as he went. It honestly amazed and concerned the teen at the same time, at how these Hellgates lead to completely different worlds like they did. He had always thoughtthey were simply like beacons, allowing Demons to teleport to the space around them. Thena again, Nico had never actually SEEN them in action himself, so he had only been speculating. Knowing how they DID work though… it honestly made him wonder. What would happen if all of a sudden, EVERY Hellgate acrss Gamindustri opened at the same time, and those thoughts served to send shuddrs down Nico's spine. '…Geez, fuck that sounds like one hell of a time…' the tee thought while shivering.

As he made his way towards the camp's destroyed exit… Nico paused mid-stride, his eyes sharpening whilst his foot remained in the air. His form suddenly tensed, and Soul Edge's bloodlust started to rise as the blade's agitation grew near instantly. All the while, the hand clutching its hilt clenched its grip tighter than before, to the point where veins could be seen being about to pop. Not only Soul Edge, but each and every one of his Devil Arms and Archdevil Arms felt a similar way to it, so if all of THEM felt like that then one would DEFINITELY find something off. 'Biko… do you feel it, too…?' the redhead thought to his Demon Persona.

'Yes… Something is wrong… very, very wrong… I can sense remnants of a huge idal wave of greed nearby… from the looks of it, it seems to have come from a human group of sorts, but… oh no…'

Nico had sensed the same level of greed in the atmosphere near them as well, and had been just as confused as Biko had been during the initial stages of his speech. Not to mention, that during it, Nico had been honingin on the source of this greed, and found that whilst he main cause had seemed to have vanished already, the remnants of the greed could still tell him where it had originated from. The moment that Biko finished his speech though, did Nico end up realizing the very same thing that he did. 'No… No, no, no!' Horror and dread built themselves up inside of him, a thought opccuiring in his mind that sent no small amounts of those emotions chaotically through his body. It felt like warning bells had gone into full throttle within his mind, his heart and lungs clenching as he lost theability to even speak. His eyes dilated and his breathing became labored as terrifying thoughts began spilling into his being.

This Greed…

Please, let it not be coming from where he thought it was!

Instantly, Nico was off, Soul Edge strapped to his back again as he raced through the forest at high speeds, blurring through the place. His form left Afterimages in groups of 5 thanks to the use of the Star Gods Broken Shadow, boosting his speed in those short, quick bursts. Yet, even with that, if Nico had the mastery of this Sklill combined with the Extreme Mirage Lightning, the teen stlll felt like it would have been too slow to get to where he wanted to go. Even with it being so close to his position that it would be like just a couple steps for him… no seriously, it literally took him a couple minutes to clear the distance between the former Chaos Camp and his target destination…

The home of the Nature Ellf Village…


(Play Devilman OST - Crybaby)

Just as Nico slid to a halt, skidding along the ground till he lost all kinetic motion, the teen quickly looked towards the secret entance into the village, the one that was usually guarded by vines hoping that his fears were misplaced… that hope sunk significantly, when he sw how open, bare and damaged it looked, with vines laying sprawled out all over the place like a wild, bloodthirsty beast had run rampant through them. Not only that, but when he tried to sense the Barrier which was supposed to repel the Abnormals in the vicinity… he couldn't find one spec of it anymore.

'Fuck… Fucking hell do NOT tell me this is…!' the male thought, his horror building within his gut which left him with the feeling of sickness in his stomach. He gulped, especially when his senses informed him that within the specs of Greed they picked up in the atmosphere… there were distinct hints of twisted lust. Lust so ick, twisted and demented that it could match some of the worst kind of crimes Nico had found during his few years of service. Clenching his fists so tightly that they could have bled whilst sweat rolled down his palms and forehead, Nico sloly strode over, hoping against all hope that what he was thinkiig hadn't happened. That he was simply overthinking things… or perhaps, his mind didn't want to admit what it was REALLY thinking as images of the Nature Elves he'd been with, more specificallythe ones whom had named themselves to him and hugged him, filled it.

Passing through the passageway, Nico looked around and saw various markings along its walls. Upon closer inspection (although it was quick since he was lightly jogging through the passageway to get to the village) the male found them to be traces of blades cutting through the walls, likely meaning that large weapons had been carried through here and in greatnumbers. This Passageway wasn't meant for something like that, so the blades would have left scratch marks such as these if more than a few people came through here.

'This is bad, Biko! This is really bad, real fucking bad…!'

'Unfortunately, I fear it may be getting worse Nico... Look to the exit…'

The redhead did so, and when he did he conveniently had reached the exit to the passageway. His breath became ragged as his lungs burned for air, his throat lightly aching as he felt his breath getting hitched. The moment, the very SECOND that he saw what he did, that dread spiralling ithin him, along with that sickness, it exploded into full throttle like wildfire. It was all that Nico could do in order to not fall over from the surge of disgusting emotions right now… especially when the sight before him… pretty much confirmed everything he had been dreading and worse. No matter how much that his mind tried to deny it, the proof had been bluntly slammed into his face like a hammer and anvil.

'No… NO!'

All round him… was Hell. It wasn't unlike that of the Khornate Demon World, or anything that remained after a Demon Attack, but considering that he himself remembered what this place used to be… the sight hit him harder than anything like that. The World ahead lay still, mirroring the picture of silence with great perfection, a silence filling the air which chilled the bones like this was the personification of the afterlife. The air, which had once felt so vibrant and full of life, now felt the exact opposite and if this place were anything else then Nico would have heard crows cawing in the skies, attracted like moths to a flame to what lay within this place.

Deep inside of him, Nico's heart abruptly stopped beating for a moment, making the deep emptiness within worse when combined with his other sensations. For once, not even his various personas could be heard as they all, as in literally ALL of them, took in what they saw. He fixed his gaze ahead as he felt a cold surround him. He stood there in a daze before slowly advancing forward. The sound of each step he took treading on the broken vines underfoot pierced at his soul.

What had originally been a vast land of emerald and jade flora, filled to the brim with vibrant life and happiness, had now been terraformed, reduced to a scene of destruction and despair. There was literally no green to be seen anymore, nothing but charred ground remained as if the flames of conflict had consumed everything, mall smoke trails still rising into the atmosphere in specific locations. Ancient trees looked to have nbeen uprooted and toppled over, wooden houses looked like they had been violently torn apart, pretty much everything bore the scars of fierce combat. What remained of the picturesque land was now only dried green blood stains and a deathly silence.

Nico took all this in without even breathing once. This sight wasn't anything new to him, he'd seen it countless times whenever he had arrived too late to save some people during a mission. He'd seen it all over Lastation during the Racoon City incident or the Incident with New Tristram and their undead problem. He remembered those incidents well, and what he saw here only reminded him of them… but, seeing this once happy and innocent village reduced to such a horrific state hit him way harder than any of those ever incidents ever could. Back then, Nico had bee able to stop further bloodshed from happening, he had been able to find and destroy the perpetrators of those incidents. He had gotten vengeance and it had been meaningful since there were survivors… but in this case? Nope, no survivors and nothing to indicate who had been responsible for this.

Thing was, the destruction he saw before him was only the tip of the iceberg, something Nico soon regreted realizing when his eyes gazed across the charred ground. One lifeless body after another of the Nature Elves could be seen, strewn across the blood dyed ground like ieces of junk in a scrap yard. Each of them looked like they had ben ruthlessly tormented before their deaths, the males seeming to have lost a few limbs whilst their bodies had horrendous looking injuries, their expressions being those of pure fear, agony and despair. Clearly, they had not died painlessly, and as for the women… well, they looked to have gotten even worse off. One particular body closest to Nico's current position still had his eyes wide open. The emerald green light had already faded from his eyes, what remained was a look of fear and hopelessness... Even in death, his resentment had never left.

"Ah… AHHH…"

Seeing that state, Nico's lips began their shaking, and his pupils dilated in shock, nearly covering the whites of his eyes. Standing there with his coat flapping sideways with the breeze, the redhead tee couldn't move, as if both his feet were nailed to the ground by the sheer magnitude of the horror unfolding before him. All around him, Nico found his vison getting blurry when everything began losing focus, his centre of gravity swaying back and forth as the sky around him started to spin.

To stop this from making him fall, Nico croched onto the ground, the sick crackling ofcharred remains filling his ears ansd piercing his very being. He grasped his head with one hand, his fingers shaking like that of an old man at the end of his life whilst his dilated eyes shook like they were the epicentres of powerful earthquakes.

'Dead…They're all dead... Each and every one of these pure creatures, are now dead…' The male thought, and each timethose thoughts repeated themselves in his mind, slamming into his brain with brute force, the realization never lost any of its potency. Forget blades embedding into his soul, what h felt right now could be better described as his soul breaking into millions of tiny pieces. Even though h was used to the ways that his world worked, the strong surviving and the weak getting axed off… the sight before him reminded Nico of the very dffirst time he'd opened his eyes to this truth. The raw pain, hurt and all those other emotions which he'd felt back then came swooping back with a vengeance, slamming on topof him like weights stacking on top of each other.

But… why?

Why were the Nature Elves all dead?

Why…

Why?!

WHY?!

He hadn't told anyone of this place! He'd kept his promise to not reveal their location to the outside world! Heck, he hadn't even had a chance to go back to civilisation thanks to dealing with that Hellgate and all those fucking Demons! None of them had escaped his wrath when he murdered the fuck out of them, and when he had entered the Hellgate he'd made sure that it had been blockaded by some or Erebus's Darkness! There shouldn't have been any way for them to have been found out!

"Huff… huff.." dozens of deep, heavy breaths before both his mind and eyes finally regained clarity after a moment of regaining his wits enough to regain the ability to move. His left leg went first, lifting and stepping forwards, followed by his right whilst he slowly stepped forward. As Nico trudged trough the desolate wasteland, his vision still slightly blurry, he took note of each body, each drop of fresh green blood. Everything got imprinted clearly in his soul... Each sight feeling like a piercing cold dagger, stabbing straight through his very being. Not only that, but the memories of these Nature Elves working on their daily lives, enjoying what they could, filled his mind and overlapped with what the male saw now. That only served to make things worse for him.

Every now and then, the redhead spotted various splotches of crimson blood, human blood from what his nose told him. He could tell between humans and Abnormals due to smelling their blood, since they each had their own unique scent to them. They stood out like bloody dirty stains which desecrated this now ruined sanctuary. Like remains of the sinful serpent which had succeeded in violating the lord's sacred garden and the original humans. Thus, Nico realized that it had been by humans' hands, this desolation before him. Somehow, some humans had found out about this place and thus, did what any greedy fucker would've done: tore the place down from its roots. That knowledge took a moment to sink in, but when it did…

grrrrrr…!

'Whoever did this, is going to fucking play… with BLOOD!' the male thought, taking in another deep breath. Color (albeit crimson from the sheer rage coursing through his veins) returned to his face and his eyes grew steady once more. Before he could lose it however, Nico simply took a few breaths to calm down, lest his Demonic Power run rampant. Nico refused to contaminate this place anymoe than it already had, and besides, despite the sheer pain it would cause him, he needed to properly explore the destroyed village to get a grasp of the situation. The extent of the damage so that he knew what had happened and how much pain to inflict on those responsible. He took a step forward, carefully walking across this now ruined world.

Crrreeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaak! Bang!

Not too far from his position, a heavily damaged tree suddenly toppled over, causing Nico to look in its direction as his eyes shone with recognition. The reason why? Simple, he recognized the tree due to its owner, and thus when it fell, it ended up revealing a lifeless Nature Elf which toppled out of her house, and lay there sprawled over the charred grass. She was thin and small; her old and wrinkled face bore an expression of eternal calm. Nico couldn't recognize her any better as he approached the corpse, kneeling before it and examining the features. Even with her body looking like it had been ripped apart by wolves, her calm serenity didn't seem to have diminished in the slightest. Almost like she had predicted this would happen and was fine with it.

"Granny Qing Ye…" Nico whispered under his breath, his form trembling visibly at how badly her corpse had been treated. He lowered his head and slowly closed his eyes. He Lin respected her the most. Back then, she had been the most senior and eldest Nature Elf in this little world, one of the few who knew of their origins as otherworlders. Not that long before, he had even personally received the Nature Elf Miracle Dew from her, so he knew for a FACT that she deserved better than this. She'd been one of the reasons why he had begun seeing these creatures as people rather than damned animals, after all.

"Apologies, Qing Ye… if I hadn't found this place, then perhaps those who did afterwards never would have either…" the male whispered, hanging his head in shame. Slowly, he raised his head and reached for her still-open eyes, eyes which looked properly dead to the world, and closed them. There hadn't been anything he could have done to change this at this point, not with everything that had happened. The die had been cast for this tragedy and all he could do now was offer a simple apology.

Afterwards, Nico stood up with his breath becoming slightly better than before, his heart and Soul still chaotic with rwild emotions that he struggled to keep in check, however. Looking around, he teen quickly had Soul Edge take him to the skies, the teen wishing for a bird's eye view of the area to see if there were anything he had missed.

Soon, his eyes found themselves gazing upon a ruined hut, and in there Nico saw a well-built middle-aged Nature Elf. No longer was there any life in him, but even in death, those who had taken his life had not treated his corpse nicely. No, not with how they had impaled him on a cross the sze of the average person with swords green with Nature Elf blood, stripped of all clothes and impaled with arrows all over. Beside the cross lay a broken spear, its tip stained with green and red, something which Nico queasily recognized as Blood. On his chest, was a large and bloody hole... Because he had fought until the end, he didn't even have a chance to self destruct his Nature Spirit. Without a doubt, the male summarized that his Nature Spirit Core had been forcefully taken away after his death.

"Qing Mu…"

Nico gently mouthed his name, both of his hands trembling, fists clenched. All around the elderly Nature Elf, lay the larger portion of similarly aged members of his kind. Each body looked to have bee treated with just aqs much disrespect as the impaled elder, with limbs lost and vicious-looking wounds which would make grown men wet themselves in fright. All of their eyes were wide open, filled with expressions of fear, hopelessness, and hate... None of them were shut.

Memories filled his mind, memories of how that man had looked at him with kindness, of respect and gratitude for saving their patriarch from the Slave Auction. Memories of how he treated his brethren and obviously had seen Nico as someone 'good'… something which made him want to hurl even more. How could he be good when something like THIS had happened because of HIS idiocy? Nico didn't get it, nor would he for a long ass time. Especially as those memories overlapped with what he was seeing in the form of hallucinations, forcing Nico to snarl and shake his head before floating onwards, lest he go completely crazy... though, he did make some time to shut their eyes. It was the least he could do for them, since he had failed them so royally.

That battle would still rage on inside however, increasing in difficulty by leaps and bounds with heach horror he would end up witnessing. As Nico continued floating around, he felt like he would end up exploding from all the sheer rage coursing through his veins, rage and self-loathing for no doubtedly causing something like this to happen. Further ahead in this little world, he saw one Nature Elf child after another. Some were hugging each other, some were hugging the old… and the youngest, his soft little body was run through… A long black bladed knife was lodged in his body. Nevertheless, all of them looked to have suffered quite viciously, as if their killers revelled in their suffering and decided to prolong it in any means possible.

Slowly, Nico found it harder and harder to breathe, his eyes trembling violently as that bility slowly got taken from him. It was only thanks to Soul Edge carrying him that he could still move at this point from all the gore that he was witnessing. Just who the hell had done this?! Why?! For what reason was there to perform such despicable acts?! He struggled to move his gaze, when he caught sight of the large garden where he had spent the most of his time on his first journey here. Thousands of flowers were scattered roughly on the ground. There were no more butterflies...

At the end of the flowerbed, two girls were hugging each other tightly. If Nico had been raging in his heart BEFORE though, then when he noticed those two girls, then he found himself one step away from utterly snapping and unleashing his Kakuja. Those two girls looked to have been trying to hold onto each other but had been forceibly split apart. Their eyes looked to be frozen wide open, expressions of pain and despair permentantly frozen onto their faces whilst dark green slits ran down their cheeks. Obviously, they had been in tears of matching emotions, with their bodies looking to have been manhandled in the roughest ways imaginable. Their clothes looked to have been torn to shreds by the greedy claws of a ravenous beast, one he had all too many experiences dealing with. Nico didn't even need to think about what had happened to them, but the white stains on their neither regions, mixed with green blood with more stains on the charred grass, pretty much said it all.

In pure horror and disbelief, Nico landed and stared blankly at them, his lips moving before his brain even commanded to. "Fei Yan… Qing He…" he whispered under his breath, his throat feeling like it would be choking from the lump forming within. Their states right now… Nico could hardly look at them anymore and turned his head to the side, eyes closed with a pained look of resignation on his features. That fate which had befallen them, wasn't something any woman alone should have had to go through in their last moments, let alone pure young maidens like these. The fact that they did…

Opening his eyes, Nico glanced around, noticing something else. Outside the flowerbed lay a fallen youth. His body was full of scars, evidence of the brutal wounds he had suffered in battle trying to protect the two girls behind him. Judging by how he looked, the youth had fought valiantly to protect them, but it had been of no use. If he had been alive in these two girls' final moments, Nico wouldn't have been surprised. Though, he hoped that he hadn't been, and whilst that would initially sound heartless of him, think of it like this: if he had been alive then, he'd have been forced to watch, begging and pleading with his eyes brimming with tears of blood, as his friends were violated right in front of him. Unable to do anything.

"Qing… Zhu…"

The strong sense of suffocation which was finally receding came back full force once more, flooding his entire soul, stronger than before.

(Flashback)

"...I wish I could see the outside world for myself…"

"This is a charm I made with my own hands, it will keep you safe…"

"Big Brother Nico… Will you come back often to visit us..."

(Flashback END)

"…"

Qing Zhu… Fei Yan… Qing He...

One hand clutching his head, the other over his heart, Nico slowly crouched down whilst feeling like a thousand barrels of lead were suddenly thrust upon him. Not only that, but his heart felt as if it were pierced by thousands of poisonous needles. It had not been that long, but before they had looked at him in wonder, with such pure and eager eyes. They held onto every word that he'd said, as if they feared missing out on even a single one of his words. He had clearly felt a deep desire of hope and yearning in every one of their beings. Hell, Nico had even been reminded of his own comrades through their actions, which only hastened his growing fondness of them. It had been like a little slice of heaven in a world full of hell. If this place had been a fragment of celestia, then Nico would have DEFINITELY believed in it. Unfortunately, Fate had been far too cruel to them. What was the norm for others at a similar age, would now be nothing but a pipedream for them. They had been in the prime of their youth, but now...

"The… the one… who… caused all this... Was... was me..." His heart convulsed and his teeth began chattering. To try and somewhat cope with this physical and emotional pain, Nico dug into his head with all five fingers, digging into his flesh, yet he felt not an ounce of pain. This wasn't the first time that he had felt this horrible, there have been several times where mistakes on his end had ended up costing numerous lives. Lastation's Racoon City Incident, that incident which opened his eyes to the truth of his state, those were some of the many times Nico had felt this way. This time around, one hundred wood spirits had perished. Although not by his hands, he still felt the same strong surging pain as back then.

Why did this have to happen...

What were these innocent Nature Elves guilty of!?

Was it only because they were too kind and weak?

No… It was because of me. If not for me… how would they have met with such a disaster? They would have been able to continue their normal lives!

It's all because of me!

If it wasn't because I just had to look for answered to my damned questions, if it wasn't because I showed mercy and brought He Lin back here, this wouldn't have…

Wait a minute… He Lin!?

As if a cold bucket of water was poured over him, Nico sharply lifted his head and immediately stood up, an audible gasp escaping his lips. What about He Lin? During his mad search through the village, Nico hadn't seen one sign of the Nature Elf Heir. That information told him that He Lin wasn't among these dead bodies. Where had He Lin gone? As if woken up from a nightmare, Nico had Soul Edge start flying them about and once more expanded his senses as fast as possible, covering the entire Nature Elf secret grounds. He scanned every inch of soil, every blade of grass, every wood spirit corpse.

He didn't detect He Lin at all.

His mind rapidly cleared up, a new sense of purpose filling him inside and replacing the cold, painful emotions building in his gut. Thanks to this drive, Nico could focus on something OTHER than his mistake of unknowingly bringing down these Nature Elves. He expanded his senses to the furthest he could spread it to and still he didn't find the corpse of He Lin. He Lin could still be alive… No, this was definite. He Lin was definitely alive!

Whoever did this HAD to have been connected to that Auction, which also meant they knew of He Lin's Heritige. And He Lin being the only one that had a royal bloodline, even if he stepped into the most dire and desperate circumstance, he would never allow himself to die! Yes, he was definitely still alive! The highest possibility right now was that he had been captured and taken away. The blood on the ground hasn't dried yet, they couldn't have gone far. With that in mind, Nico flew higher into the air and closed his eyes. He gathered every bit of concentration he could muster to locate him.

It didn't take long for results to come forth. Towards the east, he sensed a trail of Greed and pride, mixed in with a bit of despair, making a path through the jungle. The Greed and Pride ikely belonged to those responsible for this, and he didn't even NEED to question who the despair belonged to. Thus, with great force, Nico had Soul Edge put him back on solid earth and then immediately EXPLODED into a mad dash, heading eastwards with thin sparks of Demonic Power exploding behind him.

'He Lin... you better not die, you hear me?!'

(OST End)


The storm brought forth by the depths of Nico's speed tore apart the trees around him as he ran. His form remained unseen to the naked eye, the Hidden Flowing Lightning technique suppressing his presence so nobody could sense him either. Everywhere he went, a trail of dust followed until he hopped up onto a tree branch and began tree hopping through the forest land. Thankfully, from what he could sense of the trail it seemed that the capturers hadn't left the forest yet, so he should be able to catch up to them fairly soon. The male had weathered countless dangerous and stormy situations before, and was always able to keep his composure through them all, but this time around... nope, this would be one of the few exceptions. If one were to look at his heart and emotional state right now, they wouldn't be wrong in saying that it was in a chaotic mess right now, one which junkyards would pale in comparison to in terms of messiness.

Following the traces left, he continued eastward, not slowing down for anything. Despite this, he indeed did notice something off, and that was the lack of Abnormals in the vicinity. Even while moving at high speeds like this, Nico would have still been able to smell them or sense them with his abilities, not to mention that his Motion Tracker hadn't picked anything up either. Perhaps the reason for this was due to these kidnappers either using something like Pheromone Bombs (which said a lot about these people if that was the case) to lure them away to the outermost reaches of the forest and away from the Nature Elves. Either that, or they had already went and killed the majority of them in this Forest beforehand. The only way for certain would be if he were to confront those people...

Though, it wasn't like he particularly cared at this point.

No...

All Nico had on his mind was to get to them as quick as possible...

To get to He Lin and get him to safety. Not all of the Nature Elves would die today, not on his watch!

Eventually, an aura belonging to a human appeared within his perception range and it wasn't just one person. Judging by what he could sense, Nico assumed that this human would be a mercenary of some kind, as he could feel the greed and desire for power boiling inside of him. Though, that alone wouldn't be enough, so he went on to using his other senses, as well as activated his Motion Tracker. Sniffing the air, Nico got the scents of seventeen humans no more than five kilometers ahead of him... Including an additional fainter scent belonging to that of a wood spirit.

It didn't take him one millisecond to realize that this would be the people he was looking for.

Going at a pace which had still yet to slow, Nico concealed his presence as he descended into the forestry, gradually approaching the auras up front. As he neared their position did he start to slow down, as according to his senses these people weren't moving, so it would be likely that they had just set up a small camp or something. Upon reaching the vicinity, Hidden Flowing Lightning had already been mobilized and not a single person detected him, thus Nico managed to land on a branch overlooking the small clearing the party of 17 had settled in without being detected.

Only when he stopped, did Nico look them over whilst searching with his senses for He Lin. Down below him, the redhead saw that these people were all of masculine stature, defining them as adult men whom were at least middle-aged. They each wore black hooded cloaks which concealed most of their forms from view. However, the redhead's sight did pick up some black armour similar to the Berserker Armour Guts wore... only, it was more streamlined and fit for men with slim builds. Not huge and bulky ones like his acquaintance had. They also lacked the... inner ferocity that the REAL Berserker Armour possessed, the 'thing' imprisoned inside it which constantly attacked the user psychologically. Though if one wanted to know more, they would have to ask either Guts himself or the one who crafted it, and given that fact that the former would likely cut one in half for asking that with the reasoning that they were potential enemies, whilst the original creators likely no longer existed anymore...

Yeah.

Aside from that though, Nico saw that they each carried longswords strapped to their hips, abyssal black ones whilst their armours bore a simplistic sword-stuck-in the-centre-of-a-cross insignia... something which Nico INSTANTLY recognized. 'These men... I know them! They're from the Abyssal Black Swords!' thee teen thought to himself, eyeing each of them warily during his search for He Lin. Just like with Rinjin who was currently living at Skies End with his pet Teostra, there were other groups of Spec Ops Agents through their ranks, groups who operated together and fought together like brothers. The Abyssal Black Swords was one such group, but unlike Rinjin's group, the Abyssal Black Swords were rather... notorious, shall we say, with many unconfirmed rumours about them which only made their picture worse. It didn't help that their behaviour would be classed as 'less than stellar', what with the harassment of females, extortions behind the back of the law with some of the Nobles contracted with them shielding them from such things. Before, Nico had only heard the rumours and had never seen them for himself, so he didn't have a good picture from the get go, but looking at them now.. Nico could somewhat see how they could be trouble for the public. Yvoire's words about the Spec Ops Agents being just as corrupt as the Nobles rung through his mind as well, making him grit his teeth.

But, what was the MOST important thing was, aside from their biggest contributor/sponsor being Count Mott... Was the fact that one of them (who looked to be the leader of this little group), had a certain someone hoisted over his shoulder like a rucksack.

The moment that he saw it, Nico's mind immediately recognized him as the Nature Elf He Lin, and for a moment the teen nearly blew his cover with the exhale of relief that escaped his maw. Relief in that He Lin was still alive and well. He didn't look like he had any bruises, nor did he look as roughed up as the other children back in the Nature Elf Village. In fact, if one were to look at him right now, they'd see that he was actually completely unharmed by these Spec Ops Agents. However, that relief soon ended when he caught sight of He Lin's eyes, the young Nature Elfs' eyes were open but they utterly LACKED that distinct green brilliance. Rather, they looked like an unseeing pair of grayish-white eyes belonging to the dead. Instead of looking like someone who was alive, he looked more like an empty shell drained of its soul.

"Hahahahahaha!" Laughter escaped the leader of the men, holding He Lin over his shoulder whilst lightly slapping his knee. All of the men looked to be sitting around a camp fire roasting some killed rabbits, so it can be safely assumed that they were taking a small break from their travels. "Looks like we have had the best harvest we have ever had in a long time, boys! Now, with what we were promised for our assistance, we will be able to hold our heads up high in front of our boss." he proclaimed, tapping the motionless Nature Elf (Nico now noticed that he looked to be restrained with rope tying his legs and feet together with a gag over his mouth). "This Little one thought he could escape us deeper into the Forest when we visited the first time. If it weren't for our benefactor's orders though, we wouldn't have had to spend the better portion of a day tracking him down."

Another one of the men chuckled heartily, completely agreeing with the leader. "True, true. This little tyke gave us a lot of trouble, wonder who he was trying to find? Some Agent who would help, perhaps? Meh, not like that would ever happen." The man then gazed at the fires, his smirk turning into a frown as he recalled the memories of the past. "It's just a pity that that bunch of tree huggers were so goddamn stubborn, not hesitating to self-destruct their Spirit Cores. There were so many of them yet we only obtained a few Nature Spirit Orbs in total." he remarked, spitting to the side. He then looked to one of the others, who had taken out a whetstone and was in the process of sharpening his blade on his lap. "Though, those girls were DEFINITELY worth that bit of trouble, am I right?"

"Pft, true that. It wasn't expected, but those green women definitely had fine ass bodies, made ravaging them all the sweeter. Their tears looked more like fine jewels than liquid, how could I not relish them? Most of them were virgins, too, would you believe it? Popping so many cherries back there, our boys will likely be super jelly when we get back." The one sharpening his sword replied, his eyes shining with a dark, lustful perverted smile. "Far better sluts than the whores back at the Capital are, I'll tell you that."

A round of laughter erupted from the men, completely unaware of the looming threat overlooking them and listening to EVERYTHING they were saying.

After the laughter settled down, the one who had spoken secondly, looked over to the Leader and couldn't help but be curious about his little 'package' there. "Its quite interesting though, those green skins definitely seemed like they were ready for us. The moment that they were about to lose, each of them tried to destroy their Nature Spirit Cores. Its like they had predicted our attack or something. Though, as for this little wood spirit kid, boss… what is his background? Why did we have to capture him alive? Even the leader flipped his lid when he managed to escape us the first time."

In response to those words, just like a classic tsundere the atmosphere suddenly changed from jovial to tense, in a matter of seconds. The source of it came from their leader, who radiated a thin black aura of killing intent when he heard the questions being asked him. The black robed man in the leadership position, then glanced towards his lackey, coldly replying. "Some questions are best left unanswered. Just keep an eye on him, if he escapes once more, let alone us, even our group's leader's head will roll." He stated ominously, his eyes being illuminated by the campfire.

This sudden turn in the conversation left everyone in shock. He Lin's captor tightened his grip and exclaimed the following. "This… What's this all about? Are you saying that this Nature Elf kid is something our benefactor wants?" He questioned, frowning deeply in concern. Part of him began to suspect that there was something fishy going on behind the scenes, something which he himself or the rest of the group weren't privy to when they got this job.

"Hmph!" exclaimed their leader. "I'm afraid the situation is even more dire. When the Leader returned to us after getting a call from an 'old friend' he had told us about, I vaguely heard a mention of 'Count'"

'What!? C-Count...?! But, the only one we've worked with who has such a position is...!"

"Shut up!" their leader gruffly shouted, cutting the lackey off and making him go 'eep' like a scared little girl. "It's enough as long as you understand in your hearts. Don't talk about it and no more questions. If you don't want to die, stay vigilant. Once we meet up with the Leader back at Camp, we'll have to immediately hand this kid over to the Leader. There can be no slip ups. If we lose this kid, I can guarantee that none of us will be able to keep our lives."

"Yes, boss!" everyone shouted in harried unison. Then, the second speaker looked back to their leader with a self-assuring smirk on his lips. "Boss, you can relax. In all of Leanbox, especially with all the shit that's going on, no one has either the ability or gall to dare…."

(Play Hellsing Ultimate OST - Zakuro)

BOOM!

Before any of them could continue speaking, all of a sudden a heavy, almost colossal BLOODLUST exploded out into existence, slamming on top of them like a massive fist slamming on top of their heads. Startled gasps escaped their mouths, filling the air as each of them nearly fell over from the instantaneous bloodlust which caught them by surprise. All the while, a large silhouette fell to the ground a fair distance from them... before shooting by them and appearing about 10 meters away from them.

"Wha?!"

"Huh?!"

"Ugh! Who the hell-?!" the leader yelled sharply, his face reddening with anger until he blinked. He blinked several times, before he noticed something off which stalled his anger a little bit, allowing pure puzzlement to slip by. How come he had been feeling suddenly lighter all of a sudden? Looking downwards slowly, he saw exactly WHY he had felt lighter, for now... he lacked a little something that he had been keeping this whole time: He Lin.

Meanwhile, the shadow which had been Nico, gently carried the unconscious He Lin bridal style, slowly setting him down to the ground and creating a ring of Hellfire around him. That would make it so that anybody who dared try to take him right now would get one HELL of a nasty reward for their troubles. Nico didn't even care about the unintentional pun he had just made, simply pulled up his hood and Mask so only a bit of his crimson hair and FURIOUS blazing Kakugan could be made out from the darkness. Nico would not risk ANYTING happening to He Lin right now, not when he just found the last survivor of the Nature Elf Village... not to mention, he had finally, FINALLY found the ones who had done all those horrible things to the females of their village. It was one thing to kill the whole village and that alone would grant them no mercy from him... but to do THAT to them as well... just rubbed salt in the wound.

NONE of them would be escaping from here tonight.

'Qing He... Fei Yan... don't worry, you will be avenged soon...'

With the ring put up, Nico slowly turned around to face the 17 mercenaries, his form shadowed by the brightness of the flames behind him whilst his sole uncovered Kakugan eye shined with a predatory gaze. His hands pocketed themselves in his Trench Coat Pockets whilst Soul Edge had been strapped to his back this whole time, shuddering in its desire for carnage as Nico advanced towards them like the grim reaper about to claim his next victim.

On the other side, this sudden turn of events drained the color from each of the mercenaries' faces, faster than the time a millisecond took to pass. They could not move one inch, rooted to the ground in fear thanks to the immense bloodlust in the air that came from the approaching redhead, and before they could even utter half word... Nico dashed into action.

The first thing that he did, draw Soul Edge from his back and slice through the first 7 men in one swing... or at least, that was what it looked like before each of them exploded into tiny chunks. Behind them, Nico crouched with his massive sword remaining in the end position of a horizontal swing, before he stood up and twirled around, holding the massive blade in a threatening position with madness shining in his eye. So much rage, so much hatred an wrath burned within those eyes, not to mention a faint glowing symbol over his chest where his heart would be could be seen, surrounding him in a deadly crimson aura. The power of a Sin Multiplier, one belonging to Wrath, flowed through Nico right now... but he hardly noticed or cared, not even with this power raising him to the power levels of a Continent Class DPU in human form would stop the rage burning inside of him right now. Nothing... but these men lying in a pool of their own blood that is.

'Kill... Kill... Kill...'

In his mind, the word 'kill' repeated itself like a religious chant or a mantra, as Nico held Soul Edge in a ready stance for another offensive.

Meanwhile, shivers of dread fell down the spines of each and every Mercenary as they beheld the literal manifestation of their grim reaper before them, oozing a presence which made him seem taller than them and even the forest itself, holding a wicked scythe meant for harvesting their souls. His body radiating such malice, wrath, bloodlust and hatred mixed together obviously helped such an impression be made, too. They realized that in less than half a second, whoever their mystery assailant was, had not only seized their captured Nature Elf, but also killed seven of them in one sword swing. Like a ghost, he had came out of nowhere and without a word, ruthlessly made his move.

"You…"

As a frightened shout barely began to leave one of the mercenary's mouths, Nico once more dashed towards that same Mercenary with Soul Edge glowing crimson, energy crackling from PREDATOR all the while. The pupils of the black robed man enlarged as he raised his weapon in defense with the fastest speed he had ever achieved in his entire life…

Only for it all to be sliced in half, along with his body, when Nico passed him.

Startled, horror-filled cries escaped the rest of the men as they turned tail and tried to flee, only for Nico to dash past them and block their way, his sole Kakugan eye glowing ever brighter. Pretty much to the point where it created a rectangular shine from his rage. His simple motion of doing this only served to pound the reality that they would be dead in the next couple minutes, into each and every one of the Mercenary's minds.

Seeing their expressions Nico gritted his teeth behind his Mask, memories of seeing the corpses of the Nature Elves returning to him. Where had their mercy been when those same expressions had been on their faces as they were butchered? Where had their pleas for justice gone? Why did these Mercenaries think that he would spare them when they had done something so fucked up towards those who didn't deserve it?! WHERE WAS THE JUSTICE THERE?! With these thoughts filling his mind, Nico dove towards his opponents with Soul Edge gleaming with bloodlust into the night.

Pretty soon, only one of them remained: the Leader.

The pupils of the leader had shrank, his body shaking like a sieve as he beheld the reaper before him whilst he had butchered their last remnants of his men, his sword dripping in their blood. Shaking madly, the Leader held his sword ready for combat, but it looked as clear as day that, thanks to his mad trembling, that he wouldn't be putting up much of a fight. If things were different, if he had all the cards, then he would have behaved WAY differently, but right now he found himself in the same position as a mouse caught by a hungry cat. A cat which wielded a massive sword and looked to be ready to go in for the kill.

How...?

How could this have happened to him?

Just moments before, he and his men, they were so full of themselves, patting themselves on the back for a job well done. They didn't only successfully complete their mission, they had also chanced upon a large windfall. They'd even got to sample some f the delicious flesh action with the targets, hearing their delicious screams as they all neared their climax during their 'fun'. They got to enjoy the looks of ultimate despair on their faces as they were violated in many different ways, ways painful for them, but fun for him and his men.

However in the blink of an eye, they suddenly fell from the heavens, straight into hell. The men whom he had cheered and celebrated with had all been brutally, ruthlessly cut down by a blade so ugly, distorted and FOUL that he would not be surprised if it were actually made by the denizens of hell itself. These men, whom had been practically untouchable in the eyes of the Spec Ops Community due to their position and protection from the Nation's nobility, but in front of this monster, they were nothing but sixteen pitiful bugs that were easily squashed into bits.

Just... How? HOW?!

When Nico's gaze finally landed on him, he shuddered all over, his face turning completely white as his pants started to feel slightly damp. He could hardly control his own bladder anymore right now, the raw and primal Bloodlust saturating the air with its taint, combined with the menacing eye that was staring him down with predatory hunger, kept him rooted... preventing any hopes of escape. Besides, even if he did, he didn't think his boss would have let him live anyways since he wouldn't have been able to escape with the Nature Elf AND keep his head.

Using one sword and killing sixteen of his men within a few seconds… Even if he were an idiot, he wasn't so naïve as to think that he could defeat this... this THING stalking towards him with the intent to kil so think that it was actually visible.

"Who… Who… Who are you?" The leader of these men exclaimed, sweat dripping down his forehead like a waterfall whilst slowly stepping back as he cried out in the most frightened voice of his entire life.

For a moment, he thought he saw this... this absolute MONSTER pause its stride towards him, his question catching him by surprise...

SCHULUCK!

Only for his head to go flying off his shoulders, his expression frozen into one of complete confusion and befuddlement before a Tentacle emerged from Nico's back and devoured the head by forming its mouth and biting into it. This allowed him to see into the guy's memories, but Nico had Biko record the information tat they provided for future reference, as he had more important matters to attend to. Like say for example, He Lin who still lay motionless within the ring of Hellfire. Twirling on his heel, Nico swiftly jogged over, almost gliding as he snapped his fingers to disperse it, allowing him to kneel on one leg before him. Reaching for his head, Nico pulled down his hood and Mask, his Kakugan vanishing alongside his Kagune as he grasped the Nature Elf's shoulders and gently shook him back into reality. "He Lin! get a grip, kid! You alright?!" Nico shouted in earnest concern.

His actions did succeed to rouse the Nature Elf child from his bout of motionless, causing him to look up into Nico's own light blue orbs. After doing this, the bound He Lin shook his head slowly whilst Nico's Rinkaku released itself in its fully visible form to slice through his restraints, freeing him. He felt nothing inside, neither excited nor teary. One could say that He Lin had been experiencing nothing but a hollow feeling inside ever since what had befallen his village, resulting in a look which Nico found himself all too familiar with. That only served to stab him inside even worse than before. It didn't even matter that there weren't any injuries on him at this point, the injuries which had been inflicted on his heart and mind would be enough. A short moment later, he gave a faint, weak smile as he spoke for the first time since being captured. "I'm fine. Thank you, Big Brother Nico, you've saved my life once again."

In response to his words, Nico blinked owlishly in surprise, before he looked blankly at He Lin. After saving him, he had expected He Lin to be distraught, to be filled with anguish and hurt. He expected him to cry his guts out, releasing all the sadness and pain. He was even prepared for him to pass out. After all, with what he had just gone trough, it would only be natural for that kind of burden to be too much for a small child. However, not only did He Lin not shed a single tear, he could still smile and even thank him.

Nevertheless, Nico could see just how damaged that his actions had made him, and he did not like it one bit. Clutching his teeth behind his lips, Nico tightened his grip on He Lin's shoulders as a strong sense of unease filled him. "He Lin… I'm sorry… because of me your clansmen… if I didn't…" he began to say, until a shifting got felt by his hands making him look back towards the Nature Elf.

Said Nature Elf gently shook his head in denial, his eyes still dull but shining a small light beneath the emptiness. One which could only have been "No, this is not Big Brother Nico's fault. You're my benefactor. You're my savior and also the best person I've ever met." he told him, stunning Nico into silence. "Not only that... but you finally came, just like I believed you would. You came right when I... I thought it was all over. I... I tried to find you for help, I had put all my hopes into finding you, but just as I was captured... you came back."

Honestly, this heartfelt admission from such a young child made Nico feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Knowing that someone who wasn't one of his comrades actually gave a damn about him to this extent. He had been so certain that, aside from his small group of comrades, that next to nobody would ever truly care about him. This reminded him so much of when these beings had not been so afraid of his Ghoul side, just accepted it as part of him without much fear for their own safety. Such a pure, kind being... it only made him more aware of what had happened.

After saying that, He Lin turned around and looked into the distance... the secret place where the Nature Elves had once resided. "Big Brother Nico, can you please take me home one more time? I… would like to give them a proper burial."

"...Alright." after a moment of consideration, Nico eventually nodded his head sombrely. Giving them a proper burial... that sounded like the least that they could do for those poor people, He Lin especially. Hoe he must have felt when he had seen what had befallen his people… Nico could hardly comprehend it. Not only was he so young, he also had the burden of being a future leader for his people. Thus... seeing all that... Taking a small gulp, Nico grasped the small Nature Elf by the shoulder before he mentally commanded Soul Edge. The mighty blade's telekinesis took over them, and with that, He carried He Lin and started to fly westwards... back to the destroyed village.


Upon their return to the desolated, Nico once again felt the same feelings as he had felt before, and they did NOT hit him any less than they did back then either. Thanks to the fact that there was no barrier anymore, Nico could just land square in the middle with his Soul Edge, and that had been exactly what he had done, landed square in the middle while holding He Lin close to his side by wrapping an arm around his waist. The moment that the two landed, Nico let the kid go, and they commenced the burial for the dozens of Nature Elves scattered throughout.

During the whole thing, Nico couldn't help the sickening twisting sensation in his gut, the feeling of failure slamming into his shoulders whilst he worked. He had his Ghoul side releasing his Rinkaku Kagune to help him make a proper burial for them, but all the while Nico never got rid of the self-loathing that he felt inside. He could only imagine what it felt like for He Lin, having to bury his own people as their sole survivor, when he had originally been meant to lead and protect them. It must be crushing him inside... and whenever Nico looked over towards him whilst they worked, Nico could see it, the emptiness in his eyes and the sense of defeat permeating through him.

By the time that they had finished, Nico and He Lin stood before an entire line-up of dead Nature Elves, each of them prepared for a ceremonial burial: their hands interlocked over their chests, their eyes closed and their expressions now ones of peace. It didn't take them long to bury them within the earth itself, the redhead having done this with the skilful use of his Ghoulish Rinkaku and Bikaku. He Lin had done his part by kneeling before them and offering his last goodbyes as he watched them get buried, ever silent and unresponsive.

When the burial had been finally completed, Nico felt like there was one last thing he needed to do, and it didn't take him long to figure out what. He stretched his hand out and the middle of his palm lay a bracelet which consisted of a colourful variety of flowers and seeds. It not only held the scent and spirit of the Nature Elves, it also held within the warmth of heart and the feelings of a young girl. Yet, in his hands, it felt heavier than anything he had ever carried before in his life. The weight of a trust being betrayed felt WAY worse than his previous experiences.

Kneeling on the ground, the redhead used two Kagune Tentacles which had formed clawed hands, to push away some soil on the ground and carefully buried the bracelet underneath. Once the bracelet had bee safely tucked in, he put the dirt back over it before he lifted his head, eyes dim with depression. In Nico's memories she had been the Nature Elf girl who had looked upon him in bright eyed wonder and hero worship, hanging on every word of his. Those words made the feeling of nausea inside swell tremendously as he ran his hand along the ground of which the Nature Elf girl lay buried under. "Qing He, I am the demon who brought this disaster upon your entire race. I'm not qualified to accept your wonderful gift. I hope that in your next life… Fate will be kind to you." he muttered under his breath solemnly, closing his eyes.

Beside him, He Lin stayed there kneeling. He didn't shed a single tear and he didn't have any kind of emotional reaction to all of this... which only served to unnerve the redhead even more.

Yet, even so...

"He Lin... I know I might sound like a jerk for asking, but... could you tell me how this happened...?" Nico questioned slowly, feeling like his very soul cracked from those words. Whilst he had been aware of how cold that question sounded, making a child recall such horrific scenes, Nico really wanted to know how the hell this could have happened.

It didn't take long for him to get a response, and by that he meant how the young lad turned his head to look at him, resulting in them holding each other's gazes before He Lin let out a sigh. "Of course... you haven't told anyone and yet this happened, so you'd be right to be confused..." he stated, before he began to explain. Apparently, according to him not long after Nico had left, some of heir brethren having old the that he had headed deeper into the forest, they were invaded by those Mercenaries the Black Swords. They had invaded with a large force at first, way too large for them to handle on their own which had lead to their defeat and mass slaughter. They had been intending to capture them as slaves to take to the 'benefactor' they had been informed of, so they had all tried to commit suicide by destroying their Nature Spirit Cores. Most of them had succeeded, preventing any of their benefits from falling into the enemies' hands. But Qing Ye, as the eldest Nature Elf, had told He Lin to try and escape into the forest to find help.

At this point in he story, Nico felt like she had been referring to him... If things had been different, Nico felt like he would have DEFINITELY tried to help.

He Lin had successfully sneaked passed the mercenaries whilst they had been 'having their fun' whilst trying to block out the dying cries of his people, and had successfully managed to get deeper into the forest to begin his search. As for the Mercenaries, they had managed to acquire a small collection of their Nature Spirit Cores despite his people's efforts, as well as stored their chopped up bodies away for later, He Lin had heard this from the soldiers themselves. Unfortunately, when the Mercenaries had left their leader had apparently noticed that he wasn't among the ones they had slain, and apparently He Lin himself had been one of their prime targets during that genocide, thus he had ordered a smaller detachments of his troops to hunt him down. Which had resulted in He Lin's capture not long afterwards.

The rest...

Well, Nico already figured that stuff out since he'd seen that part.

"You know... seeing you again like this... it made me realize something." If he had thought He Lin wouldn't have talked anymore and instead returned to being quiet, then he'd have been in for a rude awakening when he hears the child say those words. "In the past, there was a time when I saw my people and thought: fate is really cruel' for reducing them to the state that it had. We couldn't fight, we had no dignity we had nothing but the hate and fear in our hearts of those around us. However, right now, at the very end of my life I met you. The god of nature has been watching over me all this time after all."

Nico shook his head, having mixed emotions as he heard those words… when suddenly he realized with a jolt...

'Wait a minute... oh no, shit, don't tell me...!'

'Don't tell me its what I think it is...!'

The moment that both him and his Demon Persona thought those thoughts, blood left Nico's facial features as dread slammed into the bottom of his gut with heavy force. Faster than he had ever thought possible, Nico whirled towards He Lin, and true to his fears, the kid looked to be losing his strength fast even though there was nothing wrong with him physically... that is, until Nico noticed that the kid's energy readings had begun to plummet at an abnormal rate of speed. He even held that soft smile still, like nothing had gone wrong as his body began to fall backwards.

"He Lin!"

Almost activating his Star God's Broken Shadow in his haste, Nico swiftly caught the falling child's form in his arms, ending up in a one-legged crouch. The moment that he did do this, Nico became witness to the feeling of He Lin's core temperature plummeting at rapid speeds, even as his smile remained plastered onto his features. Shock ran through his system at the sight, and try as he might Nico didn't find there to be anything wrong with He Lin to explain this phenomenon. "This... This... What's happening!?" Nico exclaimed, looking He Lin up and down. A couple seconds later however, his eyes suddenly grew wide as he recalled something, something which he had heard about from one of the Nature Elves, and shouted in shock. "You… You're self destructing your Nature Spirit Coe?!"

Panic spread through Nico's system as he began taking out medicine after medicine from his Void Storage. He could have used the Great Way of the Buddha too, but he wasn't as familiar with the bodies of a Nature Elf enough t be able to do so without killing them. It WAS a risky procedure to heal someone without much medical expertise. Though, no matter what kind of medicine that he pushed into He Lin through his mouth, none of it had any of the effects that he had strove for, only resulting in Nico becoming increasingly desperate to keep the Nature Elf alive. "He Lin! What… What are you doing!? Why are you doing this!?"

'How did it come to this!? Why was this happening... I should have noticed that something was off!' Thoughts like that filled his mind as Nico finally, in a moment of panic and desperation, placed his hand on He Lin's chest to try and heal him with the power of the Great Way of the Buddha, The mystical power of the Rage God flowed into He Lin, but it didn't do anything to help the situation. Weakly, the young Nature Elf raised an arm and grasped the hand on his chest, getting Nico's attention by holding it with his own, also stopping his attempt to heal him.

"Big Brother Nico…" He Lin spoke softly, his voice growing weaker by the second. Even so, there were still things that he had wanted to say to his benefactor, things that couldn't wait any longer. He gazed upwards into the shocked eyes of Nico and gently replied. "I knew it, you would definitely not throw me aside and leave me by myself… but, how can I… My belief in you was right, after all. Big Brother Nico will one day become a very great and powerful person, furthermore, you're my benefactor. How could I… become your burden…?"

A sharp gasp escaped Nico's lips when he heard those words, as he grasped the weak hand in his own. His whole body shook uncontrollably as he hollered "What burden!? How would you ever become my burden!? I know a place you can be safe in, I've taken people there before, trust me, they'll be good people to you! Don't do this, kid! Don't throw your own life away!" Nico hollered, his body trembling as those words felt like sledgehammers rapidly banging against his very being.

Even as he spoke this, Nico tried to think of something, anything, in his arsenal that could help salvage this situation, but he came up with nothing. That Dew he had gotten from the Nature Elf Elder wouldn't have worked since this wasn't a bodily injury, not to mention that his lack of knowledge on this phenomenon worked against him this time around. If he had known more about what was going on, if he had just learned more about this race before he had left, then maybe he could have prevented this! He Lin shouldn't have to die like this! He deserved to live a long, happy life with those who care about him?! Why the fuck was he dying now of all times, when his people would be forgotten since he's the last survivor?! It didn't make any sense to him, not one bit.

He Lin didn't deserve to die!

These Nature Elves didn't deserve to die either!

This would be one of those times when he utterly cursed the laws of this world with every fibre of his being.

Just as Nico began to spiral downwards into insanity from his own helplessness in this situation, he heard a small cough from the Nature Elf in his arms. "Big Brother Nico... can you… promise me one thing? I have a wilful request to make," He Lin whispered, a small trail of blood rolling down his chin from the side of his lips. Yet still, he had mustered some of his depleting strength to speak.

Something which impacted the redhead hard if his mournful expression was any indication. "You… Just say it. Whatever request you have, I promise to see it through." he told him, now kneeling Japanese style with He Lin's head resting on his lap. If Nico couldn't save him, as much as that pill had been insanely bitter to swallow, then he could at least listen to his last request.

"I beg of you… In my place... Please find my sister…"

Sister?! Nico's eyes widened to when he had heard He Lin and Qing Ye talk about the royal bloodline. That there were two siblings with the royal bloodline whom were separated from each other long ago. Those memories sent a ray of hope through his mind, his stomach almost lurching at the revelation. "Yes!" Nico replied, his voice growing shaky. "I'll find her! Definitely!"

He Lin weakly shook his head "I know it myself, my request is very excessive, selfish even… but… I… I can't… I really have no other option… I am the last of the Nature Elves royal bloodline. I was the hope of the entire race… However, I'm just that useless… I couldn't protect sister, I couldn't protect my people… I couldn't do anything at all... If I carry on living, I'll only bring disaster upon Big Brother Nico who has been nothing but sincere and good to me…. This useless me… I cannot find sister and I won't be able to protect her either… I can only… only be so selfish as to beg Big Brother Nico…"

"Don't speak any more." The mentioned redhead urged, his chest feeling so heavy he found it difficult to breathe. His low voice continued, regardless however. For if he didn't, Nico feared he may never get to hear him again. "Don't worry, even if I have to travel through the entirety of Gamindustri, even if I have to travel beyond to different worlds, I will definitely find your sister! I will protect her… I'll freaking rip and tear apart ANYONE who desires to harm her! Nobody will touch a hair on her head while I still draw breath!" To cement his oath, Nico held He Lin's other hand and placed it on his chest where Nico's heart thumped. His eyes shined with anguish and firm resolve too. "You have my word!"

The tears in He Lin's eyes trembled and he weakly lifted his arm. The thought that this colossal being of power and potential would do his best to keep his beloved older sister safe soothed any and all doubts floating through He Lin's mind, as evident by the smile that spread across his lips and the tears streaming down his face. "Thank you, Big Brother Nico. If its... If its you, then I know... big sister will be safer than she will have ever been her whole life. This is… the only… way I can repay you…"

When he said those words, He Lin pulled the hand that was on Nico's chest and held it above him, clenching it into a fist. For a second or two, the whole limb trembled like it was having a spas attack, and before Nico could ask what he hell was going on, the fist opened once more... revealing a brilliant greenish white light floating there. The moment that Nico saw that thing, his jaw dropped, and if it were possible it would have fallen to the floor. His mind became overflooded with different sensations the second he laid eyes on it. Gazing into the light, Nico could feel an unmatched, rich and brilliant soul force inside it, a direct contrast to when he ingested that poison in Yvoire's room. He felt as if he was transported into whole different world, his eyes, body, and even soul… they seemed to be bathed in the purest and gentlest of lotions.

Entranced, Nico stood for a while, in a daze under that beautiful, bright emerald light.

He had instantly recognized what this was: A Nature Spirit Core, one which belonged to a member of the Nature Elf royal bloodline. He recalled just what had been said about these Cores, the powers that they possessed, and according to the Nature Elves the ones from the royalty of their kind possessed additional powers as well. He remembered what the people from that damned auction were like, and thought to himself: None of them would ever have dreamed of seeing such a treasure like this! If they could, they would have clambered all over one another like rabid wolves just to touch it!

"This isn't all..." He Lin spoke more, getting his attention again. "Just now... I placed a spell of preservation on myself... my body will be in perfect condition for hours after my death... perfect for you..." he explained, coughing a bit more.

Nico however, wondered why he had done that... until a moment later when he recalled what Gelmudo had told him about the bodies of Nature Elves. "He Lin... don't tell me you...!" He made to say, but then He Lin stopped him by nodding his head in confirmation.

"I don't have... long... but, if my useless body... can be of any help to big brother Nico... then it is worth it. Please, big brother... you have my permission... please... Take me in... let your body be immune to any and all ailments... let your blood be able to be used to heal your comrades, to bring joy to others... the blood of a Nature Elf of the Royal Bloodline... will also make it so you have immunity... to all elements of nature... fire, water, ice, any element that is... part of nature, will no longer affect you... not once you ingest my body..." He Lin explained, his eyes carrying no small amount of urgency even as his strength plummeted even more thanks to his prior actions.

As for the redhead however, Nico pushed aside his Ghoulish instincts which were telling him to do just that, in favour of grasping the hand still interlocked with his own leather-covered one, his eyes wide as he hollered. "You don't have to do that, He Lin! You don't have to offer your body like this, I can...!" he tried to say, but the look in He Lin's eyes told him everything he needed to know. Actions spoke louder and words, and the look in He Lin's eyes showed his firm refusal to budge on this stance. His throat felt tighter than ever all of a sudden when the weight of this revelation crashed down on him. "And... what of the Nature Spirit Core...? What will...?"

He Lin took a moment to gather his dwindling strength, resulting in a couple of blood filled coughs, as he began to explain. "My Core... not only will it... enhance your lifespan by... 50,000 years... but you will be able to... bestow upon others... your ailment resistances... through pellets of blood... though it will be of one element alone... As for other powers... you will be able... to understand the ways of every element... out there... the easiest being the... ones you have.. an affinity for... I sense you have... three such affinities... on your person... My parents once told me... that our Royal Nature Spirit Core... is very special. They called it a... Miracle Seed. One day, I hope that... big brother Nico will gain... a miraculous wonderful power..."

All that sounded good, grand even, to a normal person but Nico could only feel an uncomfortable weight on his chest when looking at this Core. He felt like he shouldn't have something so wonderous and beautiful, and when he made to say these complaints the Nature Spirit Core floated into his chest, gently beginning to merge with it. 'What?! No! Biko, is it...?!'

'It seems to be resonating with you... almost like the core itself shares the beliefs that its original user has in us...'

Biko's words confirmed it in his mind, and it made him feel all the more horrible, yet with an additional feeling of warmth which blossomed within his essence. The fact that this child thought of him this way, even though he had every right to hate him for bringing disaster upon his people, befuddles his mind beyond comprehension... yet he slowly, slowly began to understand just how 'good' these Nature Elves really were from all of this. As he thought this, the emerald brilliance touched upon Nico's heart source, including the DPU Core floating within it, whereupon it rapidly started to stretch out and encompass his entire body. In a short moment, wave upon wave of incredibly pure life force started to pulsate through every part of his body like tidal waves.

He Lin, as weak as he had been reduced to thanks to his own actions, smiled gently as he sensed this process occurring. "Big Brother... I was right... to give it to you. If... you really can't... do the second thing... then please... let me ask you this instead..." He whispered weakly, raising himself upwards so he could whisper something into his ear. To an outsider's perspective, what He Lin spoke couldn't be heard except only between him and Nico, but upon hearing his words, the redhead Spec Ops Agent's eyes widened into dots, his jaw dropping as he looked back at his dying companion who lay back down on the ground, unable to hold himself up any longer.

"Y-You... He Lin..."

A pale white hand slowly started to fall. As he felt Nico's life force continuing to change, He Lin's little face displayed a gentle smile. His eyes now started to slowly close... "Father… Mother… He Lin can finally… see you again…" His voice slowly trailed off as his last breath disappeared along with the gentle but seemingly cruel breeze that passed over them...

Thud—

The weight on the redhead's arms immediately grew light. A flash of emerald light emanated from He Lin who was in Nico's embrace, and from his chest came what looked like a floating green star, radiating natural energy by the dozens. Like a spritely snowflake, it flew toward the ground where the Nature Elves were buried. Immediately, blades of jade green grass started to sprout from the soil, swiftly growing and releasing a dull yet brilliant green light. The entire area was then shortly covered in a patch of beautiful green, while hundreds of flowers budded and opened at the same time, filling the entire place where the Nature Elves laid in their final rest.

Perhaps… this was He Lin's final gift of protection to his people.

For, in his eyes, failing to protect them even in their last moments...